This past weekend, had you been anywhere in northeast Georgia, you could have had a great source of free, hysterical entertainment. It was one of those times when you are very glad that no one had a video camera. Greg and I, along with my sister, Leslie, and her family were camping at a state park not too far from Athens, Georgia.
When we went to the grocery store I spied a hoola hoop, and thinking that my nine year old nephew would like playing with it, I purchased it. Quickly, my nephew showed us that he could do the hoola hoop QUITE WELL. My sister and I were a different story. The kindest thing I can say about my efforts to do the hoola hoop, and those of my sister, is that we just didn’t have our groove on. Really, I thought that when I was a kid, I could do the hoola hoop, but I’m beginning to think that perhaps the stinkin’ things weren’t even invented when I was a kid. Let me tell you, it was down right hysterical watching the two of us try to make this thing spin around aging waists and hips. We gyrated and twisted and nearly threw our backs out trying to get the hoop to spin even one time around our waists like it is supposed to. Alas, we would nearly fall down because we were laughing so hard. Suffice it to say, I need to stick to writing and speaking!!
As I watched my nephew spin the hoola hoop around his waist, I thought about all the things that I try to keep spinning in my life. Recently, the Lord has been doing a lot of refining in my life and my heart and He is asking me to lay down a few spinning things so that I can focus more clearly on the things that are His priorities for my life.
When I attended the CLASSeminar in October of 2008, my small group leader, Karen Porter, said something that has stuck with me and the Lord is using it to refine my priorities. She said at one point she was trying to do too many things and the Lord finally got her attention and told her that she needed to decide what her priorities were and get rid of any activity that did not fit into her priorities. He has been asking me to do the same.
So often we get so caught up in keeping the hoola hoop of our lives spinning that we forget we were not called to do everything. Our personal hoola hoop may include husband, children, aging parents, work, church, missions, recreation, ministry and many other things. In speaking about missionaries, martyred missionary Jim Elliot said something that is applicable to all of us.
“So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that God’s main work is to make something of them.”
Over the years of doing Beth Moore Bible studies, I have heard her say on many occasions, “You cannot do a thousand things to the glory of God.” And so, I have been taking stock of the things I have been doing and prioritizing the activities in my life. The Lord has led me to name my top three priorities and lay down anything that is not consistent with those priorities. As I have prayed, talked with my husband, and sought the guidance of Holy Spirit on developing the “Big Three”, He has shown me that they are: 1) My personal relationship with Christ, 2) My family, and 3) The speaking and writing ministry that He has entrusted to me. Whatever does not fit into those three categories must be ceased.
The things that I am giving up or saying no to are good things, godly things, yet they do not necessarily fit into the boundaries and priorities that He and I have established as being part of the hoola hoop that I am to spin. My life is incredibly busy, and I have become convinced that until I cease some of the activity in my life, (A.K.A – the captivity of activity) the ministry that He has entrusted to me will not deepen and grow AND I run the risk of God’s anointing being lifted from that ministry. Above all, I desire to please Him by pursuing a ‘long obedience in the same direction”.
So, friend, have you established priorities and boundaries around your life? What activities are you trying to spin like a hoola hoop? Do you find that you are not able to do anything with excellence because you are trying to do too much? I encourage you to take some time to examine your life and your priorities.
~~~Re-post from 5/26/09~~~~
