Something More Important to Do

by Robin Day

“The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”(Matthew 26:11) Jesus’ words have echoed in my mind countless times. These words have helped me navigate my way through many days filled with activity and things that needed to get done. Instead of arranging my own priorities, I have often allowed my “to do” lists and “must-get-dones” to be my time managers. I forget that I’m the one who chooses how my time is spent. It makes me ask myself, “Do I really control my time or do I let my workload control my day?” If I am actively choosing the things that are really important to me and getting them done, then why do I lament at the end of the day about the things I wish I would have done?

The hard truth is that, more often than not, the things I spent most of my time doing were not the things that were most important to me. All that other “stuff” seemed important at the time but in reality, it just took my time away from what really mattered; relationships, time with my husband, my children, time with God. Yep, I got the floors mopped, the house is clean and I’ve run the errands; at the end of the day I feel satisfied that all of those things are done, but at what cost? I peek in on my sleeping children and wonder how their day was. I just needed to finish up one more thing while they were awake and we would talk later… I look at the clock, now it’s too late to call and catch up with my friend, whom I haven’t seen in so long. Once again, Jesus’ words seep into my thoughts, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.” That’s it! From now on, His words will be my time manager.

On my way to make photocopies for the upcoming meeting, someone waves at me from across the room. I wave back and keep walking toward the copy machine, but His words come back to remind me; which thing would be better to put off until later, the person or the photocopies? While washing breakfast dishes, I notice that the house is still and quiet. And those same words come back again; which would be better, to stop and pray for awhile or to get these dishes done? The house might not be this quiet again the rest of the day, so I seize the moment to pray and squeeze the breakfast dishes in with the lunch dishes. My daughter wants to tell me about her day, but I need to get dinner started…will it really matter if dinner is twenty minutes late? It would really mean a lot to my daughter to get my undivided attention for those twenty minutes.

As leaders in ministry, it is especially important for us to keep Jesus’ perspective on prioritizing our time. No one wants broken relationships and fragmented lives, but if we don’t follow God’s wisdom and prioritize our lives according to His example, then that’s what we can end up with. “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.” Yeah, this can wait…I’ve got something more important to do…