"We're busy, busy, frightfully busy..."

Well...Thanksgiving is over! The long weekends, holiday breaks, and vacations are over, and life is starting up again at top speed! Suddenly, my days of staying up late, sleeping in, reading cozily for hours and ignoring my to-do list are over, and have now been replaced by deadlines, school projects, committments, work and volunteering, chores, resposibilities, etc, etc, etc... And, I'm thrilled, frankly! I get too bored when things are slow and relaxing; I much prefer the crazy hubbub of my life. I like to be busy busy busy; indeed, I THRIVE on being busy!!

However, there is, as much as I hate to admit it, such a thing as being *gasp* TOO busy. Can you believe that??? But we live in a society that encourages busy-ness, packed schedules, full calendars, and running a million miles a minute in order to do everything. Sometimes, when this is the message we're receiving from every single angle, it's hard to hear God's voice through it all:

"As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me." -- John 9:4a

My best friend said it perfectly: "Our society loves over-achievers. Nobody goes around saying, "hey! I didn't do a single thing yesterday. Isn't that great?" But everyone will tell you they can drive down the road while talking on the cell phone and making a grocery list at the same time... it's an addiction. You start to thrive on chaos and rushing and you begin to need to fill every second with three things or you are "not doing enough." There is a poster I have from a long time ago with two cardinals sitting on a snowy tree branch in a snow storm. Underneath it says, "What is life if, full of care, we have no time to sit and stare?" And it's true. God didn't make all of these amazing things so we could fly right by them with no time to appreciate them."

This goes back to what I said about snow, but it's worth repeating. God created this amazing world, and He gave us copious time to appreciate it and marvel at it.

"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" -- Psalm 118:24

So why do we insist on filling that time with things that can't -- and won't -- make us truly happy? How can we praise God for all He's given us if we don't even notice all the blessings we have?

Look at the song "Spending Time" by Stellar Kart:

Just so happens that my schedule is empty
But still there's no room for You
The time has come and gone
Things have come along that take me away from you

Don't take this the wrong way
You're so perfect
And everything tells me
You're so worth it

Spending time with You
Not a moment goes by that You're not by my side
Spending time with You
You're all that I want life is so hard to do

When we first met I remember
I'd do anything for You
But as the years go by
I let my attentions slide
And I'm pulling away from You

Don't take this the wrong way
You're so perfect
And everything tells me
You're so worth it

Spending time with You
Not a moment goes by that You're not by my side
Spending time with You
You're all that I want life is so hard to do

And, as if the act alone of filling up our time, to the point where there's no room for God, wasn't damaging enough to our relationship with Him....the things themselves that we busy ourselves with can bring us EVEN FURTHER from God.

My all-time favorite music group, Casting Crowns, also sums it up well in their song "American Dream":

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy
But all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul
But he's moving on full steam
He's chasing the American dream
And he's gonna give his family the finer things

Not this time son, I've no time to waste
Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play
And then he slips into his new BMW
And drives farther and farther and farther away

So He works all day and tries to sleep at night
He says things will get better;
Better in time
And he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands

His American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day
"Daddy, can you come to my game?"
"Oh Baby, please don't work late."
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away

Cause he works all day and lies awake at night
He tells them things will get better
It'll just take a little more time
So he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands

He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end?
I'll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand

Now he works all day and cries alone at night
It's not getting any better
Looks like he's running out of time
Cause he worked and he built with his own two hands
And he poured all he had in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands

All they really wanted was You
All they really wanted was You
All they really wanted was You

When the world is telling us to "Go, go, go", to "Do it all and work hard and fill your time with everything", we need to take a moment and thing about what we're filling our time with. And our motives. What are our goals? Why do we do the things we do? What are we gaining out of all of our busy-ness?

I deal with this every single day in my own life. Do I really need to do that research project right now? Or is it more important for me to spend some time in prayer? My friend just called and she really needs to talk -- do I listen, or cut the conversation short so I can go finish my monsterous to-do list? I have other committments on Sunday morning -- but, in the long run, are they more important then going to church?

And more importantly -- are all the things we are filling out time with bringing us closer to God, or taking us farther away from Him? We've got to look at our priorities -- are we furthering God's kingdom with all that we do? Or are we putting it on hold?
It's OK to be busy. Just make sure you're busy for the right reasons, doing the right things.

One final song, and I promise, it's short :) look at this song from VeggieTales. It's aptly named, the "Busy, Busy Song":

I'm busy, busy, dreadfully busy
You've no idea what I have to do.
Busy, busy, shockingly busy
Much, much too busy for you.

We're busy, busy, dreadfully busy
You've no idea what we have to do.
Busy, busy, shockingly busy
Much, much too busy for you.

'Cause we're busy, busy, frightfully busy
More than a bumblebee, more than an ant.
Busy, busy, horribly busy
We'd love to help, but we can't!

Is this the message that we want to be sending to the world?!?! I don't think so! Make room in your schedule for God today. Spend some time in prayer, read a passage from the Bible, or just listen to what He's telling you. You'll find that all those things you thought you had to do suddenly become less important, when you realize what is truly important.