Are you too busy? My morning started with a text message from Las Vegas at 3:30am their time from a seminarian who simply text “please call back.” It’s 7 in the morning and I listened as Dan shared that his grandmother in Hawaii went home to God about twenty minutes ago and he just wanted to chat about her life. He shared that in his Hawaiian tradition, folks who die always leave a sign. Before the phone call from his dad about her passing, he had dreamed about his grandma and all the joyful times they had spent together. His sadness was about losing a friend, but the stories about her love for her first grandson were a source of comfort. So begins another busy day.
I next had scheduled a meeting with an Apple sales rep for breakfast. I was desperately searching for a mentor to upgrade our Apple computers and phones. During my briefing at the diner, learning about the latest and expensive gadgets, a gentleman from another table compliments the rep’s 60’s T-shirt and asked for my opinion about eating healthy foods. I was eating oatmeal with raisins so I guess I stood out from his multi-calorie omelet.
This briefing ended with the rep’s promise to help in the transition and this brought me great peace of mind. I next moved on to make a hospital visit to bless a 90-year-old mom diagnosed with cancer. She was going home but sadly her neighbor was in the ICU in the same hospital on a vent and the family was preparing to withdraw life support and send their daughter home to Jesus.
After this pastoral call, I visited my favorite camera shop who cleaned the sensor on my Nikon and suggested a new wide angle lens that would add detail to my landscape photos. From the camera store, it was time to go grocery shopping reviewing my plant-based recipes to buy zucchini, avocado, mushrooms, garlic and beans.
When I got home it was time to prep the potatoes to roast in the oven, then make the marinade for the chicken thighs and cut the onions and mushrooms. It was a Mediterranean recipe that got compliments before. While food was marinating, I reviewed my emails and one message that stood out came from Kari, the Executive Director at Charlotte House. Her message was a plea for donations since the Buffalo Bills Foundation were willing to double all donations to local non-profit agencies in the next 48 hours. In addition, there would be an hourly drawing and three agencies would receive an additional $500 if your agency was picked from a random drawing. The trick was to donate at a time when few donations would be made, Best time to donate would be at two or three in the morning.
Exhausted, I am sitting down eating dinner in front of the TV split screen that details the news of the day from around the world. Most of it pretty darn depressing. Yes, we are over connected. We are distracted with so much information that we have no time for formation.
Too often we are spiritually empty because we keep ourselves distracted with too much information, busier and fuller. Only to discover that the busier we get the more frantic and empty we feel. Why, because being hurried and busy may be the most dangerous enemy to our spiritual life.
Too busy, we have no time to love God. To love God takes time. It takes energy, It takes passion. It takes stillness.
Allow me to share one practical way to discover Jesus in the middle of your busyness. Spontaneous prayer. Talk to Jesus, talk to Jesus about the events of your day. Pick a moment away from your busyness and enter in the presence of God.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are too busy and that includes me. My spontaneous prayer today: "thank you Lord that when I donated to Charlotte House at three am in the morning, they were picked to win another $500. Big thank you, Lord."
