balance schedule and relationships - discipline and flexibility…

i’ve got to balance schedule and relationships.  have you noticed that you can’t always schedule your relationships?  guys, you say, “i know i’ve got to talk with my wife.  ‘babe, 8:00 to 8:05 tonight we’re having a conversation!’”  you may as well schedule the argument in until 11:00.  you cannot schedule relationships.  they just sort of spill out all over.  they don’t work like we want them to.  sure we’ve got to get things done.  sometimes you’ve just got to buckle down and get things done.  but there are other times when you say, “let’s set that aside.  we need to talk.”  that’s a part of the balance.  it’s not always easy.  it’s not always simple.  but it is a key perspective in the way you manage your time. 

you have to balance discipline and flexibility.  you have to be disciplined to get the task done and stick to the schedule but you also have to be flexible when it doesn’t work out.

some of you are so disciplined about how every minute has to work.  you’re uptight all day long.  every single second has to work because you’ve got to get the most out of every day.  you’re going to live 20 years less because you’re getting the most out of every minute.  what kind of time management is that?  you need to be a little more flexible.  some of you are so flexible you’re a slave to other people’s schedule.  there are moments in your life when you need to say “no.  i can’t do that because this is what i’m supposed to be doing today.”  there’s a balance between the two. 

i love what james says about this balance in our lives.  james is writing to some people who were saying, “here’s what we’re going to do.  we’re going to go to this city, make that much money, create this business.  that is what we’re going to do!  that’s GOD’s plan for our lives.”  he writes in james 4.13-15 (tev), you don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be.  you’re like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears.  what you should say is this, if the LORD is willing then we will live and do this or that. 

i love the balance there.  he doesn’t say don’t make any plans, whatever is going to happen.  but on the other hand, you say it’s if it’s going to be it’s up to me and you plan it all.  if GOD is willing this is what i’m going to do.  that’s the balance of how this works.

just a thought from the front porch…

the season of stress…

we are headed into a season of stress. the holidays are so full of stress. an article in newsweek talked about the fact that stress has an accumulation factor in our lives and once you’ve felt stress the next time you experience stress it has a greater impact on you. as you go through your life, stress accumulates. it has more and more of an impact on us throughout our lives.

what is stress? the simplest definition i know is this: stress is the result of carrying too great a load. when the load gets too great, whether it’s on a truck or foundation or a life, then you have that feeling of stress.

what does the bible say about stress? it says for one if you want to have less stress check your schedule. anyone with an overcrowded schedule is going to have too much stress.

dr. richard swenson in his book the overload syndrome quotes a mom who says, “i am so tired. my idea of a vacation is a trip to the dentist. i just can’t wait to set in that chair and relax.”

if you’re feeling that way, you’re overloaded. your schedule is too full.

what’s the result of all this busyness in our lives? ecclesiastes 5.3 (nlt) says it this way, being too busy gives you nightmares. it has an impact on our lives, an impact on the way that we sleep, an impact on what we’re going through. this busyness in our lives is overwhelming our lives.

busyness, this rush, is a part of our work but it’s also a part of our families and it’s also a part of our play. so how do we stop? how do we lessen the stress in our schedules?

psalm 90.12 (nlt) is a prayer that says, teach us to make the most of our time that we may grow in wisdom. GOD, teach me to use my time so that i may grow to be more and more a wise person, the kind of person you want me to be.

one idea for less stress of an overcrowded schedule: all of you have a schedule that’s already overcrowded. there’s already too much in it. so for less stress don’t add anything to your schedule without subtracting something from your schedule. if it’s already overcrowded and you try to add something in, something’s going to be subtracted anyway. so you don’t add anything without intentionally subtracting something from your schedule.

just a thought from the front porch…