Article – Page 22 – Walter Hill

“I’m busy.” How often does that singular reason keep us from doing something? A key to overcoming the “busy beast” is finding intentionality. Being intentional takes discipline and thought, but it frees us from becoming slaves to our schedules. Here are a few questions that help us be intentional:

1. Does this matter? Always contemplate an opportunity’s value and importance. Certain things just don’t deserve our valuable time on a regular basis (mindlessly scrolling social media, etc.). Asking what is important highlights our most necessary tasks but also reveals our biggest priorities. However, remember there are times we need things that aren’t pressing or important that give us rest.

2. Who does this benefit? This question helps us avoid selfishness and self-neglect. There are many times we become unbalanced because we get carried away giving too much time to our career, to ourselves, to our children, to a problem, or to others––to the determent of other things that matter. When we serve people and priorities in balance, we are practicing intentionality.

3. What’s missing? If you have a deficiency in your diet, you ask, “What am I not getting?” and then you supplement. Being intentional about spending your energy forces us to make sure we are checking all the boxes on what matters and is necessary. By surveying what all you are doing, you’ll probably see what you are missing.

4. Where does godliness fit? As a Christian, this is more reminder than question. Don’t ask, “Where does God fit?” If that is the question, the answer can easily become a frame of time (think 8:30 or 10 on Sunday morning). Instead, the quality of godliness should show up across our week and it demands we also spend time with God. Being intentional on how your “Christian light” shines in your work/school week, in your leisure time, in your most pressing and least pressing tasks is a must for followers of Jesus.

I’ve heard much talk the last couple weeks about the need for unity. They are right. No establishment does well when it is divided from inside. Jesus rightly stated, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divid- ed against itself will stand” (Matthew 12:25). Whether we are talking about America or your family unit, strife from within tears people apart like nothing else. So, how can we have unity?

1. Be team- mates. Whenever we see others with the same aspirations and goals, willingly work with them. This is es- pecially vital to the success of our families. Hus- bands and wives must work together–that means never undermining the other for selfish reasons. Teammates all wear the same jersey and have a singular mission. (Further study: find and read the 11 passages that Paul us- es the term “fellow worker”.)

2. Don’t fault-find. We’re all imperfect. Thus, if you look very hard at all, you can find plenty of flaws. By giving focus to insufficiencies, failures, or past indiscretions, we cannot move forward together. (Of course, this is not encouragement to abandon accountability or discard the necessity of morality; it is simply a realization that looking for bad only highlights bad and little good comes from that.)

3. Discuss openly. Often disagreements can come from a lack of commu- nication–either a lack of speaking/explaining or a lack of hearing/understanding. When there’s a problem in a marriage, partners need to talk about it. Problems aren’t solved in silence. If there are differences, much good can come from respect- ful, honest dialogue. Read Proverbs 1:5, 18:12–13;