What To Do When You're Too Busy

It's a busy time in my life right now.  My calendar is full of meetings.  The to-do list at home and work keeps growing and doesn't seem to be shrinking.  So, to get an edge today, I set my alarm for 4:30 AM in order to get out of bed a half hour before my usual wake-up time of 5AM.  

And then it all slipped away.  A full fifteen minutes of that extra time was spent staring off into space and sipping a cup of coffee as I tried to shake the cobwebs out of my head. 
I don't even know what happened to the other fifteen.  I think I might have spent it trying to get my foot working again so I could walk to the other room without falling down.  

I know that there is a "season for everything," and a "time for every matter under heaven," as the book of Ecclesiastes states.  Even though "busy-ness" isn't included in the list that follows after that statement, I think that it sort of falls under the "every matter" category.  

And when I'm going through a busy season of life... or a trying season of life... or any season of life when things are starting to get a bit complicated,  I tend to want to get my hands around every little thing, to control the outcomes, to want to do it all on my own.  

It's also easy in those seasons to neglect the things that keep me grounded and properly focused.  I have to fight the temptation to forgo my usual hour or so of reading, prayer and reflection in the morning.  I have to resist the urge not to walk with my kid to school, or to eat healthier even when it would be faster to consume junk food. 

The great 16th century reformer Martin Luther claimed that he prayed for an hour every day unless he was too busy.  When he was too busy, he prayed for three hours a day.  

I think that God finds us in the little things, the details, the small moments when we push back the busy-ness, the trying times, the out-of-control circumstances and we simply do life-giving, soul-restoring things that connect us to the Almighty.  

Khalil Gibran once wrote, "For in the dew of little things the heart finds it's morning and is refreshed."  

In his translation of the Bible known as The Message, Eugene Peterson interpreted Psalm 46:9 like this:  "Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God...."  I love that so very much.  I hope that it speaks to you today, as well.  

May you find moments to do life giving things today.  May you carve out time in your day for prayer, for silence and peace.  Breathe in the wonders of Creation.  Make the time to refresh your heart in the "dew of the little things" where God is waiting to meet you.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.