Ponderings on Priorities, Projects and People

Lately life has been coming fast and furious at me.  A meeting here, a seminar there, and my 35th alumni homecoming (THAT was fun...but exhausting) Then there are mission trips to be planned, baptisms to conduct and board meetings to chair.  Not to mention all of the people who need a listening ear.  And last week we had a slew of tornadoes that took down quite a few church members trees and that resulted in a few days of chainsaw ministry.  Not to mention the regular everyday stuff of life--oh--and let's not forget TAXES!  (Yes I did procrastinate, thank-you, because of all of this other stuff.)

Point being, it seems as if there is always something to do or someone wanting a piece of my time or energy.  And that's all good.  But it is also wearisome.  Most days I'm up to the task, but some days I just want to hide and do nothing.  I want to simply pull the covers over my head and wish the world to go away.  But I don't because I know I would be further behind.


So yesterday, I'm in my truck driving back from an action-packed, fast-moving seminar up in the Scenic City on how to manage multiple priorities, projects and deadlines, and I'm thinking about how I have a lot of work to do to be up to the incredible efficiency levels of many others in the class, and then it hits me:  Maybe I'm not supposed to manage multiple priorities, projects and deadlines all the time.  Maybe not even much of the time.  As a matter of fact, maybe it isn't God's intent that I manage them at all, especially if it means I devalue people.

Yet I do it too often.  I get so intent on priorities, projects and deadlines that sometimes I push people right out of my picture.  I begin to see them as annoying interruptions to my day or something that simply sidetracks or delays me from being "really productive". 

And so I pondered what it means to be "productive", especially in my line of work as a pastor--but really, for any child of God.  And my pondering brought me to this:  Anytime I begin to see people as nothing more than interruptions to my productivity, I have already begun to be less than Christ-like, which is actually counterproductive to sharing the gospel.  Jesus came to die for people.  Not multiple priorities, projects or deadlines.

The work will always be there.  The projects never cease.  As soon as I finish one, another stands in line waiting for attention.  But Jesus said that His work was "to do the will of the One who sent me." If I'm a Christian...or Christ-follower, then isn't that my true work as well?  How is it that I've fallen for anything less than doing the will of the One who sent me?  But here I am trying to struggle against the many competing priorities, projects and deadlines that seem to always loom large on the horizon of my life.

So maybe I have to deal with them.  But maybe, in God's economy, I need to make sure that they never surpass people in their importance to me.  Jesus came to seek and to save people.  I must do no less. 

What about you?