I Don't Have Time for That...

*ain't nobody got time for 3-year old messes on busy mornings!

So, I have this friend (who happens to be my very first best friend...but thats for another day's blog) who is a great encouragement to me in the blogging world. She just wrote this post about removing the phrase, "I don't have time for that..." from our everyday self-talk. The essence is that really we have time for whatever we desire to make time for. We spend our time doing the things that we choose to do because those things are really a reflection of the deeper roots of our heart. So, don't blow off people who happen to have other priorities than you, or who happen to be able to accomplish things in their 24 hours that you only dream of accomplishing in yours. You are not them. What's wrong with that?

I was convicted because there are many times I find myself using this useless phrase. I would love to... be more disciplined at Bible reading (heck, reading in general...), homeschool planning, meal planning (gah! don't get me started...), getting out to visit people in our community, exercising, hospitality, spending focused time with each of my kids, blogging, communicating with friends and family, praying... but

where. is. the. time? 
...and why do other people have it and I don't?

All of these are things I legitimately wish there was more time for, but often feel my priorities shifting between all of them depending on the day or week. And so, while I think Katie makes the good point of not demeaning other people's priorities (if they are different than your own), I think an added point that warrants attention is to not demean our own priorities based on the season of life we are in. I could easily (& often do) go down the road of self-condemnation, whining that "so-and-so has it all together...why can I not get my act together? Why are my kids the only ones who seem to misbehave in public? Why can I not get up at 5am and read my Bible after nursing the baby? Why am I the only one who seems to be struggling with 'xyz'?"

Whenever my mind goes in this self-depricating trajectory, there are two things I usually do:

1) Callously toss the phrase, "...ain't nobody got time for that!" (because, in reality, some people do have time for those things I mentioned above- it just happens to not be me at the moment because I'm so strung out on life)

2) Think to myself, "Why can I not just get my act together..." (and then proceed to work really hard at doing whatever it is I feel like I am failing at in the moment).

At first, my responses outwardly appear to be opposite (#1 tossing it to the wind, thinking I will never be able to do those things, or #2 fixating on the thing until I have conquered it). However, on closer look the root of the issue is really the same:
I NEED GRACE. I need to give grace to myself, and I need to give grace to the person whose life I am either judging or coveting. Right now, while I live in Kenya and change a lot of diapers, give a lot of discipline, butcher the Swahili language, and brush my hair an average of once a week...I need to know that Jesus sees me, and Jesus loves me. He wouldn't love me more if I spent an hour more reading my Bible each day, He wouldn't love me more if I had a well-planned out Lenten family devotional (something I'm beating myself up about right now, lol), He wouldn't love me more if I had my meals planned out for a month, if {for the love} I could manage to unpack a suitcase within 2-weeks time, and He wouldn't love me one ounce more if I just had a good attitude on the days that feel long and strung out.  He loves me. The King of the Universe loves me, regardless of what I "have time for" or "don't have time for" in this season.

So, let's make a resolution.

(since that is what I am really good at doing when I want to "turn over a new leaf", lol)

Let's quit demeaning others when they happen to have the life that we wish we had right now (because, believe me...they don't). And let's look for the grace in every single day that God gives us. When we don't have time for things because the baby spit up, the kids keep pooping in their pants because they have amoebas (not that I know anything about that...), because we spend more time disciplining  our kids during devotionals than we do actual reading or discussing, because the power is out again, or the sewer is overflowing... because we have expense reports or 2 hours of language study. Let's not use those things as "excuses" for other things that we "don't have time for". Let's just say, "This is my season. God has given it, He is in it, and HE will give me Joy..."

What things do you say "I don't have time for that..." about? 

Where do you need to give yourself a bit of a break?

Not the labors of my hands

can fulfill thy law's commands; 
could my zeal no respite know, 
could my tears forever flow, 
all for sin could not atone; 
thou must save, and thou alone. 

Nothing in my hand I bring, 
simply to the cross I cling; 
naked, come to thee for dress; 
helpless, look to thee for grace; 
foul, I to the fountain fly; 
wash me, Savior, or I die. 

{This is Life.}

 in the cleft...