The Year End Holiday Frenzy forces each of us to compartmentalize every day, throughout the day. We don’t have a choice, we can’t do everything at once, so we do what has to be done now. The problem with compartmentalizing is that whatever is most urgent takes the stage. Sometimes what is most important takes the stage but usually its second fiddle to urgency.
Men are especially good at this. The moment I get out of bed that’s what I do: handle the urgent. I work fast and furious to get caught up with the urgent so that I might have time for the important. But the treadmill of the urgent seems never to stop or end. The more I get done the more appears. Everything else is set aside and on hold in favor of the urgent.
The same goes for my Apologetics passion. There’s a video to watch, a book to read or a blog to write –but it seems as if the time is never there. And when there is time it’s merely leftover energy, the dregs of what’s left over at the end of a long day just before my head hits the pillow.
What’s the solution to this colossal problem? Is it the latest software program or book promising to maximize organization?
I am already ultra-organized. Organizing is one of my favorite activities however once everything is organized to the nth degree I’m still left with a list of organized urgent matters that still need my time and attention. They’re clearly listed on my organizational schedule but that doesn’t get them done. They still need a piece of my finite time, energy and attention. It seems as though I don’t have enough to go around.
I’ve tried giving up sleep but that’s no way to live and anyway I’m much less productive. The second law of thermodynamics says you don’t get something for nothing so going without sleep must be paid for with increased stupor!
As I get older, especially at year end during the holiday season when there is so much to be done, the stark truth of my mortality comes into focus with even greater clarity. Mere mortals possess finite time and finite energy. Add to that the desire to do more and more you get a time/energy train wreck!
There is a solution hidden in plain sight during this Holiday season. Specifically the Christ in Christmas.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest’” (Matthew 11:28).
