busy.

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while but hadn't quite nailed down what I wanted to say. And ironically enough, as I'm writing about being "busy," I've never had so much free time IN. MY. LIFE. But venture with me...

It all started well over a month ago when I was walking back from class one morning. This guy walking in front of me yelled at a friend across the street: "Hey buddy, can we grab lunch this week?" To which his friend responded, "I don't know man, I have a really busy week. I'll text you!"

This brief exchange really got me thinking... Isn't that a pretty normal response? "I have a busy week." Aren't we all busy? For example, on any given day, I have class, work, homework, intramurals, ministry events, group meetings, etc. Most days I feel like I wake up and GO GO GO until bed. But don't most people? Isn't that the norm in our society now?

So, the question becomes... what are we busy with? What is consuming our schedule? I think it's so easy to get caught up in all the things we "have to do" and lose sight of the important things in life. It's easy to skip a quiet time with the Lord after a long day. It's easy to let friendships suffer because of other commitments. It's easy to miss out on opportunities because we can't take our "blinders" off.

Prime example: Earlier in the semester I was going for a run... it was one of those days where I was "squeezing in" a workout because of everything else I had going on. As I was running down Cumberland Avenue, there was a homeless man sitting at the bus stop. Well as I went by him, something told me to STOP. To talk to this man. Pray for this man. Help this man. It was most definitely the Holy Spirit. But you know what I did? I kept running. I was "so busy" and in "too much of a hurry" to stop. To be obedient. This moment has stuck with me and I'll have to answer for my disobedience one day; but it has taught me to slow down. We can't continue to "run" through life, going from one task to the next blindly. We can't be too busy to see the needs of those around us. We have to learn, in a fast-paced world, to SLOW DOWN.