Candy and Nuts ...

I was talking with a friend the other day, lamenting about my life situation, and her response was "If  ifs and buts were candy and nuts then we all would have a good Christmas."  I laughed at the line, but I understood the point she was making.

I am notorious for saying "IF I can just get past this (event/meeting/project), then I can do all these other things I want to do." My other favorite line is "I would have done (fill in blank) BUT this other thing needs to be done."  I've lost the balance of work and play, but it's hard to make it all work, right?  So, I tucked this little saying into my back pocket and went on with life as usual. 

Then a group of friends went out to lunch and we are all talking about schedules, priorities, and how hard it is to get things done.  I could hear the candy and nuts being tossed out by each of us.  Perhaps there is more to this than I had thought.

Priorities.  How do we make them and how do we keep them?  There is no set answer for which specific thing is a priority since they will change as our life situation changes, but the principals remain constant.  Jesus made it very clear throughout His ministry what His priorities were and how each of us should follow His example. He taught, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40). The first commandment addressed the vertical relationship between man and God. The second commandment addressed the horizontal relationship with other people. All of your priorities will fall into these two basic categories.

I did a quick search online for Christian priorities and this is a summary of what I found:

1. Love the Lord through disciplined obedience in all matters of prayer, worship, and daily walk.
2. Respect your spouse, loving them above all others.
3. Cherish your children and spend time with them. Teach them to follow the Lord.
4. Service through the local church to include community outreach.
5. Employment so you are not a burden to others.
6. Friends to share life with and to help encourage each other in difficult times.

Let's walk through them and see how I do:

1. Love the Lord.  OK, I've got that one down pretty well.  Oh, the rest of the line too?  Hum, "through disciplined obedience in all matters."  OK, maybe I could use a little work on some things.

2. Respect and love your spouse. Ha!  I don't have one so I don't have to do that!  Wait, this means potential spouse too?  I need to think about my actions today because they will affect relationships that come in my future.

3. Cherish my children.  Since I do not have children I need to make sure the environment around me is inviting and supporting of other children in my family.  In some cases, I may be the only light of Christ they experience.

4. Service through my church.  I do serve through my church almost to the exclusion of other things in my life.  This is where I have to go back to the first line, "disciplined in all matters."  The local church should not be a priority over your relationships with God or your family.  If we have a disciplined life we will also have a balanced life.

5. Employment.  I have a job, in fact, I work for myself!  This has allowed great flexibility in my schedule, but I sometimes abuse that freedom.  How we handle our business affairs reflects on our walk with the Lord. 

6. To get a friend you must be a friend. Do I really love others as I love myself?  Am I willing to make others a priority?

Do you see a trend?  I see discipline and balance are the arching theme for all the priorities.  If I keep the first priority in it's right place then the others seem to fall into their correct place.  A balanced life will result in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  If I see the fruit multiply then I know I am on the right track!

If and but will probably always be a challenge for me.  Hopefully, by recognizing the things I need to balance I can do better at setting the right priorities!

Solid Rock

"You have got to be kidding" I yelled when I discovered a hairline crack running across my ceiling.  I just stared at it for a while thinking it might magically repair itself, but nothing happened.  I'm disappointed, but it's not like there weren't warning signs. 

My driveway has dropped about two inches where two sheets of concrete meet or should I say met.  My mailbox leans like the Tower of Pisa, and the vent cover of the AC intake won't stay shut.  None of these things bothered me much so I have simply ignored them. Until now that is.  The crack in the ceiling is a significant problem that has caused me to face reality. The foundation under my house has shifted.

We often live our lives in the same fashion.  As Christians, we ignore obvious signs that the foundation of our life is shifting. What we don't consider is the collective damage the underlying cause of the shift is creating and how much harder it is going to be to correct the problem by waiting.  Here are some examples of how your spiritual foundation may be shifting:

1. You don't have any type of small group connection through your church.

2. You sleep through your morning devotional time on a semi-regular basis.

3. You go days without praying never noticing you have stopped.

4. You skip gathering with other believers for Sunday morning worship.

5. You start to hang out in places you don't want your Christian friends to know about.

Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27.
 

I have seen the result of a shifting foundation in my house and I know I need to make things right again.  If you have need to make things right in your spiritual foundation don't delay.  Talk with a Christian friend or your pastor and stand firm on solid ground!  Build your house on rock instead of shifting sands!