Don't Scramble, Prioritize!

Opportunities for Spiritual Growth and Engagement:
Don’t Scramble, Prioritize!


I left the pepper plant in the garage too long. It is hanging down its head and crying. In desperation I dug an extra big hole, deposited an extra amount of enriched soil, watered it with a copious amount of fertilized water—too much, too late.
As I ponder on this little vignette of my gardening catastrophe, I am struck with how this describes so much of our life efforts. Only when we see the heart, the relationship, the value, the priority nearly dead do we shift into what I call “the scramble mode.” We run around, scrambling here and there, grasping for anything and everything as a last straw of hope.
This entire approach to God is neither healthy nor glorifying to God. Waiting too late has its own consequence—no more opportunities. Our daily lives are filled with opportunities to attend to the priorities. But if we shove them back on the shelf, the time will come when they will present themselves no more.
I love hot peppers. Only a hot-pepper-lover would understand this statement. But if I love hot peppers so much, why did I leave this one special plant in the garage too long?

+I got too busy
+I forgot
+I kept putting it off
+Every time I saw it I kept reassuring myself, I will do it tomorrow
+Pepper plants are hardy and resilient
+I still have time left

You know the excuses. We have all made them. The rationalizations muffle the sound of the screaming priorities. Busyness, self-preoccupation, procrastination, rationalization, false sense of security—we have relied on all of them at one time or another.

Some one in the hospital—why did I not go by and give them a word of comfort and prayer before they died? I intented to…

+I got too busy
+I forgot
+I kept putting it off
+Every time I remembered I kept reassuring myself, I will do it tomorrow
+People are hardy and resilient, they will get better
+I still have time left

Remember, don’t scramble, prioritize! You’ll never regret it. To God be the glory!
In Christian love, Curtis