Hurry Up, and Wait

Forty-five minutes to travel six and a half kilometers!  Talk about getting nowhere fast!

On the road to visit our son in St. Jean sur Richelieu, we encountered traffic the likes of which we never experience at home.  There was nothing we could do about it except wait it out.  After hours of driving the sitting may have seemed as a respite but we were in a hurry.  We had somewhere to be, things to do, our son to see.  The interlude was not a rest but rather one more thing taking away from our time.  One more ‘activity’ infringing on our schedule.

Some days are so busy that at the end of all of the scurrying and hustle, I am not sure that I really accomplished anything.  That is exactly how I felt sitting in that traffic.  I was accomplishing nothing.

What we missed in our wait was the opportunity to pray together, to talk and share (every man’s favourite thing to do), dream about our upcoming year, reconnect as a couple – something that is often difficult to do in a house full of children.

Today’s society encourages us to be busy, to go, go, go.  The result is often families that don’t connect and suffer from burnout.  For a young family, it can be particularly challenging to find ‘down’ time.  Nap time might not mesh with the rest of the schedule or play dates may demand driving or doctor’s appointments and activities might require constant reformatting of the family plan.  Having older children can be equally exhausting as their needs, interests and activities often take them further from home and at later hours.  Striking a balance is so very important for the health of any family.  Ensure that you maintain not only your family time, but also your relationship building time with the LORD.

As a young Christian, I bought a book entitled, “Too Busy Not to Pray”.  What an invaluable lesson between those pages.  Committing to put the LORD first, before the busyness of the day, means that I am choosing to let God direct my path.  By staking out the time to seek His will for my life and asking His blessing on the endeavours before me, I am taking the responsibility for the busyness off me and allowing God to set my boundaries.  If getting up at four to be at the hockey rink at five to run with errands and housework all day, fix supper, host a meeting, help with school work and fall back into bed at night takes priority over  fellowship with God then I have chosen what is more important to me.

I encourage you to take a look at your day and decide if the things that are most important are getting the most of you.  Take your day to the LORD and trust Him to bless it.

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart, a man plans his steps but the LORD determines his steps.

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.