Saturday, October 22, 2005
something from the purpose driven life daily devotional thing.
Tyranny of the Urgent
by John Fischer
Sometimes the most important stuff in a newspaper comes from the comics. Recently, in an edition of the comic strip, “In the Bleachers” by Steve Moore, two baseball players are standing in the outfield and one of them is thinking, “Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the meaning of life? How did…” and the other yells over at him, “Salinas! Get your head in the game!” So in the next frame he’s suddenly thinking, “Who will hit the ball to me? Where should I throw it? What is the official paid attendance?...”
Now there’s a purpose-driven ball player if I ever saw one – in the outfield thinking about the meaning of life, but his teammate and the game he’s playing force him off the subject. Isn’t life like this? The immediate always swallows up the more important questions.
One of the most influential books I’ve ever read is a little pamphlet titled, “The Tyranny of the Urgent.” The title is so good you hardly have to read it. It’s about all those immediate pressing things that crowd out what’s more essential. We never get around to why we play the game because we’re too busy chasing down fly balls. Even as you read this, there are probably a dozen different things that are trying to squeeze back into your consciousness and keep you from using this time to reflect on God and His purposes for your life.
Remember when Jesus was in the home of Mary and Martha and Martha was distracted by all the preparations she was making for her guests? And there was her sister, Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, giving Him her full attention. At that point Martha had the gall to accuse the Lord of not caring that she was left to take care of everything by herself. To which Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41).
if you refresh yourself with prayer, a reading from the Bible or a few minutes at the feet of Jesus – you will be better equipped to handle those things and in the long run, you’ll come out further down the road.
You might even make better choices.
_jes
something from the purpose driven life daily devotional thing.
Tyranny of the Urgent
by John Fischer
Sometimes the most important stuff in a newspaper comes from the comics. Recently, in an edition of the comic strip, “In the Bleachers” by Steve Moore, two baseball players are standing in the outfield and one of them is thinking, “Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the meaning of life? How did…” and the other yells over at him, “Salinas! Get your head in the game!” So in the next frame he’s suddenly thinking, “Who will hit the ball to me? Where should I throw it? What is the official paid attendance?...”
Now there’s a purpose-driven ball player if I ever saw one – in the outfield thinking about the meaning of life, but his teammate and the game he’s playing force him off the subject. Isn’t life like this? The immediate always swallows up the more important questions.
One of the most influential books I’ve ever read is a little pamphlet titled, “The Tyranny of the Urgent.” The title is so good you hardly have to read it. It’s about all those immediate pressing things that crowd out what’s more essential. We never get around to why we play the game because we’re too busy chasing down fly balls. Even as you read this, there are probably a dozen different things that are trying to squeeze back into your consciousness and keep you from using this time to reflect on God and His purposes for your life.
Remember when Jesus was in the home of Mary and Martha and Martha was distracted by all the preparations she was making for her guests? And there was her sister, Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, giving Him her full attention. At that point Martha had the gall to accuse the Lord of not caring that she was left to take care of everything by herself. To which Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41).
if you refresh yourself with prayer, a reading from the Bible or a few minutes at the feet of Jesus – you will be better equipped to handle those things and in the long run, you’ll come out further down the road.
You might even make better choices.
_jes