What is really URGENT?

I spent time doing something out of the ordinary this past weekend…relaxing. I didn’t go to the beach or the pool due to the rainy weather we’ve been experiencing here in much of Maryland. Nonetheless, my husband was feeling under the weather so I took the time to step away from my rat race of never-ending tasks I list to do daily (editing projects, answering emails, keeping up on social media, marketing my books, submitting speaker proposals…the list goes on) to watch a movie with him. At first it was like I had to force myself to sit still because I’m used to constantly doing. But I found myself eventually enjoying the quiet time of sitting with him, eating popcorn and watching the two-hour-plus  film, “All the Money in the World,” starring Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer and Mark Wahlberg.

Now this doesn’t sound out of the ordinary I’m sure for most folks. But I feel like I’ve been caught up lately in giving urgency to too many things…and as a result, being spun out of control to the point where I am left feeling physically run down, emotionally overwhelmed and spiritually lost.  So mid-weekend I stopped myself in my tracks and said, look, this is exhausting…God wants you to be successful in pursuing your purpose, but not at the price of losing  your joy, peace, health and sanity. I followed the advice I would give a friend…to slow down, take a breath and ask what is truly urgent right now? The answer was absolutely nothing. So I told her to go relax and enjoy something she really likes to do. In the rain, that something is watching a movie!

Funny, the movie (not so coincidentally) was about the priorities of love and money; in it the grandson of the richest man in the world, oil magnate J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped and held for the ransom sum of $17 million dollars by a group of thugs in Rome. The teenager’s mom begs her ex-father-in-law to part with some of his money (he’s worth billions) to pay to get her son back before it’s too late. Months go by in which she bargains with the kidnappers and gets them down to a few million; meanwhile, Getty still doesn’t budge and his grandson’s life and health are in danger. I won’t give away the end but suffice it to say you’ll feel a sense of urgency (and frustration) putting yourself in the mom’s shoes. Now this is an urgent matter!

I felt like I filled my well back up this weekend to the point where I can finally give to others again. Even Jesus took a rest now and then from healing and teaching. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to His disciples, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’†(Mark 6:31) It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to hear God’s still small voice over the roar of the 21st-century crowds, so, like Jesus, we must make time to rest and hear His voice.

I recently read that Satan is not only the Prince of Darkness but the Duke of Distraction. I believe this is so true! A million things can distract me if I let them, call out and demand my attention…to keep up, to get ahead, to do more. I just need to listen for the still, small voice of God amidst what I perceive as chaos – usually of my own making, stay in the present, breathe and know that all is well in this moment, in God’s perfect world.