Are You Too Busy?

Are you too busy?  Busy seems to be a way of life.  What do we give up when we live that way?

For the record, I am a recovering busy person.  I have spent my life running from place to place, feeling rushed and overwhelmed. It ended up making me sick.  Yes, sick!  I am very serious about the consequences of living a life that is too busy.  Here are just a few warning signs that you just might be too busy.

• Forgetfulness
• Irritability
• Headaches
• Overwhelmed

One of the problems of determining if you are too busy is that we tend to compare ourselves to others.  The big problem with this practice is that we are all created differently and called to participate in different things.  Each one of us can handle a different level of “BUSY”.  The key to determining if you are too busy is through prayer.

We must examine our motives.  Why do we do the things we do?  Ultimately, do they please God?

I love this quote from Eugene Peterson, ” I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. Significant. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands of my time are proof to myself – and to all who will notice – that I am important. If I go into a doctor’s office and find there is no one waiting, and I see through the half-open door the doctor reading a book, I wonder if he is any good… Such experiences affect me. I live in a society in which crowded schedules and harassed conditions are evidence of importance, so I develop a crowded schedule and harassed conditions.  When others notice, they acknowledge my significance, and my vanity is fed.  I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself.  It was a favorite theme of C.S. Lewis that only lazy people work hard.  By lazily abdication the essential work of deciding and directing, establishing values and setting goals, other people do it for us.”

I have come up with a quiz to help you examine your schedule.  I want to caution you that these questions are meant to help you examine your commitments and not judge.  We all have very different lives with independent circumstances.  We are all in different stages of life with different ages of children.  Remember, the key is to pray after you have taken this quiz.  God will direct your schedule!

The “Are You Too Busy?” Quiz

• Do you have a daily quiet time with God where you read the Bible, pray and listen?
• Do you get to sleep 8 hours every night?
• Are you too busy to have one meal together as a family every single day?
• Do you serve in one area at your church?
• Are you serving in too many areas of your church that you have no time with your family?
• Are you and your family so active in church activities that you are neglecting your role as mother and wife?
• Do extra-curricular activities make it impossible to spend time at home?
• Do your hobbies take you away from your family?
• How much time do you spend each day watching television?
• Are you relying on others to teach your children about God?
• Do you provide nutritious meals for your family?
• Do you get at least one household chore done a day?
• Do you and your husband spend time together talking, going on a walk, or a date?
• Are you spending more time with friends than you are with your family?
• Have you learned to say “NO”?
• Do take a little time each and every day to nourish your soul?
• Do you get to complete your personal hygiene routine every day?

If you answered Yes to more than 4 of these questions, prayerfully ask God what He wants you to be involved in and what you need to cut.

YOUR TURN…

What is keeping you too busy?   I would love to hear about your challenges.

Blessings,