Friday night I always facetime with my parents. It’s a sweet time to talk about the week, and share memories. Last Friday though my dad kept telling me how tired I looked.
Of course there was a reason for that…..
I was exhausted!
Last week was especially hot (particularly Friday) and I spent that morning rushing from one place to the next. My energy held up surprisingly well Friday morning while rushing from one place to the next. But my 5:00 it was long gone!!!
This isn’t shocking of course since energy is a limited resource. And therefore, must be conserved.
Unfortunately, it’s one thing to know energy is a limited resource
and a much harder thing to actually conserve it.
Friday I feel into a bad habit commonly referred to as “hustling.” It involves hustling (running) from one place to the next till your body collapses in exhaustion at the end of the day.
The truly dangerous thing about hustling is it embraces busyness (or activity) over being productive.
Hustling centers on activity (going from one place to the next) but at the end of the day it doesn’t ACCOMPLISH MUCH. Lots of time and energy is wasted because there was no plan (to do list) or system (schedule) to ensure things are done properly. You end up making foolish mistakes, or taking a second (or third!) trip because something was forgotten.
I’ve spent far too many days running around like the proverbial “chicken with my head cut off” putting out one fire after another but not accomplishing much. Those days are necessary sometimes, but usually can be avoided by thinking things through.
The Lord used my exhaustion Friday as a painful reminder a few minutes spent planning is much more effective than a few hours spent hustling.
Johnhwilburn.org 