Realizing I just can’t do all of that…

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ~ I Corinthians 9:22

I realize that I’m taking that Scripture out of context for the purpose of writing this. Paul was writing about adapting to cultures and relationships for the purpose of winning others to Christ. That’s a simplistic explanation, but this isn’t a Bible lesson.

Work with me, because my point with this post is that right now, I’m doing too many things for too many people, not to mention a whole list of things I’m trying to do for myself. Maybe I should have used the “Martha, you are busy with too many things,” reference.

Don’t call me, Martha. But I am busy with too many things.

The real job is in a busy season right now. In part because of a couple of temporary vacancies due to medical leave and new hiring. So there’s a lot of “who left this slack on the floor? Mike, pick that up.”

There’s the house and the yard. I’ll be heading out to cut and bale the back yard later today. I have a brand new, not-out-of-the-box yet weed eater that’s been sitting around for a couple of weeks.

There are church obligations. For the first time in I don’t know how many years, I had to say “no” to volunteering for VBS. I miss that.

Then there’s the writing career/dream. Most Saturday mornings, I’ve been doing what I’m doing right now, getting caught up on that. I’ve got a couple of blog post series that require daily attention. I have my regular clients (and am reminded I’ve got two more articles to do over the weekend).

In all of that writing, there’s politics. I find myself passionate about issues and candidates. And I want to be involved. Then I get involved in the grime and ugliness of politics and I want to take a shower. It’s a viscious cycle. But there’s passion there, and when I think “I’ll set this aside,” I just can’t. Some things are just too important.

I think I’ve mentioned that I’m currently in a show. The good part about that is that we opened last night. It’s hard to believe we only have four more performances. After weeks of rehearsals, this is the easy part. The fun part.

Still, some things that are important to me have had to suffer. I haven’t been to the YMCA since Monday. Having rehearsals last went until after midnight sort of took that off the table. And I can’t remember the last time I opened a book. I’m going to be behind on my Goodreads goal for the year.

And what about spending time with the family? Last night in the way home from the show, we stopped at McDonald’s (don’t judge me) and brought home food that we shared with the boys. Then we watched some repeat of the opening ceremonies until it was obvious that Dad just couldn’t stay awake any longer.

One recent morning when I was walking out of the YMCA I was thinking about the monologue I needed to prepare for another audition. I actually had the thought “and I need to figure out time to spend working on the Spanish and piano.”

Realizing the absurdity of what I said, I cancelled the audition. It gets a little more absurd when I think about how I miss working weekends at Kings Dominion.

Our theme at church this year is “Things that matter most.” The emphasis is, of course, what matters most for the spread of the Gospel.

I can put anything I’m doing into that context. The writing, particularly what I’m doing at Richmond Bible Examiner, or with the 365 Things I Believe series. The politics where I believe that our causes are just and true. The acting because I believe there’s certainly a place for Christians in the arts.

Maybe I’m not so far offbase with the Scripture reference after all.

The question becomes how do I determine what matters most? What if it all does? What if I’m passionate about all of this?

Some people are able to grasp onto a single concept and spend their life purusing that goal. I can’t do that. I have a college transcript that shows three majors in four years to prove it.

Still, I have to put my life into the context of things that matters most. There is so much I want to do, so many places I want to be. But I can’t do them all. Darn it.

There’s a part of me that wants to say I need to spend time working through the concept of “things that matters most.” But even that runs the risk of becoming just another agenda item.

We’ve got a week at the beach coming up. We’ll be back on the Outer Banks for the first time in a couple of years. I’m already looking forward to time catching up on reading, taking the art supplies, sorting out the novel I plan to submit for publishing next year. I have a list.

See what I mean?

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