B = B

Busy gets a bad rap.  There are articles and blogs all over the place suggesting many of us are cramming our calendars with too many activities, too much volunteering, and too little free time.  We are called human BEings for a reason, experts say.  We are supposed to just BE every once in a while.  Our bodies need stillness, our minds need rest, our souls need an afternoon by a large body of water without an Iphone alert interrupting the peace every forty-three seconds.

Truthfully, I’m in.  I totally agree.  We are too busy.  I am too busy.  I have a hard time saying ‘no,’ like the majority of the other women in my life, and my weeks often sail by as a stream of commitments I scurry to fulfill, leaving me exhausted and used up by the time the weekends roll around.  I’m an introvert, after all.  Many people don’t fully understand what that term means.  I didn’t understand it myself until adulthood, but the cliff notes version goes like this:  Extroverts gain energy by being with other people.  Introverts gain energy by being alone. 


This doesn’t mean introverts do not fully enjoy being with others.  It doesn't mean introverts are shy or awkward or quiet or unfriendly or not outgoing.  I love being with others.  I am not shy. I am not quiet.  I am very outgoing.  I was voted “Friendliest” in high school. I can talk anyone’s ear off for a very long period of time (days even), but when the conversation is finished, I need to go home and be by myself for a bit.  If not, I get tired, because I’m an introvert.  Simple as that.

Sadly, I didn’t learn this very important fact about myself until I was in my thirties.  Thinking it might have been helpful if I’d realized I was an introvert before I went off to college and signed up to live in a sorority house with seventy-five other girls who thought they were women.  But it took mothering an introverted child for me to finally figure it out.  Also thinking it might be helpful if my second child was introverted too.  She's not.  She's so not.  She talks all day and all night and every second of every minute of every hour we spend together AND HOW IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS QUIET WILL I EVER SURVIVE MOTHERING THIS CHILD?!?!

I fully agree that too much busyness in my life is not healthy for me or my family, and not only because I’m an introvert who requires down time to function as my best self.  I don’t think being busy all the time is healthy for anyone.  We all need to maintain some unscheduled hours in our lives on a regular basis. 

Still, busy gets a bad rap, because the fact that we are very, very, very busy can only mean one thing . . . we are very, very, very blessed.

Busy means blessed, my friends!  Our lives are full because they are full of blessings. 

We have work commitments because we are employed.  We have household commitments because we have food, warmth, and shelter.  We have volunteer commitments because we have the ability to help others.  We have family commitments because people care to spend time in our presence.  We have tennis matches and book clubs and date nights and family vacations because we are healthy and happy and free to make our own decisions about how we spend our time.

I’ve complained about being too busy.  I’m pretty sure I’ve even bragged about being too busy.  Busy must mean productive, right?  Busy must mean helpful?  Busy must mean . . . the list could go on for days. 


I suppose busy might mean you are productive.  It might mean you are helpful.  It might even mean you are selfless or an overachiever or a workaholic or the greatest parent, wife, friend, daughter, employee on the planet. 

But here’s what I know for sure.  If you are busy . . .

You.  Are.  BLESSED. 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to

God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Don’t you just love the way those conversation hearts have kept up with the times?  Each year, the candy companies who make them are sure to add new phrases, announcing with just one or two simple words that things have changed. 


‘Fax me’ was the new phrase in the 80’s.  Not sure how many people actually chose to use a fax machine to declare their love, but faxing was pretty cool stuff back then, and the concept was destined to appear on a candy heart.  In the 90’s, ‘Email me’ showed up on the hearts, and now, of course, we have “Text me.”  I’m guessing the candy companies would love to figure out a way to include “Change your Facebook status to in a relationship for me” and “Let’s Instragram that awesome picture of the two of us frolicking on the beach together,” but, you know, the hearts are only half an inch wide. 


It’s Valentine’s Day and my children have already enjoyed their share of conversation hearts this week.  Unfortunately, after Atlanta’s snowmaggedon take two, I’m not feeling a whole lot of love today.  In fact, snowmaggedon just about snowmakilledme.  It also confirmed the fact that I will never NOT ON YOUR LIFE homeschool my children.   Funny how too much of a good thing can alter your perspective. 


After our first set of snow days a couple weeks ago, I was relishing in the joy of an unexpected holiday.  I had enjoyed the down time with my family so much that I actually found myself lamenting about how little time I get to spend with my children, what with all the fun we’d had playing together in our city’s rare and wonderful winter wonderland. 


Two weeks and another two snow days later, there is no lamenting.  There is no more joy in the rare and wonderful, and as I said, even love seems to be in short supply today.


Still, it is Valentine’s Day, and love must be in the air somewhere.  If you ask me, it’s probably wherever the air is a balmy eighty-five degrees and there are no school closings scrolling across the bottom of a television screen.  Either way, there is something I want to say to all of you on this Valentine’s Day, my friends . . .


Wherever you are, find yourself a bag of those conversation hearts today.  Pop a few in your mouth if you’d like – it’s okay, calories never count on holidays, remember – but read them first.  Smile at the ones that say “For sure” and “Yes” and “Why not.”  Ponder the past and how times have changed when you see the ones that say “Text me.”   And when you get to the one that’s in every bag of candy hearts, the one with that quintessential phrase you can find on cards and cakes and balloons all over the country today, I want you to stop and think about the One who taught us how to love, because He is love.  And on this Valentine’s Day, and on every other day, I hope you remember that this is really all He’s trying to say . . .

BE MINE.

      

Heat

Jesus saves. 


That’s what we say.  And I believe it. 


Jesus saves all who choose to let him do it, and there are countless stories of those who have.  The alcoholic, the addict, the adulterer – thousands claim the only way they found rescue from the chains of slavery that bound them is because they let Jesus break those chains.  They let him destroy those chains and replace them with heartstrings, attached only to Him and his promises of hope and redemption and freedom.


There are others who save in this world.  Lawyers save reputations.  Counselors save marriages.  Bankers save businesses.


A lovely woman in my Bible study recently brought up her son. He used to be a firefighter.


Firefighters certainly understand what it means to save.  A firefighter doesn’t think about the risk, doesn’t worry about the possibilities, doesn’t consider the consequences.  A firefighter rushes into a burning building with a single purpose - to save.  It doesn’t matter to him who is in the building, or why.  Doesn’t matter what they look like or who they love or how messy their past might be.  A firefighter runs straight into fire . . . straight through fire . . . intent on rescue no matter the cost.


What if we rushed to save like that? 


What if we didn’t think about the risks?  I mean, really . . . what are a few hurt feelings anyway?  A little embarrassment?  Wounded pride?  We are lucky to live in America, my friends - it's not as if we're going to lose our lives because we share Jesus.  We aren’t running into buildings engulfed in flames here, and yet . . . we are, aren’t we?


People are burning.  They are on fire with their sin, gasping for breath from the scalding weight of it.  They are in danger . . . dying from the heat of their pain and their doubt and their hopelessness . . . and we should be running towards them without fear because we have the good news that can set them free. 


We have Jesus.  The Living Water.  The One who can put out every fire.


There are many who save things – important things - in this world.  There are even many who save lives.  But only Jesus can save souls.  And if we claim to serve this saver of souls . . . this Savior of ours . . . shouldn’t we be running into the fire with him every chance we get?

“Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”

Proverbs 25:25