If asked today what my priorities in life are, without thinking I would say God and my family. I think most people I know would respond similarly. I consider keeping a neat home, cooking, and teaching my children about God to be my priority. Sometimes I become a slave to that priority, doing nothing else but that. And then there are the times when I chuck my priorities out the window and spend 2 hours on YouTube watching videos of Sinatra and Elvis. if we stopped and actually wrote down how we spend our time every day I think some of us would be embarrassed or confused. Embarrassed because 3 hours was spent on Facebook or confused because our kids don't consider the 2 hours we took cleaning the house to be placing them as a priority. I'm not suggesting that Facebook is horrible. I happen to love "FB" and we all need a break everyday. I'm not suggesting , of course, that we shouldn't keep a neat home or that doing the dishes is bad (well, maybe I am, a little). What I'm saying is that it's how we prioritize these things that causes us a problem.
I haven't been blogging as much lately. My kids are home for the summer and there are tons of things that seem to take up my time. I can (and have) beaten myself up for this. Then I tried a little activity. I wrote down everything I did for a whole morning. I drank coffee sitting next to my little girl while watching I Love Lucy (the one in the candy factory) and caught some giggles. I taught my son long division so he'll be prepared for 5th grade. I danced in the kitchen to The Beach Boys with my kids. We read about Joseph and his brothers and talked about how God has a plan in everything He does in our lives. I didn't get a lot of the things done I "should" have. The dishes were still in the sink, no blog was written that day, and dinner that night was grilled cheese sandwiches. But the kids were happy and relaxed, and grilled cheese with Swiss and pepper jack was quite tasty. All in all a pretty successful day. I didn't spend 3 hours doing nothing and I didn't spend 3 hours doing everything. Happy medium. Today let's all write down what we do for 3 or 4 hours. Is it what you had hoped for? Did you relax and enjoy the moment or were you The Energizer Bunny? Did you lose 3 hours of your life on a Desperate Housewives Marathon? Did you spend 3 hours cleaning every square inch of your home and expect the whole world to prioritize that right along with you? Were your priorities for you or your family detrimental to your relationship with God or your family? Were you selfish with your priorities? Talk your list over with God and ask him to help you see where you might have been too relaxed or too strict with your priorities.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 No one can serve both God and money. Or God and fanatical house cleaning. Or God and Facebook. Or gambling. Or alcohol. Or fill in the blank. What's in your blank?
