Half the time my life looks a lot like “easily distracted.” When I was younger this was no big deal. There was less accountability and the stakes for losing track of time weren’t high. The weight of being distracted has shifted. Choices that used to carry little consequence now has the potential to cost me what matters most. Couple this with life’s steady currency of everyday responsibilities thrown into my hand-held device and life can become chaotic. All of a sudden, the stuff we start to think we need, the stuff we think we should be doing, and the stuff we need to be paying attention to (because everyone else is paying attention to it) makes it all too easy to misplace our real priorities. This “stuff” is loud, but that doesn’t make it worthy of directing our days attention.
I’ve reprioritized my life using the image of a satchel. It’s only so big to carry around the limited “time” I have. I start by putting the most important things in it first. For me, it’s my family, my faith, my relationships. Losing these in my day would leave my life empty. I try to avoid putting in the easy stuff or the stuff that calls the loudest for my attention.
Think about your own satchel. I suspect that there’s going to be more than one thing of importance to put in there. We all have a list of things in our lives that need our love and attention in order to grow and thrive. It’s a load we carry in our satchel each day. But it’s a load we carry upright. The moment you start shifting content around to make room for the things you don’t need or care about is when your satchel, which use to be a gift, is now a burden.
Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living, we all have 24 limited hours in each day. How you spend those hours defines who you become. Either you give that time away or you count it sacred and give it purpose.
I hope each of you will take inventory of your time and ensure your satchel is filled with less distractions and more blessings.