I feel that God has challenged me lately about my schedule. For some reason it seems that when we're asked how we're doing or how are things going, we find some sick pleasure in boasting about how busy we are. There's like an understood respect in our culture for being so busy you can't talk or spend time with someone.
I think my perspective on busyness has been shattered and I'm thankful for it. My goal has shifted to be as free as possible when it comes to my schedule. Why would I be so proud of not being able to answer a phone call (especially if it's a student who may benefit greatly from 5 min of conversation)? Why be proud over not being able to hang out with someone? Who is really benefiting from the busyness? Seems to me more people suffer from it, especially my family...and that sucks!
Why not make it our goal to be available? Why not do the things that God has asked us to do and say no to a million other things that maybe would be better served by someone else anyway? Let me be clear that I'm in no way talking about laziness (Prov 19:15), but simply taking on God's burden and his yoke alone. I have found that it is the most unattractive thing when you can't ever get up with someone or you feel they never have the time for you. Somehow I have to believe that God's ways wouldn't keep us excluded from personal touch and relationship, especially with sinners. After all, Jesus was a friend of sinners.
My new acronym for BUSY is:
Being
Under
Someone's
Yoke
and that someone is usually satan.
When my response to "How have you been?" brings to mind the word busy, I think I'll reevaluate what I'm doing week in and week out. God help us take on your yoke instead.
