Help! My Schedule Is Out Of Control!

Growing up, I use to love to help my Mom bake cakes!  In particular:  I use to enjoy to help with the frosting -- licking it off the beaters, every chance I got. You know:  the beaters on the mixer.  But can I be honest?  I also loved to play with the beaters.  I mean when Mom wasn’t looking – I’d crank up her old Sunbeam mixer – just to see how fast it could go!  

Now usually, I’d keep the beaters in the bowl – but on one occasion – I didn’t keep the beaters in the bowl.  Rather I got curious to see just how fast they could go. And so I elevated the beaters just a bit – and cranked that old Sunbeam up to full speed!  Well surprise, surprise guess what happened?   Frosting went everywhere!  I mean I thought I had everything under control – but I didn’t have everything under control – as my attempt at more speed, resulted in one thing: a royal mess.

A lot of us are attempting more speed.  Not out of curiosity -- but out of necessity -- as we sense a need -- to get more things done.  I mean in this competitive, cut-throat world -- you’ve got to crank up the old mixer and go as fast as you can!  

But you know the result:  not more control, less control – as life becomes messier and messier and messier.  

Aren’t tired of the mess?  Well, God can help, tutoring us on how to manage our schedules, revising and reviving our routine.   

For starters... 

Pursue The Deeper Things. 

Contrary to popular belief we are not called to do everything – we’re called to do the deepest, most profound things.  In Proverbs 20:5 Solomon makes an interesting observation:  

“The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters; but a man of understanding draws them out.” (Proverbs 20:5).  

In other words, life’s meaning and purpose, life’s best, is not on the surface; it’s not obvious.  But wise people are undaunted -- drawing out -- what others ignore.

Clovis Chappell was a great preacher of another generation.  Once he told of two steamboats, traveling down the Mississippi toward New Orleans.  As they did, however, they got competitive and began to race toward their final destination.  Well at first they were ‘neck in neck,’ but then suddenly, one of the boats began to fall behind.  The problem? Not enough fuel -- to get the speed -- to win the race.  And so boat’s captain did a shocking thing:  he took all the boat’s containers – you know the boxes of merchandise and valuables – and tossed them -- into the boat’s ovens -- to get the extra speed. And presto the speed came -- and the boat pulled ahead! Really ahead!  So much ahead, the once-lagging boat -- got to New Orleans first -- and won the race!   But at what price?  I mean the boat won the contest, but in the process – burned its own cargo!

A lot of us are burning our own cargo.  We’re burning-through marriages – children – moral, ethical standards – health -- all in an attempt to win the race.  But at what price?  I mean yes:  you win -- but in the process of winning – you lose your very soul. 

Is it any wonder God implores us to pursue deeper things. I mean surface things are OK -- money, prestige, career advancement – are OK.  But there are better things – deeper things -- soul things – that truly satisfy.    

And so here’s your assignment: after reading this blog, go and spend time with a deeper thing.   

• Don’t just pick up your bank statement -- pick up your spouse or granddaughter – and hold them tight.  
• Don’t just dive into a TV show – dive into God’s creation, observing a butterfly, taking a hike, tracking a cloud.  

Get the point?  Spend time with a deeper thing.

But routines are revived in yet other ways, as we...  

Focus, Focus, Focus!  

Count on it: life spins out of control, every time – we become lax, spacey and inattentive.  Proverbs suggests as much, when it warns:  

“Wisdom is never out of sight of a discerning man -- but a stupid man’s eyes are roving everywhere.”  (Proverbs 17:24, NEB).  

Do your eyes rove; are you unfocused?  Frankly, a lot of us are, inattentive ‘to the moment.’  

As the story goes, Franklin Roosevelt hated receiving lines at the White House.  I mean folks we’re so inattentive -- paying no attention to what he said.  And so he tried an experiment.  One evening as persons filed by, he murmured:  “I murdered my grandmother this morning; “I murdered my grandmother this morning”!  And folks responded:  “Marvelous!” “Keep up the good work!” “God bless you!”  It was not until the end of the receiving line while greeting the Bolivian ambassador that Roosevelt was finally heard; well sort of.  “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” “Well sir,” the ambassador said, “I’m sure she had it coming to her!!”

