"The apostles returned to Jesus and told Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."
Dudes. I relate to that last sentence so much. I'm prepping for my graduation recital which is less than two weeks away now (!!!!!), I had two papers that I had to grind out over the weekend because they were late, and not because I just didn't feel like doing them, but because I've been so busy that I didn't even realize they existed. And I have a major research paper due at the end of the month that I've given absolutely no time to because I'm trying to prepare adequately for my recital. I feel like I have no leisure to eat either!
Everything feels so important. Everything needs to be a priority right now. Because I'm preparing myself to graduate in seven weeks. OKAY, who knew that fourth year would be sooo crazy?!
I've been finding that I need to daily take time by myself to rest a while. There aren't really any desolate places per se, especially when I'm living on a campus full of college students. But that's no excuse.
I have to make time for the things that deserve my time. My graduation recital? My papers? They definitely deserve my time, especially if I'm planning to graduate - which I am.
But what deserves my time more than my recital and my homework? That would be Jesus. And I'm slowly learning to take that more and more seriously. And let's face it, it's not always practical for people to wake up and read their Bibles right away. Like, I am a morning person for sure, but I still can't bring myself to wake up an extra thirty minutes earlier than I normally do when I already have an 8:30 morning class that I'm getting up for.
And that does not mean that Jesus isn't important to me! It frustrates me that some people truly think that you "love Jesus less" if you wait to read your Bible and spend some quality time with Him over your afternoon latte instead of your morning coffee.
I'm a morning person in the sense that I love to get stuff done - papers, recital practicing, internship tasks - in the morning, right after breakfast. And then in the afternoon I carve out a chunk of time where I "come away by myself to a desolate place and rest a while", like Jesus commands his disciples to in Mark 6. During this time I read my Bible (currently reading Mark [as previously stated]), a chapter or two of whatever soul-feeding book I'm into at the time (currently: Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge), and then I'll sometimes journal as well.
And even if I've done a lot of practicing for my recital, had coffee with two different friends, met with my internship supervisor, and finished a paper all in one day, I still find that the most fulfilling and satisfying thing that I've done that day was spend quality time in a desolate place with Jesus. Because He's the One who gives me peace from all the craziness and busyness of these final seven weeks of my Bachelors degree. My friends who I have coffee with, my internship supervisor - I love them all. But they cannot feed my soul, love me unconditionally, and give me peace in the perfect way that my Heavenly Father can.
So don't sweat the busy times. In our culture it seems that everyone is always busy all the time and if you're not busy then OH MY WORD, you've gotta find more stuff to do so that you can tell your friends that you're busy too! Whether you're busy or not, remember to take time each day to rest in a desolate place, for it is only the soul-feeding Truths of our God that will bring you peace. Make time for the things that deserve your time.
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