(part 2 of “uncomplicated”)
Oh, the calendar. What an interesting part of life. The calendar can be a really good thing to have around, but it can also be a very stressful thing to have around. Last year, I wrote a blog post encouraging us to look at how we fill in the squares of the calendar. When the post was written last year, we all were about 2 months into a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I said in that post “everything has slowed way down – for now.” [1] The purpose of the post last year was to get me and anyone who read the post to think about how we could all manage the calendar differently in the future once everything returns to a “normal” – whatever that will look like. As of the time this post is being written, we still really do not know too much about it. But one thing we do know is that things are starting to appear on the calendar again. The calendar is starting to fill up in some areas of life. But are we allowing the calendar to run over us again or have we seen some new things and ways to help the calendar not run our life as it did before? Did not having a lot on our calendar for a few months last year show us a new way to fill in the squares?
As we look back at Mary and Martha’s story. There were some things on their calendar that needed to be done. We aren’t quite sure what these things were as the Bible does not tell exactly what the preparations that Martha was struggling with were. We just know that Jesus had come to the village where Mary and Martha lived and Martha had welcomed Jesus into her home (Luke 10:38, NLT). But when you think about Jesus coming to visit and all of the disciples coming with Him, you could guess at what was going on in the house as far as preparations are concerned. So the calendar was full of stuff to do. But when Jesus gets to the house, Mary forgets about the calendar and sits at the feet of Jesus. When Martha gets mad, Jesus tells Martha that He is not going to remove Mary from listening to Him. Jesus here did not care about the preparations that had to be done. Jesus cared about Mary and Martha and wanted to spend time with them. Mary and Martha, along with their brother Lazarus, were dear friends of Jesus (John 11:3, NLT).
What Jesus is trying to teach Martha in this story is that we need to make time for the right things when we are filling in the squares. Jesus was in their home and Martha was not making time for him. She was busy doing the list of things on the calendar. Do we make time for Jesus on our calendar when we are filling in the squares? Do we add space to spend time hearing from Jesus on our calendar? If we want to hear Jesus like Mary was hearing Jesus, we need to allot time in the squares to spend time with him. This time we spend with Jesus shouldn’t be when we are the busiest and we just try and cram time in over lunch. This time needs to be away from the distractions. Mary left the distractions behind and focused and listened to Jesus.
If putting Jesus in the squares daily is a new process for you, try starting with just 5 minutes. [2] In that time, read a verse of the Bible or an inspirational quote that points your focus to Jesus. Here is a suggestion that might help you with this – download the YouVersion Bible app. It is free and available wherever you download your apps from. I have also provided a link below that will help you start the process. The Bible offers many different things to help you get time with Jesus. There is a verse of the day and devotionals that range from a few days to weeks or months long that you can start. The Bible app will also read Scripture to you. You can also set up the Bible app to remind you to take time to do the devotional you started or text you the verse of the day. This is a really good tool that will help you get started putting Jesus in those squares.
Also, to go along with the paragraph above, we should get church attendance in the squares. There is nothing magical about attending church, but it is a place where we can focus on Jesus for 60 to 90 minutes. If we want to hear Jesus speak to us, we need to get a place where we can hear Him speak. We need to get to a quiet place like Mary did. We need to find that place like Jesus encouraged His disciples to find in Mark 6. [1] If we want to hear God more and desire to hear His words, we need to attend church. Church needs to be a weekly part of our calendar. [2]
When filling in the squares, make time for your marriage. Put regular time for you and your spouse in the squares. This is an area where I struggle and maybe you do as well. Do we make regular time for our marriage on our calendar? This is not just a date night every Friday or Saturday. Do we make daily time for our spouses and marriage? This is so important for us to have on our calendars. Also, this will help if your marriage has been a little rocky lately. Put it on the calendar or put it back on the calendar if it has been bumped off. There needs to be time for your marriage on the calendar so you can discuss things and resolve issues that might be there. Marriages can’t heal themselves and just get better without time being put into them. If needed, put in time on the calendar for counseling so the problems can get worked out. [2]
Family time needs to be in the squares. This is very important too. This is very important to me. I have always been a family guy. When work has gotten demanding in the past and threatened this family time, I have become upset. When I am home, I want to be home and present. Maybe this is you too. But maybe, if you are like me, sometimes this gets pushed off of the calendar as well. But maybe it doesn’t get pushed off of the calendar by your job. Maybe it has gotten pushed off of the calendar by duties around the house – like Mary from the story.[3] Maybe it has gotten pushed off of the calendar by doing school work that needs to be done. Maybe it has gotten pushed off of the calendar by the attention we spend looking at our phones. When you think about it, there is not a lot of time in the day for family time. There are school and school activities. There is homework. There are friends that want time with members of the family. There are dates. There are, in some circumstances, custody agreements that need to be honored. There are probably more. There are a lot of things pulling and trying to nudge our family time out of the squares. But we need family time to be there. Set up a game night that cannot be moved and honor that time when at all possible or if the game night gets interrupted put it on another night, but don’t let it leave the squares. Have dinner with everyone present as much as possible. Have movie nights on the calendar. Put one on one time with each of your kids and your spouse on the calendar.
One final thing that should be in the squares, time for you. You need to recharge as well. There needs to be time for you to be able to do something that you enjoy so that you can rest, relax, and recharge. Everyone needs a little bit of time for themselves. Putting this time on your calendar might feel selfish, but I assure you it is not. Jesus put this time on His calendar. If you don’t have time for yourself, you can become irritated, overwhelmed with everything, and that is not good for the people in your life. Jesus knew that about Himself and us which is why He put that time in His squares.
Start working on filling in those squares in a way that everyone benefits from it. It is hard to get all of the pieces of the puzzle in place, but it will be worth it in the end. Once you get the puzzle completed, don’t drift from it. There are unknowns that will come up and alter the squares. But don’t let the unknown things that come up push things off of your calendar.
“So, start today – begin now – and harness the transformative power of your calendar by using it to help you organize your life around God-first priorities.” [2].
------------------------
The resource for the "uncomplicated" series is Simplify by Bill Hybels.
The Bible app information: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/
[1] This post references 2 previous posts from The Focus Point
that place - https://www.thepointoffocus.com/post/that-place
[2] Simplify by Bill Hybels, 2014, chapter 2
[3] Luke 10:38-42
Commentaires