Choosing People Over Projects

Balancing life’s responsibilities can be challenging. When choosing between people and projects, know your decision will come with long term consequences.

I recently spent a three weeks in Florida, staying at my parents during the week and speaking on weekends. Conveniently, my Mom and Dad live about 30 miles from Mr. 4-Ever’s folks. Both sets of parents live in “Resorts”, which are really a fancy trailer parks, but some marketing genius figured out that resort sounds a lot better.

When Dave and I made this plan, I told myself that when I wasn’t at an event, I would write during the day, then play in the evenings.

Working vacation is an oxymoron.

I didn’t get much work done and as the days piled up and the projects collected dust, my guilt grew until I was downright crabby! I wasn’t enjoying myself, my holiday or my parents!

It’s not that I’m undisciplined or that all my work was done. It’s that people are more important to me that projects. When I have people in front of me, especially people I love, and more especially, old people I don’t see very often, I want to be with them. Fully engaged. Fully present. With them.

So, instead of writing new material, I’ve been listening to great stories from our parents. Instead of slaving over my laptop, I’ve been playing games and lingering over meals. Instead of locking myself away in an office, I’ve been walking beaches in wide brimmed hats. I’ve been all in. And, it’s been great.

Don’t miss the lesson here.

I could go on and on about how busy we all are and how we need to balance our lives and create margin but you can read more about that in another blog.

God invites us to be with him on a regular basis, all in, fully present. You can call that your prayer time or quiet time. Whatever you call it, it comes down to spending time with your Creator. All in. Fully present. That’s how relationships deepen. That’s how you learn about each other and build trust. All in is how you know the difference between His voice and an imposter’s.

How do you go deep with God?

It’s never too late to develop a deep, rich relationship with your God. You do it the same way you deepen a relationship with a person. Take the time. Make it a priority. Schedule it. Invest in it. Guard it.

• Spend time reading His word. 
• Listen to worship music.
• Sit in silence.
• Ponder a passage of Scripture.
• Lean in and listen for any whispers he has for you.

Spend the time so you have no regrets.

Time with those we love is always time well spent. The day will come when you will be glad you invested or sad that you didn’t. How do you connect with God and his people? Leave me a comment with your creative ideas.

Prayer: Father, thank you for family. You have so many good ideas. Thank you for revealing them to me. Remind me to make time for you. Thanks for loving me first, most and best. amen.

I thought you might want to see a few pix from our time in FL.
Dave’s folks and us. 

My folks and us.