I don't know about y'all, but lately my life has been full of reminders.
Reminders of how precious time is, and how little of it there really is. Reminders that my childhood is slipping away; and that soon adulthood shall be at my door, beckoning me into its world.
This isn't a bad thing., no not at all. Sometimes however I let it drag me down.
I mean, seriously...the time passes so ridiculously quick, does it not?! If you think on it too much it can get you in a mindset of serious depression.
If you think on it too much.
And forget to be thankful for the days you've already been blessed with.
Something else that's been on my heart lately has been the fact that so easily, things in life can get out of balance.
One particular activity takes center stage while more important things slip to the back burner.
Priorities get misplaced and suddenly you're wasting time on something completely NOT on the schedule.
Unfortunately, it happens oh-so-easily. Without even thinking about it, I manage to do exactly what I
'preach against', so to speak.
Lately, I'll admit that I've struggled with misplaced priorities. I've gotten on Facebook and spent way too long there - whether it be chatting with friends, commenting on other peoples' posts or even just scrolling the newsfeed. I've given it too many of my hours, and for what outcome? How will spending so much time on social networking sites benefit me - or others - in the eternity to come?
When I spend too much time "connecting" on Facebook, what better, more fruitful activities could I be doing instead?
I've also been considering how much time I spend blogging. I currently own four different blogs, and contribute regularly to at least two of them. This has occupied a good portion of my time as well. At least with blogging, I've told myself, I can see visible end-products. I can hope that my posts have touched y'all's hearts and pointed you to the Savior. I can hope that I was able to pass on useful information which might benefit you readers.
Still.
Which is more important - blogging about God, or actually spending time with Him?
Please note - I aim not to condemn anything or anyone, but only to raise some heartfelt questions.
If I were to say nothing else but a few more words, I'd say this: Life is a balance.
Everything we do, every choice we make - it's all about balance. You can upset the balance by misplacing priorities and putting important things on the back burner while more trivial items get center stage; or, you can maintain proper balance by making sure the more vital things are accomplished first. And if these things do get accomplished first, everything else will fall into place.
Once, several years ago, I was in a season of almost-too-abundant (wait...who am I kidding? My whole life has been way-too-abundantly blessed!!) blessing and I puzzled over why things were that way. Why had God given me such favor?
My mom gave me an interesting answer. "Because you've been putting Him first in your life". (paraphrased)
I still believe that all my years have been blessed incredibly beyond what I deserve. I do not exaggerate when I say incredibly blessed. It's just truth plain as that.
However, some days you feel the presence of God more than others. There were days when I felt His presence so incredibly often. I had joy that was indescribable. Sure, I had days when I fell out of whack and didn't give Him the time He deserved, but overall that joy was immense and oh-so-wonderful.
I still experience this joy now, but sometimes I wonder if I am subtly pushing my Creator away by the things I do - or don't do - in my days. The choices I make for how I spend my time affect my relationship with Christ. My choices affect my future.
Choices are so important. And it's all the more vital that we make the right ones. ANYTHING can be overdone, or had too much time/energy/thought put into it. Anything can be placed out of balanced, prioritized wrongly. Anything that is, besides God and His Word.
So, I know this was a rambling kind of post. Hopefully it wasn't boring or preachy-sounding to you. I have just had these thoughts on my mind and felt led to share them with y'all.
On a lighter note, summer is here and I can't wait to go to the beach in a few weeks. Above is a collage of photos from 4-5 years ago at our beach hotel we visit every year for our annual family reunion.
This one (yes, I edited it and put a filter on it *grins sheepishly*) was from 3 years ago.
Am I the only one who is loving this jumping-in-photos thing? My brothers and I did the whole shebang before it even got popular, as evident above. ^_^ I hope we can take some more fun jumping pictures this year too.
What are you looking forward to about summer?
Soli Deo gloria,
Loved this post =D
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, Liadain! I completely understand about your struggles with priorities and time, having gone through the exact same thing. Goodness, I still struggle with this problem.
ReplyDeleteTime spent on the computer is usually wasted. I admit I have had nothing to do with Facebook, but Pinterest can be a REAL problem for me... and I, too, love blogging! We just have to make sure what needs to be done NOW is done before we plan to spend an hour or two surfing the internet. It is soooo hard! I've found what helps me is to have a schedule (you may already do this), and plan for one hour a day to check email, blog, etc. and discipline myself to spend the rest of that day on more productive stuff.
I apologize for the lengthy comment... =]
Blessings,
Sarah
No need to apologize. :) I agree, and the schedule DOES help a ton. Thank you for commenting!
DeleteCompletely get it. I'm working on the same problem myself, lately. :)
ReplyDelete