You know what I am tired of hearing myself talk about? How busy I am. Yes. I do a bunch of stuff. But yes- I have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. And, just like everyone else, I get to choose how I spend it! So why do I get stuck in this cycle of complaining about how little time I have like my own schedule is something that is happening TO me?
I chose this!
Half the things I find myself racing around to do are things that my husband calls ‘fake busy’… burning items on my to do list that I just made up out of my head that I need to get done. Since when is buying a new pack of athletic socks an emergency? It sure seemed 
that way to me last Thursday! Just because I have $10 loyalty rewards and a 40% coupon at AC Moore does not mean that I am required to go to that store today. Whether or not I have painted my fireplace is actually not a life and death situation. And yet, that’s how I live my life! 80% of the things I feel stressed about are things that I made up for myself to do.
How about you?
How often are your days filled with ‘fake busy’ items on your to do list?
How much time to you spend in front of the TV? On social media? Disengaged with your life?
How many hidden pockets of time are being lost in your day?
I have a lot. And as I am reflecting this Lenten season, I wonder what would happen if I invested that time more wisely? If I lived my life intentionally, prioritizing people over things? If I spent the hours entrusted to me engaging with my kids, calling an out of town friend, or just savoring the sweetness of my life, instead of rushing headlong into the next project I created for myself?
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude
We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
-Psalm 39:4-6
We have a choice. Even on the things we have to do. Yes. Humans need to eat, with shocking regularity. But what if cooking a meal was an invitation into presence? If we enjoy the scents, the smells, the colors of cooking our food, instead of rushing it onto plates? What if time spent in the car was seen as an opportunity to pray blessings on the strangers we pass along the road? Or to marvel at the beauty of a sunset, a tree branch, a backseat child’s laughter?
There is a difference between surviving and truly living. We all have 24 hours. How we spend them is an attitude of the mind.
seconds of selah 