Not Enough Hours

This has been a rich, busy, exciting season for me. In addition to the release of my new book and the transition into a full-time consulting ministry, one of my sons is graduating from high school and another is getting married. As a result, I often start my mornings with a full “to do” list and an anxious buzz in my mind that there aren’t enough hours in the day.

From a human perspective, this is exactly right. There aren’t enough hours for me to cross everything off that list. But I don’t think this is a biblical perspective. After all, what does it mean that God’s yoke is easy (Matt. 11:30)? Or that I shouldn’t worry about tomorrow (Matt. 6:34)? Or that there is a time and season for everything (Eccl. 3:1)? Or that I can’t add a single hour to my life (Matt. 6:27)?

So how do I make sense of this? I believe that the God who loves me is not a cruel taskmaster who will load me down to see how much I can take before I break. I believe there are seasons when we are very busy and seasons when we can rest and be refreshed. And I believe that I have a choice to make when I am faced by an overwhelming list of things to be done. I can decide which of these things are truly important and which to let slide. I can choose to trust God and not be anxious about the things that go undone. I can decide whether to keep piling things on that list in order to feed my ego. I can choose whether to make time for family and friends or focus strictly on tasks.

I recently listened to a message by John Ortberg in which he pointed out that God was able to run the universe without my help before I was born and that He will continue to do so after I am gone. I may not think there are enough hours in the day, but they are all I’ve got. So I’m going to try to make the most of them, thankful for what I have rather than being anxious about what is missing.

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