The Apron
 
I suspect you and I have at least one thing in common - we're busy. Whatever happened to the term, spare time? I haven't seen much of it running around here lately and I hunch you haven't either. I think it was the intentional deception of a previous generation. Or century.
 
And while we weren't looking, someone with a perverted sense of humor coined the term, Daylight Saving. I mean, we get an extra hour of daylight, right? Wrong. It gets cut off the front end of the day and just shows up at the end. Talk about bait and switch...
 
All of that to say this: Time management is one of the most demanding assignments you and I have. If there isn't enough of it then it's imperative we get it right as we use it. Especially for the essentials. Like sleep. And exercise. And family.
 
And God.
 
One thing we can know: Those whose spiritual journey is joyous and an honor to Him have the same number of hours as those who don't. Then the word priorities comes to mind. As does the story of Suzanna Wesley.
 
Two of Suzanna's sons, John and Charles are the best known. John traveled over a hundred thousand miles on a horse, preached to more than a million people, and at the age of 70 preached to a crowd of 23,000 - outside - without a public address system. Charles wrote more than 9,000 Christian songs, many of which we still sing. You knew that, but did you know that their mother (who was the 25th child in a family of 25 children) gave birth to 19 children (of whom 9 died in infancy) in her first 19 years of marriage.
 
Susanna's husband, also a preacher, was often absent for long periods of time and left her with not only the care of the children, the garden, and the farm animals, but he was also away both times their parsonage burned to the ground. That was 300 years ago, remember, so there was no refrigeration, central air, running water, or washing machines. Or Pampers.
 
Suzanna determined she was not going to lose the presence of God in her family or in her own journey. So she made a house rule: Any time they found her sitting with her apron pulled up over her head, she was in communion with God and was not to be bothered. Morning, noon or night, mealtime or not, scheduled or unscheduled, unless there was an emergency involving blood, the apron meant she was engaged and not available. I think she makes our point here: It's not the length of our todo list, it's a matter of priorities. Question: Do you have an apron?
 
By Don Jacobsen


H ouses  O P rayer  E verywhere
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