Victor says "Prioritize"

One of the amazing side effects of parenting is that you absorb kids shows right along with your child. You start to think this is normal. Before long you're singing the "Umi Zumi" theme song and quoting "Wonder Pets" around your friends. You look at them waiting for the spark of understanding as if you had just dropped an "Office Space" quote. It never comes.

You also start to think of your life in terms of moralizing quips and sound bytes. "Wow! If we work together we really DO got the right stuff!"

I can't resist nodding my head along with Thomas the Train and the valuable lessons of work and relationships that he teaches my 3-year-old and I. Oh how right he is.

Why just the other day, silly old Victor the train decided that he "really wanted to be a useful engine." (Sir Topemhat should NEVER have goaded his ego like that!) So he tried to take on every request that came his way. But (and here's the zinger), by trying to please everybody, he ended up pleasing nobody. Wow.

This goes right along with the "have-ya-read-it?" book that I'm reading right now. (Ministry people REALLY love the "have-ya-read-it" game. It's actually a lot like this....

...end parentheses.)

The book is called, "Ordering Your Private World" and other than the fact that it's a considered a classic in pastoral ministry, it's actually a really good book. It talks a lot about budgeting and prioritizing time, avoiding burnout, carpe-ing the diem and that sort of thing. It also talks about the importance of saying no. Quoting his father, MacDonald says, "Your challenge... will not be separating out the good from the bad, but in grabbing the best out of all the possible good." Amen, Mr. elder MacDonald. Amen, Victor the train.

It's so easy for me to get so entrenched in really good things, that I miss the best stuff, the stuff I'm actually CALLED to. So I end up spending most of my time on things I'm no good at and feeling I don't have time for the things I love and AM good at.

It's tempting for me at this point to simply put a freeze on my schedule or just say no to everything. But I don't think that's enough. I think I need to actively seek to FILL my schedule, but to fill it with things that lean toward my priorities and calling and passions. So yesterday, I said yes to a brand new relationship with a Kenyan man at my church. We're going to get tea together in a couple hours. I also said no to a chance to play in a band for our church's 50th anniversary celebration. I'm saying yes to one-on-one meetings (which I'm good at and bring me to life) and saying no to committees and events (which can be exhausting to me). I'm trying to throw parties, organize trips, plan dinners, lead worship, and engage in discipling relationships... all things I love. I'm also trying to figure how to prioritize (or delegate) the not-so-lovely things I NEED to accomplish that will better enable me to do the things I'm made for. And of course, I'm trying to have the discipline to carve out luxurious amounts of time for worship and prayer and reflection as well as solid family time. So... yay for discipline. :)

Well Victor (and MacDonald), thanks for the life lesson. As a people pleaser with lots of energy, I think this one is gonna be a tough one for me.