Keeping First Things First When Life’s Busy

Later today I’ll board a Boeing 747 and fly to Budapest via London. Nearly 30 hours will pass before our team finally reaches a hotel where we can sleep before driving into Romania. Once there, we’ll join four career missionaries to host a camp for teens and young adults facing significant challenges.

When that camp’s over, my husband and I will send those team members back to Canada and, a few days later, meet a second team when they arrive at the Berlin airport. From there, we’ll drive into Poland to host an evangelistic family camp.

So many things to prepare

Over the past week, I’ve thought about how easy it is to become consumed with the preparations surrounding such a trip:

And the list goes on

The details involved in coordinating such a venture seem to never end. It would be easy for the work to distract us from the actual purpose of our going.

Ordinary, everyday life can do the same thing if we’re not careful. We can get so caught up in the stuff needed to keep things going at home and at work that we forget why we’re here.

Ultimately, we’re here to worship God and to enjoy relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. How that looks in real life is different for everyone. For me, it means spending the next five weeks in Eastern Europe sharing Christ’s love in word and deed.

For you, that might mean serving your kids while they’re home on summer vacation. It might mean playing hostess to visiting relatives and friends. It might mean baking cookies for your church’s DVBS or teaching a class there. It might mean taking some quiet, alone time to refresh your weary spirit and body.

Whatever our daily life looks like this summer, let’s purpose to keep first things first. Let’s enjoy our relationship with Jesus. Let’s invite Him into the mundane. Let’s do everything we do as an act of worship. And everything else will fall into place.

Knowing that my next five weeks will allow precious little quiet, reflective time, I intentionally sat down this morning to enjoy a few minutes to set my heart in the right place. I listened to Crown Him [Majesty] by Chris Tomlin with eyes closed and heart open.

The thought of God’s majesty and the fact that He wants relationship with me moved me to tears. It reminded me that the Christian life isn’t about being busy for the Lord; it’s about being in love with Him.

Take a few moments to listen to this song, okay? Let the lyrics wash over you and set your heart in a good place. Be blessed, my friend.