Priorities

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day in our world. It promises to be a beautiful, mild summer day, and I hope to make the very most of this gift in my life.

As the summer goes on, I find myself once again trying to deal with setting and keeping priorities--I find that it's far too easy to waste a lot of time on things that don't really matter to me, and to neglect doing many of the things that are very important. I am working on a book, and that's going fairly well, though it could be going better. I have a lot of website work to do, and I'm doing much of it, but not all that I could be doing. Part of my problem is that even though I promise myself to sit down and write out all that I need to do, I avoid doing that as I do other things.

I don't think life is all about doing and achieving--you know that. But I do know that there are many things that really need to be done, and putting them off isn't at all a good idea. I do know also that I get things done much more effectively when I have some sort of plan to do so--yet sitting down and making the plan is one of my weaknesses, and when I don't do so, hours can go by with nothing getting done. That makes me feel that I'm squandering time, because those hours also aren't a restful, peaceful time for me, as rest should be.

A reply:

Yes, it is a beautiful day, and yes, it holds many great opportunities for you to make the most of it. Please do so--that's why you have it!

Priorities. . . there's a word that humans have a very hard time with. Life is full of choices, isn't it? And each time you face a choice--of what to do, what to buy, what to throw away--your choice can be a reflection of your priorities, or not. Most people set priorities about things that they feel they should, such as work or accomplishments, but relatively few people make priorities of things like encouraging and helping others, resting and relaxing, spending time with the family. Priorities are something that can be used to help one to organize their thoughts and make decisions, yet most people react to the present moment's realities and spend time on Facebook even though their priorities don't include that at all.

The hard part is sticking to your priorities, it seems. Because one of your priorities is to have priorities, but you don't really. Believe it or not, I've given you enough time to do whatever you may want to do in life; most people, though, spend that time doing anything but the things that will help them to make their dreams come true.

Life isn't about achieving, but achievement definitely makes people feel good, especially about themselves. And if you want to achieve, remember that doing so isn't necessarily a question of prioritizing or using time well--it's about making the decisions that will allow you to do so, such as deciding not to visit Facebook at all today, or sitting down with that piece of paper to write that letter, or not turning on the television to watch a show that you've already seen (and trust me, even though you might not have seen a particular episode of a particular show, you've already seen the story in some other series).

Perhaps next time we can talk about decisions.