But we can do better.  We can be more attentive, to what’s really going on; greater focus is possible.  

A proven way to achieve greater attentiveness is to develop a 'rule of life.'  Historically, a 'rule of life' orginated out of the monastic tradition.  

"...The first example of a Christian rule of life came from the Desert Fathers, a monastic community of mystics living in Egypt around the third century AD. The most well-known rule is the rule of St. Benedict, written fifteen hundred years ago, which was created to help his community of monks translate their faith into the habits and rhythms of their shared daily life. His famous rule has inspired many communities and individuals to develop their own rules with a similar intention..." "https://sacredordinarydays.com/pages/rule-of-life

St. Benedict's vision is based on the assumption, each of us already some rule of life.  As one writer notes:  "...We wake at certain times, get ready for our days in particular ways, use our free time for assorted purposes and practice rhythms of work, hobbies, and worship..."  The challenge is to develop a holy rule of life -- that "...more closely matches the heartbeat of God..."  https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Rule-Life-Invitation-Well-Ordered/dp/0830835644

Steven Macchia has written an extremely helpful handbook for establishing a rule of life, Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way.  In sum, Macchia has found such a discipline develops in two steps:

Framing Your Personal Rule Of Life 

• Roles:  What Are My Primary Relationships? 

• Gifts:  What Are My Deepest God-Given Gifts, Talents, and Temperments?

• Desires:  What Are My Deepest Longings and Core Values?

• Vision:  What Is The Intentional Passion God Has Planted In Me?

• Mission: What Am I Currently Doing To Pursue MyVision?

Forming Your Personal Rule Of Life

• Time: Spiritual Priorities

• Trust:  Relational Priorities

• Temple:  Physical Priorities

• Treasure: Financial Priorities

• Talent:  Missional Priorities 

For additional details for actually forming and framing a rule of life, consult Macchia's helpful handbook. A link follows:  https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Rule-Life-Invitation-Well-Ordered/dp/0830835644

The last suggestion for reviving our routine...  

Elevate Outlook And Disposition

Translated:  you always get more done – you always have more time – you always gain more control – when you’re positive, optimist and forward-looking. Proverbs 17:22 alludes to this:  

“A glad heart is excellent medicine [excellent healing, an excellent cure] – [but] a spirit depressed -- wastes the bones away.”  (Proverbs 17:22).  

It also wastes a lot of time.  I know when I’m down, discouraged, depressed – ‘a lot of life’ slips through my fingers.  But God doesn’t want ‘a lot of life’ to slip through our fingers.  Sure, we can never totally avoid ‘the blues.’ But fundamentally 

• My Countenance is my choice. 
• My Attitude is my decision.  
• My Mood is my determination.   

Do you believe your mood is your determination?  Or when cranky -- do you just say:  I can’t help myself!  

You can help yourself.  

Oh – not through your own power and strength.  But through the power and strength of the God -- who can make you – glad.

The Pianist is a great movie, portraying the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, one of the great pianists of the 20th century.  Well at one point he’s hunted by the Nazis and needs to live underground.  But his location is right across from a Nazi hospital. “You are living in the heart of the lion’s den,” a friend warns.  “Keep as quiet as possible.”  But does Szpilman listen; no!  I mean – right after the friend leaves, Szpilman goes over to his piano and lifts the cover off the keys. And then the music begins: glorious music, triumphant music, uplifting music!  But then the camera does a strange thing; it pans down to Szpilman’s hands.  And then we see it: Szpilman’s hands aren’t touching the keys!  I mean the music – the glorious music, the triumphant music, the uplifting music -- is all within Szpilman’s heart!

The music can be within your heart.  I mean even when circumstances are not ideal: glorious music, triumphant music, uplifting music – can play within your inner-most soul.  Routines will be wrecked. Schedules will spin out of control – but a spirit of revision and revival can stir – deep within.

Let's be candid: it's tempting to rev up that old mixer!  To go faster and faster and faster.   But you know what happens when we go faster and faster and faster.  We just create a mess -- a royal mess!  

Aren’t you tired of the mess?   

Well then -- hear the music -- God’s music.  The glorious music – the triumphant music – the uplifting music – that will play – as we give our schedules, our time, our worries, our stress, our routine -- to the God -- who can -- make us -- glad!