Are We Really Too Busy

[Ramez5]

Whatever you do in word or deed,
do it all in the name of the Lord,
giving thanks to God the Father
through him. Colossians 3:17

Saying Yes, in our busy lives, is not something we do much any more. I know, at least in my case, that I'm either over-committed, or just have way more than can possibly be done.

I'm afraid, if I am completely honest though, that a lot of time gets wasted. If we counted up the time we waste on entertainment.. texts, facebook, computer, and movies, we just might find some extra time to spend on the Lord and on our neighbors too. (Guilty as charged lol)

The Lord has taken me a LONG ways down the road, just by motivating me to spend time with him. I'm amazed at how little time most of us spend with the Lord. It seems that we don't even have 30 minutes.

I can just hear the Lord saying to us as he did to his disciples the night he was arrested...

Could you not watch one hour? Watch you and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. Mark 14:38

It's hard for me to believe I didn't feel I had 30 minutes.. and I know I'm not alone. So finding time to help others, I guess that would be a stretch to ask.

But as the Lord has changed my heart, he's changed my priorities too. He has engraved on my heart the command to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. For three months.. that is what I've learned to do. Oh how much more I love Him now than I ever did before. My heart was so cold before that... but now..He's right at the center.

The next step is of course.. to Love our neighbors as God has loved us. This is tough I must say. Remember what I said about excuses? That's things we say so we don't have spend our time where we don't want to.

But I'm reading Elisabeth Elliott's chapter on the Discipline of Work. Here's what she says about 'ministry'. "Every one of us has a line of duty marked out for us by God. For most human beings, for most of history, there has been little choice available. Duty, however, includes whatever we ought to do for others-- make a bed, give someone a ride to church, mow a lawn, clean a garage, paint a house.

It is often possible to "get out of" work like that. Nobody is paying us. It simply needs to be done, and if we don't do it, nobody will. but the nature of the work changes when we see that it is God who marks out this line of duty for us. It is service to Him.

When we see Him, we may say, "Lord when did I ever mow your lawn? When did I iron Your clothes?" He will answer, "When you did it for one of the least of my children, you did it for me."

So today, I altered two dresses for a little girl.. and drove an unplanned 3 hours to my house and back to get more square dance petticoats and skirts for Tamara and her daughter to use for the choir program.

Duty is good. When we do it, we are doing good, but are not thereby gaining merit. It is what the Lord expects of us.

Brother Lawrence spent his days in the monastery.. in the kitchen of all places. To Him.. in his 'singleness of mind" and "inwardness" had found strength to say Yes to every demand which the needs of his neighbors made them face and to say Yes also to every fate life had in store for them.

Love for them meant simply an overflowing of the strength with which they felt themselves filled when living in true self-oblivian.

So Loving our neighbors.. means saying YES and trusting God to help us help them. I can't wait to see where the Lord will take me with this.

Dear Lord, Help all of us to say Yes more to our neighbors.. after our quiet times of course.. and continue to be like Mary.. sitting at his feet... and NOT cumbered (bothered upset worried) about the serving. Nothing says she didn't serve.. she just had her priorities straight. Amen

[Mary Naeem]

Thanks Ramez

[walaa farouk]

Thanks Ramez