One of my primary prayer requests this year has been proper priorities. One of my closest friends recently asked me about this concern with priorities, and I sent him a text answer, but I want to expand on it today.
I want my priorities to be properly aligned because it is easy to be distracted with lesser things.
I want to focus on God. I want to focus on my family. I want to focus on virtue. I want to focus on tasks that better enable me to do the first three.
If my primary focus is tasks then, sure, I might accomplish them—and I might end up making bank as a result. But if I lose my faith or my family in the process, what’s the point?
I have a wonderful wife and a precious son and daughter depending on me, but they need so much more than money from me. They need me. They need time with me. They need affection and compassion and comfort from me.
Here’s the crazy thing: my daughter was born a week ago (that week disappeared way too fast)! I tried to be as present as possible last week (which was aided significantly by being off work), but a week of her life has already passed.
If my priorities are out of line, 18 years will come and go, and I’ll only have myself to blame for missing out on the influence I could have had on my daughter’s life (not to mention my son’s).
Another crazy thing: I got a second full-time job on January 26th; I quit it on February 2nd. Wal-Mart wanted to pay me $14 an hour from 4-11 p.m. to get people through their checkout lines. However, despite being unable to start until at least February 14th, they were calling me twice a day to schedule me for work. My wife pointed out, “If this is their management style before you’ve even started, what will it be like when you officially start?”
While the extra $400 a week would have been amazing, I couldn’t justify only getting—if lucky—a single day each week (and almost no evenings) with my family.
Better a dry crust with peace
Proverbs 17:1
than a house full of feasting with strife.
If I blink I will miss it.
I have faith moving forward that better employment is just around the corner. I believe I didn’t train for ministry for the past ten years only to be destined to secular employment for my whole working career. I believe God will bless my decision to prioritize my family.
Faith like this is terrifying. We’re one car problem away from having negative funds. Extra income would ease this fear. But it’s like Jesus told us to pray:
“Give us today our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11
God has currently provided me with a job that brings in enough money for my family of four to survive, which includes a small amount to save. For this I must be grateful, refusing to covet more.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
1 Timothy 6:10
I must keep my eyes fixed on what truly matters in this life: God first, family second, everything else third. To focus on my family in a way that is truly edifying to them and not idolatrous for me, God must be at the forefront of my mind. He will keep me on the path he has prepared for me (Proverbs 3:5-8).
To get my priorities out of line is to blink. Too many blinks and the next thing I know I’ll be sitting at my daughter’s high school graduation regretting the wasted time.
In this with you.
I know I usually end posts with that comment, but here I want to expand on it for a moment.
Maybe you’re reading this and you’re realizing you’re wasting (have already wasted?) too much time. I’m not trying to shame you with this post.
I’m trying to encourage you. You see, there’s still time. You can always make an effort to redeem whatever time you have left. This is the Gospel. As long as you’re still breathing, it’s not too late for you.
Look to Jesus, ask him to help you reorient your priorities, and then take the steps needed to demonstrate that your priorities are reoriented.
God will bless this pursuit. He might not bless it with money, but he will bless it with lasting joy and a peace that surpasses understanding.
God bless you!
In this with you.
Solo Deo Gloria
Sola Fide
Solus Christus
Pro Ecclesia
Thanks for reading
