It happens. Every once in a while, I get too busy to put a tool back where it belongs. A few weeks or months later, when I need it again…It’s gone!!! Sometimes, as in the case of the channel locks I lost last spring, the tool shows back up months later, usually after I bought a replacement. Other times, the lost tool never shows up again. And on other occasions, the lost tool is found after months of being out in the weather and is even beyond the repair of elbow grease, a wire brush, and a can of WD-40.
What happens when we are too busy to take care of what is important? We lose those important things, we miss those important things, and we destroy those important things.
What happens when we are too busy to spend quality time with our children? Sure, work is important and money is a good tool for the kids to have later on in life. Not to mention, those public meetings at the town hall and in the school board don’t function without somebody’s time and commitment. But what will you do if you lose something so important as your son or daughter?
And what happens when we are too busy to take regular personal time to spend with our spouse, that time we need to make sure our relationship is where it belongs? We made a commitment to stay together, “until death do us part.” If we don’t take some time “to have and to hold” each other, we are breaking our promise and missing someone that cannot be replaced.
And what happens when we are so busy with the world that we lay aside the kingdom of heaven? What happens when we are too busy to spend as little as 5, 10, or 15 minutes every day with Jesus in prayer and in His word? What happens when we are too busy to take one day off every week for fellowship and worship with our Christian community? What happens when we are too busy investing in our own comforts and pleasures that we never take the good news to the countless lost souls all around us? When we are too busy for God and His kingdom, people are lost and even destroyed.
There is enough time for what is most important in life. But you will only find that time when you put those important things first. A pair of channel locks can be replaced. But none of us should ever risk the haunting reality of losing our most important relationships and waking up every morning to realize over and over, “It’s gone!”
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33