Does Your Schedule Need Help?

Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established - Proverbs 16:3

In this world there are so many choices to make each day… what to eat, what to wear, what to spend your time on…. it can be overwhelming to decide what we need to be doing.  How to use our time seems to be an area which plagues many of us in our modern day culture.  There are so many "good" things to do… programs for our kids, serving opportunities, events, fundraisers, sports, etc.   Our life can become overwhelmed with things which are good in moderation, but can cause an activity overdose if too much is happening.

Early in my marriage, we were committed 3 nights to ministry & all day Sunday on top of the fact that both of us worked.  I found myself in an overwhelmed state, with the pressure of my schedule consuming me and an open door for depression.  Though I was busy, I felt like I was watching someone else participate.    I was not ever fully present and was always charging to the next thing.  This put a lot of pressure on my marriage and my own personal well being. I was not in a place where I was serving out of the overflow of my heart, but I was serving out of obligation.  It was like giving God an offering of a cracked vessel with water seeping out of the bottom rather than a vessel full of water from the wellspring of life.

With my current journey of unemployment, I find myself again with a time challenge.  I have more flexibility with how to spend my time and so many options!  There are job fairs, networking groups, online events plus the "job" of identifying opportunities to target.  Add to the job search my desire to grow closer to God during this season and improve my spiritual, mental and physical health.   All of sudden the schedule looks ridiculous instead of flexible!  

I am learning to put "first things first", spending time seeking God during this season.   This sweet time has stilled my soul in a time which can be very difficult and full of doubt.  I need to continue to commit my works to God and surrender my plans.  He has been very faithful to bring great meetings, wonderful people and show Himself in unexpected ways.  If I was so focused on building MY schedule instead of HIS schedule, I would have missed so unexpected surprises along this journey.

My challenge to you is to commit your schedule to the Lord and allow Him to guide you.  Ask God to search your heart and your motives for the activities on your schedule and to remove anything unpleasing to Him.   He is the ultimate scheduler and has divinely planned opportunities for you to serve your family, workplace and others you may not yet know.   If we control our schedule and don't put Him in charge, you may miss that chance to convey Him to someone who is supposed to cross your path.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:9