Oh my word y’all, it has been way too long. I thoroughly apologize for my absence, but my life got crazy busy all of a sudden back in February and until this week it hadn’t slowed down! With a new puppy, a winter banquet to plan and decorate, finals week, school, out-of-state competitions, youth convention, and Easter my life has been going 90 miles an hour non-stop. Now its April!? Where is 2018 going??
Along with my crowded calendar came enormous amounts of writer’s block. It was awful! I would try to jump back into my blogging routine, but I had nothing to write. And you cannot really blog without any posts, and thus went another week without an entry. My busy schedule has kind of inspired my blog post today…
Sometimes we all get so caught up in the flow of life that we completely forget what is important. It’s easy to do—something changes so you have to cut corners on your routine or tweak your schedule; but how often do we cut out the things that are
important in life? How often are some of the most crucial things seen as flippant habits that can be sacrificed? More often than we would like to admit I must say.
One thing I will admit that I have a problem with “cutting corners” on is reading my Bible. I will typically start the beginning of the year reading it every night faithfully and refusing to sleep until I do; but anytime my schedule would get busy, that was the first thing I would seem to sacrifice. If I didn’t have enough time do finish my homework, I would find myself trying to skip Bible reading instead of something such as Instagram or texting. It is a horrible mindset I know, but it’s just kind of the way our minds work and unless we tell them what needs to be a priority. Without self-evaluation and management, the wrong things will become preeminent.
So, let’s evaluate ourselves—what’s something you probably should do every day, but you don’t? Maybe you’re like me and it’s reading your Bible, maybe your prayer life deserves more attention, or it could be journaling and studying the Bible. Hey, maybe it even has something to do with school, like finishing assignments before the due date, studying ahead instead of a 30 minute cram session, or doing your homework. Whatever the circumstance, I’m sure we all have at least one thing we could think of that needs some work.
So, where do we start? Well if you have that thing on your brain you’re off to a good start! Next you need to think about some non-important things that consume your time. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube are just a few that automatically come to mind. Now, are these things bad? No, not unless they become more important to you than things that you know you should be doing daily but don’t because you “don’t have time.” I’m pretty sure we are ALL guilty of spending WAYYYY too much time on social media or technology as a whole. Anymore it completely consumes us. So, find what you need to sacrifice to make way for what is really important. Evaluate how much time you spend doing things that don’t really matter or impact your life in a negative way, you will be amazed at how much time you waste.
Then, dedicate yourself. Change can’t happen with out dedication and persistence. If you want to give up an hour of Instagram each day for prayer, you are going to need dedication. It’s not just going to automatically happen where your Bible opens up at a certain time and forces you to read it. You’re going to have to actually pick it up, open it, and read with purpose. Same thing with any habit you want to create, it doesn’t just happen because you told yourself you wanted to. You have to make the decision to put your phone down and pray or study. You are also going to need persistence. So, on those days when you really just feel like going to bed early or “forgetting” to do your homework you have to remember what is important and do it even if you don’t feel like it. If you can be persistent even through the times when you really feel like forgetting it, you can do anything.
Now, the hour by hour schedule isn’t the only one that gets busy. Sometimes our months and weeks just get unbearably full in the blink of an eye. Don’t let your life get so busy that you never have a day to just spend with your family or catch up on work. I know how it is, your week is so busy and then you get one free day where you don’t want to do ANYTHING—I get it. And it’s nice to slow down every once-in-a-while and just do nothing, sometimes you do need that time; but it is an indication that you’re just too busy.
Listen to me, it’s okay to tell people no. I used to try to be that person who attended every fundraiser, dinner, party, or event that was held… emphasis on the words used to. But I finally learned to tell people no and that sometimes getting my paper done in time was more important than hanging out with my youth group (which I love doing!). Hallelujah though! What a glorious feeling when I could go to bed that night not having to worry about due dates and grades! It was wonderful because I knew that if I had gone to that event, the only thing I would be able to think about the whole time was my paper/assignment that needed done. So, I would stress and worry the whole time instead of enjoying myself.
All of that to say, be sure to make room for what is important in life. Things such as social media take up way too much of our time, and it’s time we claim our lives back. And by claim them back, I mean give them back to what is important… God! Once you put God as your top priority your life begins to change pretty juristically. Evaluate. Make Time. Relieve Stress. It’s that simple!
(PS Here's a few pictures from my time of absence;) {Swipe over for more}
If you're reading this it means you actually scrolled through the whole article and kudos to you!! If I could reward you I totally would. Any questions, comments, complaints, or concerns (though go easy on the complaints;) feel free to email me. Plus, I could always use topics for my next articles so if you have an idea shoot it my way!
I love each and every one of you thanks for visiting!!
