Your Busyness Can Be a Simple Pursuit of Jesus
I used to think my life would look like chasing the goals I set. My past days revolved around checking off the completion of a task with the determination I could muster through the changing seasons. My strong will was the authenticator of strength to power through and my grit was spurred by faith. Though my determination wavered, my strength through the changing seasons was constant. Clearly, there was a purpose in the goal if God gave me that strength.
It didn’t take me long to realize that my goals would fade and my aim would change as I drove through life and hit the major milestones of starting a career and getting married. Life takes us places we never thought we could go and leaves us in spaces we have never been in before. Life-altering decisions change our perspective and our eyes shift from naïve decisions to clear discernment the longer we drive.
In the same way a sun pokes through the branches of a tree, shining its light through the empty pockets to create shadows, hidden perspectives are exposed and new things are brought to light. We are not called to walk in the shadow of our busy schedule. We are called to walk in the simple pursuit of knowing that uncovering the shadows takes time but knowing we are held in God’s hands and that no earthly realm can understand His timing.
The names of God can change our perspective of our situation. Through many circumstances, I have come to personalize the names of God to each to my unique situations. In this current season, I am knowing God as my Provider. He is the God who sustains and directs the path I choose to walk. And I know this about God when I live in a simple pursuit of Him.
2 Ways to Live in a Simple Pursuit:
1. I know that living simply is to walk in God’s presence to discover those sacred places of His heart.
I’m taking the quiet spaces and to appreciate Him most – even in the busiest of places. And when I don’t have the space, I create the place where I can turn to Him and lean into hear His word even when the distractions are loud and weary. I can praise Him even for a minute if a minute is all it takes to get a glimpse of His presence; all it takes to check my heart in balance back to Him.
2. I know that living simply is to accept reality.
Sometimes our life doesn’t feel as simple as it should. Our days fill up with meetings, wedding invites, and dinner parties while we drown in a list of errands because we must find a way to survive outside of our calendar. Emotions override our already overwhelmed mental space. I have things I want to get done, but as I search for spaces in my calendar, I find I can only complete them in little pockets of minutes rather than handfuls of hours.
I want more than pieces of time. I want extensive completion.
And maybe, that’s all God wants from me, too.
Jesus didn’t call us to make life complicated. Though, it can feel like it sometimes. He called us to live in the simplicity of the mission to tell the world about Him.
Your busy schedule is an opportunity to be an encouragement for the Kingdom of Christ.
Every errand, phone call, and birthday party can be used to glorify Christ when you change an event to opportunity. Use the opportunity to reach out to a hurting friend, meet an unbeliever, or encourage a brother/sister in Christ.
The places we are most distracted by are the very places we most likely need to give surrender. Jesus, call us to the places You have for us and the spaces You want to lead us into.
Now, I know with certainty that living simple is to live in pursuit of Jesus – whatever the circumstance. Goals will change, our aim will fade, but the strength of the Lord lasts forever.
We will never live our mission through strength we can gather or manifest within ourselves but only through Christ working to give His abundant joy. I can recognize that the true treasures in life are in the simple pursuit of knowing God, recognizing His blessings, and telling others about them.
I am called to live simply in my mission to glorify Him to the nations.
"Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16
