The hurry habit steals our peace, kills our joy and destroys our witness. That’s the enemy’s agenda, every day, all day long! (see Jn 10:10) Ahhhh, but Jesus came that we may have life, and have it to the full! That means living a life that is filled to the overflow with peace and joy, no matter what is going on, which causes our witness, that is our life story, to be attractive to those who might not yet know Jesus. The point to being born again is to act more like God, in Whose image we were created, than to act like our old, sinful self. But if we are losing our minds because we are so busy…see what I’m talking about?! When we choose to connect with God and remember we are never alone and always have His help in all we need to do, we can take a moment and be filled with peace instead. And as I hinted yesterday, a big part of this new habit is allowing ourselves lots of margin in our daily schedule.
We all know what margin is, right? Those spaces on a paper that we write on so that everything is not just written right to the very edges of the paper. That would only end up looking like chaos, which is opposite peace. When we make room in our days for the unexpected, we can remain at peace, even if those unexpected things do happen. For instance, if we have a doctor’s appointment at 1pm, and the office is 30 minutes away, we should never leave the house at 12:30, right?! What if there is traffic, or God forbid we get a flat tire, or a million other scenarios? Then we stress out about getting to the appointment on time. Instead we should give ourselves cushion. Leaving our home at 12 instead, will ensure we are there on time, with peace intact. So let’s say there is no traffic and we are blessed enough to catch all the green lights on our way, so we get to the office a half hour early, what then? Well, then we can use that “extra” time wisely. Like, how about pulling out the Bible app on our phone and reading God’s Word? Or how about thanking God that you made it there safely. Or what about praying for the doctor, the nurses who work there, any other patients who might be at the office sick and feeling hopeless and…ok, now I’m just getting crazy, right? Praying for people you don’t even know?! Imagine if the whole Church made some time in our busy schedules for that!?! I’m preaching to myself here too!!!
Learning to have and hold on to our peace is something this world desperately needs to see modeled, my Friends. Leaving margin in every part of our lives can help us display it. Whether this means purposely making some alone time to spend with our spouse, intentionally creating fun activities to experience with our children, not living beyond our income and making sure we are saving a portion of it for emergencies or carving out time to call friends, all these will lead us to a more Abundant Life…and that will glorify God, hopefully bringing others into the Life He wants for us all to have, enjoy and share. Next habit tomorrow…
14 Good Habits
Behavior 1: The God Habit
Behavior 2: Thoughts, Words and Habits
Behavior 3: The Habit of Being Decisive
Behavior 4: Healthy Habits
Behavior 5: The Happy Habit
Behavior 6: The Faith Habit
Behavior 7: The Habit of Excellence
Behavior 8: The Habit of Being Responsible
Behavior 9: The Habit of Generosity
Behavior 10: The Hurry Habit
2023’s Got A Minute? Book Club
January: The First & Best Book Ever: The Bible
February: Love Is In the Air: “The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts” by Gary Chapman
March: Spring Growth: “Secrets of the Vine” by Bruce Wilkinson
April: Living the Resurrected Life: “The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life” by Dr Charles Stanley
May: My Spiritual Mom: “Making Good Habits Breaking Bad Habits” by Joyce Meyer
<>< Peace, Diane
