Part of my ritual everyday is reading a daily devotional that is waiting on me in my inbox each morning from Streaming Faith. Some mornings I read these and then move right onto email roll into my inbox from another client so I immediately went from the first phone call right into another phone conversation with the second client, I usually call this “putting out fires”. Well, once I had the second issue resolved I realized that I hadn’t eaten any breakfast and my stomach was letting me know about it so I walked into the kitchen to fix me something to eat, and it was then that my phone rang and it was my dad (we speak on the phone everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times). It was deflating for me because I wanted to call him first since it was his birthday, and I know that at the end of the day it really didn’t matter to him as long as we got to speak to one another.
I wished him a happy birthday and then we went right into talking about the usual stuff (what I am working on and how things are going on the farm), but it continued to bother me a little bit that I didn’t have the opportunity to call him first thing that morning. Well, now that I have laid the groundwork, you can see why this mornings devotional struck a cord w/ me…
Establishing Priorities
Bishop E. Earl Jenkins"Teach us to use wisely all the time we have." Psalm 90:12 CEV
Growing up, Dr. Tony Campolo says he spent many Saturdays at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia visiting Ed Bailey, the guy who ran it. Campolo writes: "His encyclopedic mind fascinated me. He knew something about everything…I was friends with Ed until he died. After a serious stroke I went to visit him…I told him all the places I’d been to speak and how I’d come right from the airport to see him.
He heard me out, then said, ‘You go all over the world to people who 10 years from now won’t remember your name. But you haven’t time for those who really care about you.’" Campolo continues, "That…hit me hard and changed my life. I decided not to let all my time be used by people for whom I make little difference, while I neglect those for whom I’m irreplaceable.
"One day a friend of mine got a call from The White House asking him to consult with the President. He said no, because it was a day he’d promised to spend with his granddaughter. The nation survived…the President didn’t miss him, and his granddaughter had precious time with her Pop-Pop."
Somebody said that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! David put it like this: "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom" (Ps 90:12 NLT).
Time is an equal-opportunity employer. We all get 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds daily, and we must account for how we use them. So ask yourself how you would spend the next 24 hours if you knew that you’d stand before God tomorrow – then get busy!
I am not going to say that I plan on drastically changing the way I prioritize my day, but I will say that I am going to pay closer attention to the things in life that are more important. One thing that I have always admired about my partner Greg is that he makes a conscious effort to spend time with both of his sons just about everyday. It might not be anything other than going to Karate or a ballgame with them, but he manages to be there for them. We haven’t ever spoken about it or anything like that but I have noticed it over the years and never really gave it a lot of thought until today at how well he has managed this arena. There are other folks that I work with that are just as diligent about prioritizing their time with the ones they care about but he came to mind first.
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