How is it that every cellular network can claim to be number one? They all have third-party data to back it up. I am not really sure that is possible. Someone is lying to us.
Our priorities try to do the same thing. They all try to scream that they are number one. People around you try to tell you what your priorities should be. It can be very challenging to sort it all out. Mix in the guilt and shame for not being able to make all the priorities number one and you run yourself wild trying to do it all.
How do we decide what our priorities should be? Who do we listen to? How do we say no without the guilt and shame?
I am no expert on this. I can tell you I don't always do it perfectly. Here are 3 things that I have found to be true and helpful.
1. First thing I have learned is I can't make everyone happy so I need to decide who is going to be happy. I remember the Christmas before I was married I drove over one hundred miles and never left town. I was trying so hard to make two families happy. You can not be at your mother's house and your mother-in-law's house at noon for Thanksgiving lunch. Someone is going to be disappointed. You can't be home for dinner with your family and stay late to finish that report for your boss. You can not feel guilty for not meeting everyone else's expectations of you.
2. You get to decide what are the most important things in your life. The problem is many of us do not take the time to decide what those are. I have my purpose and goals written out. If I have to make a decision between multiple things screaming for my attention, I can pull those goals out and see what fits and what is a distraction.
3. Lastly, God is there to help if you will let him. Matthew 6:33-34 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." God is easy to please. He does not want us to do a lot of stuff. He does not want to overwhelm your to-do list. He simply wants to be with you. He says in Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know I am God." In Romans, we are told to offer ourselves to God and this pleases Him. If we place being with God and offering ourselves to him, the other priorities become clearer.
I must add a warning to this last one. I am talking about spending time with God, getting to know him, learning to trust him, and offering yourself to him. This is not the same as religious busy work that just bogs you down and zaps you of energy. Our doing must be an outflow of our being in a relationship with God.
Take time to look at your priorities. Do they line up with your purpose and what God is calling you to do? Are you being blown around like a ship lost at sea by everyone else's expectations of you? Do yourself trying to please God by completing a list of religious busy work? What does it look like for you to just offer yourself to God and seek after him first?
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