It’s easy to feel busy living in Austin! Mo-Pac; am I right? In addition, we have access to more things than we can imagine (Smart phones, task management, hobbies, online, educational, entertainment, etc.). Then, if you add a career, school, spouse, kids, house it becomes an endless list of things to do on our list. And that doesn’t include being involved in a local church in Austin and a growing relationship with Jesus.
Challenge: Let’s be honest. Being busy makes us feel important. Being busy makes us feel accomplished. Those things aren’t wrong in and of themselves but those are things that can feel exhausting. Here are some things I have found helpful to overcome busyness:
- You’re Not Alone. By God’s grace the Lord has blessed us with many resources and many opportunities, which means we have a lot of responsibility and a lot of things in life trying to distract us from the responsibilities.
- Write It Down: Have you ever written down all those responsibilities in life? Try it. Go through your week, Monday to Sunday and write down everything you are responsible for in a given week. This exercise can result in three things: First, you will see all the good and precious gifts the Lord has given you. Second, writing it down helps us not to fixate and worry about those things. Third, it’s possible things in our head seem bigger and scarier in our head. Simply writing them down can help some areas of life feel more manageable. Here’s an example:
- Shower.
- Breakfast.
- Hygiene. (It all takes time!)
- Devotional.
- Getting children ready (If applicable.)
- Commute.
- Work.
- Lunch. (Did you have to prepare it at home?)
- Work.
- Pick up kids (If applicable.)
- Commute.
- Exercise.
- Dinner.
- Meeting.
- Kids ready for bed (If applicable)
- Hygiene.
- Sleep
- Create A Schedule: Open up an excel document in Google drive, write down days of the week and times of the day and start filling in your areas of responsibility. We schedule things that are important. Our areas of life are important. Why not do this simple exercise to see if our areas of life “fit” into our week?
- Rule of 8: I don’t know if that is a rule. I just made it up but doesn’t it sound good? There are 24 hours in a day; 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work and 8 hours of discretionary time. In those 8 hours we need to shower, eat, hygiene, commute, devotional time, meetings, exercise, relationships, doctors, etc. How are we going to use those precious 8 hours? Are we using those 8 hours intentionally? Are we using those 8 hours creatively? Could we double up on some things? If we double up, are we watering down? These are all great questions but helpful to consider when we are thinking about those specific 8 hours?
- Cutting Corners: You want to hear a dirty little secret? We all try to cut corners on those other 16 hours (sleep and work.). It’s okay, you can admit it. We wake up earlier. We stay up later. We sometimes cheat work hours but most of the time we end up working longer and cut into those precious 8 discretionary hours. We need to be honest with ourselves. Maybe we need to ask for help? But either way, make sure your real schedule shows up on your “create a schedule.”
- Work As A Team: If you are married, make sure you go through this exercise with your spouse. There are some areas where spouses can serve one another and bless one another but if we never talk about those areas with our spouse we will miss out on those opportunities.
- Build In Rest / Fun: When you create a schedule, build in rest, fun and renewal. Sometimes we don’t know how to rest, have fun and renew. Then, start having fun by learning what you like to do for fun. God’s Word is clear, life is hard. Creation was made perfect in Genesis 1-2, creation ends perfect in Revelation 21-22 and everything in the middle is a rollercoaster of hardship, so schedule in rest, fun and renewal every week.
- What Has God Called Me to In Life?: This might be the most important point. We can have a lot of plates to spin in life but are we spinning the plates the Lord has given us responsibility to spin? How do you know God’s calling on your life?
- Pray. Ask Him to show you!
- We’re all called in Christ to live for His glory. Therefore, look at the areas of life you have been entrusted and prayerfully ask, “How can I honor the Lord in these areas of my life?”
- Where are we gifted? Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are given spiritual gifts, therefore, we want to align our gifts with His glory and our calendar.
These are just a few helpful tips but the good news is that we could never “do” enough to validate our existence. There are no titles, circles of friends, trophies, or financial standing that is going to satisfy our inner desire of significance. In fact, we will likely destroy our lives in the process of trying to build up that significance. This is the good news of the gospel!
Jesus comes to call us His. Jesus comes to give us His righteousness, His eternal significance as sons and daughters of the Most High. Therefore, under the umbrella of His peace, let us consider how we are gifted, areas where we have been blessed, so that we might stumble forward and live for His glory.
North Village Church
This article was written by Pastor Michael Dennis, Lead Pastor at North Village Church; a non-denominational church in Austin, TX, established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
Check out our North Village Church calendar highlights such as our Christmas Eve Service in Austin and Easter Sunday Service.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information, please call (512)-623-9272 or email [email protected]
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