Too Much To Do

“Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.””

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I read an article by Rick Warren this morning. He states: 

“Think of the rubble as the trivial things that waste your time and energy, those things that prevent you from accomplishing what God has called you to do. If you are discouraged, you may need to clear away some of the rubble in your life.”

I have spent my life trying to do three things at once...literally. It was almost a challenge to try to see how many plates I could spin at the same time. A year and a half ago, I retired from my full time job. Because I did not know any other way to live, I tried to put more things in my life so that life would be “normal feeling.” 

I want to digress at this point. I absolutely do not think that a person needs to cancel every event in their life. Many times when people think they are too busy and stressed, they cancel the things they need to keep. 

I think the most common event for people to cancel is going to church and being a part of a community group. The rationale is this a day of rest and relaxation, their only day off. 

Another common thing to cancel is exercise. No time to take care of yourself physically and frees you up for more TV watching. 

Another thing to cancel is serving others. No way for time to observe that God has placed some people in your path that need you. 

Definitely most people cancel having a quiet time with the Lord. We rationalize that God wants us to rest. We cannot wake up earlier and read His incredible word and talk to him about life. 

I have noticed that when people start canceling rubble from the life, the most important things are sometimes the things are dropped first and should be kept. 

To clean out rubble, real trash, means to be able to hear what is rubble and what is not. Nehemiah and his crew got tired...real tired. They did not make time for social media and watching their favorite TV show. 

God gave them wisdom to know who to ignore and what to ignore.

“so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭6:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I want 2020 to be the year that I plead for wisdom to know the difference. If I lay out my life for God to examine, he would love to reveal to me what is my purpose and what is not.