Do you ever feel like no one really has time for you? Like, you exist and people don't even really mind having you around, but they really just don't have time for you. Other than the quick "Hello" or "Hey, would you mind...", there isn't much time for you.
I have felt like that recently, and I know I'm not the only one. Christmas is a very busy time of year, and its a really busy time in ministry. Everyone around me has been extremely busy, including me. No one has time to hang out or even just talk...we're all just too busy. I have gotten a lot of phone calls asking for favors, but that's about it.
I wonder if this happens in other cultures? I am convinced that it doesn't. Well, it does in some cultures. In First world countries, I am sure this happens all the time. Think about how many phone calls you don't answer because you don't have time to talk. Or how many times you change your route when walking to avoid running into that "friend" that you don't have time for. When was the last time you had a full day planned, but instead took time to just talk to someone? Not even necessarily a "needy" person, maybe just a friend you have known forever but haven't talked to in a while...or even your spouse, whom you see every day but rarely get to really talk to. No real purpose in the conversation, other than to let them know that you care. (Believe me, I have asked myself these questions as well, and I don't like my answers).
I haven't traveled a lot, but the little amount of traveling I have done tells me that 2nd and 3rd world countries aren't as busy as we are. (Side note: who came up with those labels? Is Kenya really in a different world than America...and how did we get to be the first world? Okay, that's a whole other topic...). Wait, I take that back, they are just as busy, they are just busy caring for one another. Have you ever been to Ghana? The live in actual communities!! Not neighborhoods that call themselves communities, but real communities. They know the names of everyone around them. They share food, clothing, responsibilities. Unlike us, they actually spend most of their day in fellowship with one another. Whether they are working, cooking, cleaning, playing, etc...they tend to be in groups. People are important, and they know it.
What are we so busy doing anyway? Work? Ministry? Eating? Sleeping? Are there as many suicides in areas with real community as there are here? I am in full time ministry here in Philadelphia, and my heart and passion is for people. I bet if you took a poll of Americans about their biggest struggle, you would find that the #1 struggle that we all have in common is loneliness. You know its true...as you are reading this, you understand everything that I am saying. We all get lonely. Ironically, I think the way we deal with loneliness is to busy ourselves. The busier we get, the less lonely we feel. However, the busier we get the more lonely the people around us feel. Its not a pretty cycle, and it goes against everything that Jesus did.
I was trying to think of times when Jesus was really busy. I mean, of all the people in the world to have been too busy, it should have been Him. Yet, I don't find a single instance in scripture of Jesus being too busy for someone. In fact, you can read in Mark 5 that even when Jesus was in a hurry, He stopped to talk with people; to make sure they were known, heard...and they were healed.
I want to learn from His example. You see in the passage that Jesus was on His way to heal a little girl who was dying. As He was walking, another women (an outcast of society) came and touched His robe, and she was healed. Jesus could have kept walking and ignored her...He had to get to the little girl before she died. But, He didn't. He stopped and talked to the woman. He let her know that He felt her touch, He saw her, and He healed her. Soon after, though, people came to let Him know that the girl He was on His way to heal had died. Jesus was too late. If only He hadn't taken time to talk to that woman, then the little girl would still be alive! Jesus had a plan, and He should have stuck to it!
Haha, okay, so you know that isn't true. Yes, to everyone else it appeared that the little girl had died, but Jesus knew better. He wasn't too late. He got to the girl's house, told her to get up, and she did! The little girl came back to life!!
Okay, now lets see this story for what it is...a simple lesson in obedience. Had Jesus kept with His original plan, the girl would have been healed and people would have been happy. In fact, no one ever would have known what they missed out on...except maybe the woman who had been sick for 12 years. She would still be sick, outcasted, and completely unnoticed by the world. But Jesus didn't keep with His original plan, He followed His Father. Instead of one miracle, we have two...and the second one was even greater than if He had simply healed her.
Jesus realized that it wasn't all about Him and what He wanted, or even what He thought needed to happen. He was on His way to perform a miracle, which is a really good thing, so of course it was what God wanted Him to do, right? Wrong! If Jesus had checked out at that point and continued with His plan, He would have missed out on what His Father really wanted to do. Jesus had plan, but He wasn't too busy to listen to His Father.
I want to be available for whatever miracles God wants to do through me! I don't want to have my schedule so packed that I don't have time to let people know that they are important. I want people to call me when they need to hear words of comfort and peace...and know that I will pick up the phone.
So, I have been contemplating what all of this means for me practically. I am not giving up my responsibilities, but I am asking for Him to change my mindset. First, I do need to cut out the responsibilities that I have that He has not called me to. I want to rid myself of the busyness that I have accumulated. My friend Elizabeth describes it really well. She uses the analogy of a plate. If I put 10 things on my plate, it will be full. If I am to live the life God has called me to, the things on my plate when I wake up in the morning will ONLY be the things that He has called me to put there. Also, my plate should not be full when I wake up in the morning. I should only have 5 or 6 things on it, so there is room for the things that just come up...because inevitably things will always come up. (By the way, the numbers are just examples...). Finally, when I am on the way to do one of the things on my plate, I don't want to be so focused on my goal that I miss the people in need along the way. Now, there were times when Jesus chose not to heal people, if His Father wasn't calling Him to. However, He was never too busy to heal. He was so in tune with His Father, the activity wasn't the goal, His Father was. When Jesus planned on healing the little girl, His goal was not for the girl to be okay (as weird as that sounds), His goal was to see God's glory. Because His focus was on His Father, He didn't miss what His Father was doing.
Its kind of late, and I have been rambling a lot, so I apologize if any (or all, haha) didn't make much sense. My heart has been really burdened recently by all the hurting people around me, and that heart has lead me to think all the things I just wrote about. There is a girl in our ministry that just found 3 lumps in her breast and is terrified she might have cancer. Another girl just lost her baby and doesn't know where to turn with her grief. My heart grieves for them to a point of desperation. I want to see them healed, and yet I have been too busy recently to be a part of that healing. I don't want that to happen anymore! Its just sad that I had to wallow in my own loneliness to realize this...
No comments:
Post a Comment