No time for anything!

     You and I hear this every now and then throughout the year but especially during the holidays.  We don't have time for anything and so discriminate on what's important to us first, our families second and others third.  We might even put Jesus into the equation if someone is watching.  Having no time for anything isn't God's doing and was never his intention for any part of his creation.  That includes us!  Because we have no time for anything we fall prey to everything.  Our busy lives start being distracted, we become stressed and forget to turn things over to God.  One thing leads to another and before you know it we are in trouble within our own world because of our own doing.  Having too many things on your plate isn't good for anyone and certainly isn't good for your relationship with God.  Along with no time for anything we have no time for God and that's not good in any sense of the word.  From the beginning God has wanted first and foremost to have a relationship with us.  He wants to walk with us, talk with us, console us, heal us, and many more things if we would only stop and let him once again take us in his arms.  But we make excuses and talk about no time for anything and that there are too many things on our plates keeping us from making time for God.
     Have you ever watched a family with multiple children getting ready to do something?  How about a group of workers who are tasked with doing a project that requires cooperation?  Maybe you have been in a church committee that has a makeup of different people who assume they are in charge. There are hundreds of other groups and individuals that could be used as examples of no time for anything.  These are NOT Biblical examples of the Christian life.  They are examples of people who don't take time to let God speak to them and direct their ways.  These examples are worldly and meant to distract you from having the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  Peace within the storms of life isn't necessary when there is no storm.  So, who creates the storm?  Other people, organizations, pastors, the church lady?  No, that's now who creates the storm.  It is you!  You create the storms in your life.  Your storms affect others and that's how the crazy making happens in your world.  YOU have done it to yourself, God and others.  We all have times when it seems like we don't have time for anything.  What we do in those times reflects whether we have the image of God or the image of the world. 
     I grew up in the midst of the storm in a world without God.  God was there as I would find out when I met him.  But during the first 20 years of my life there were many storms and sometimes multiple storms at the same time.  Some of the storm were my doing.  Some of the storms were other's doing.  We think of the illustration of Jesus asleep in the boat and the lack of faith of the disciples who woke him in their panic to stop the storm and save their lives.  The problem was they thought that they had their lives in control.  As I grew up I was convinced the whole world lived as I did.  That would be found to be untrue.  When I came face to face with the truth in God's word I realized that there could be peace, there could be order and their could be hope.  Living in God's place of peace, order and hope only required that I surrender myself to Him.  If I chose to retain areas where I didn't relinquish my "stuff" there was no peace, order and no hope even as a believer.  Maybe you too need to assess your having no time for anything.  What we do with our lives can boil down to giving up and letting God be the conductor of the orchestra in each of our lives.  Remember that it's always your choice.  Choose wisely.