Prioritizing priorities

Cassie is reading a book.

Katie is enjoying an afternoon with her kids.

Kevin is making his March Madness picks.

Carrie is having a bad day. 

Facebook status updates keep me posted on what’s going on with friends across the nation – friends I rarely make time to call, friends I see even less – even the ones who do live in the same city.

And I sometimes comment on a status, and they sometimes comment on mine – it’s the new, techno-savvy way of keeping in touch, no matter how impersonal it may seem. But last week, one of these friends posted a status that got me and others within our widespread circle thinking. The friend was “wondering what matters most to people in their day-to-day lives.” She did not explain what prompted the thought – maybe it was a kind gesture from a stranger, maybe a rude driver cut her off at a busy intersection. Whatever the motivation, she opened a discussion that prompted inner reflection as much as it did examination of the world around us.

I was compelled to respond, but I did it in guilty non-answer way – by answering a question with a question, because maybe examining my true response was a hard pill to swallow. I asked her, “What matters most or what we put first, because they are hardly the same thing – and why is it so hard to keep those straight?”

Some mutual friends responded to the status.

A friend in Pennsylvania wrote, “To be honest, it depends on the day, but I hope it goes something like God, family and friends. Of course the world has a way of distracting us, and that’s the Devil’s real trick.”

Another friend, this one in Alabama, responded: “Honestly, God, my marriage and my daughter’s stability and happiness.”

And in my head and my heart, my answer was similar to theirs – God comes first, and loved ones right after, above and beyond all else – before work, before personal desires. But sadly my “day-to-day” actions rarely reflect those priorities.

I tend to cancel dinner plans or a gym outing with a girlfriend when I need just one more hour to finish a project. I forgo a phone call to a friend in need for an afternoon nap on my day off. Or worse, I skip time for daily devotionals by hitting the snooze one too many times in the morning, or let my head hit the pillow at night without giving thanks for yet another day. I don’t give that extra $10 to that worthy cause the church is supporting, but I don’t hesitate to download that new CD I’ve been waiting for on iTunes.

Rev. Ken Irby wrote a column for The Vision in January that really hit home for me. (Do you have those moments, when a pastor says something and you just know that God’s passed that message along specifically for you? … This was one of those, and yet somehow I don’t think I comprehended the words until last week.) In the column, Ken quoted an analysis of our daily time: “We worship our work, and work at our play, and play at our worship,” adding that we often times “give God a very low spot on the priority list.”

In that column, Ken said, “We try to ‘work God in’ somewhere, but our spiritual life is the first thing to go when things get busy. Of course, if there was ever a time to find our true center, to pause and consider our lives in the light of God’s presence, it is when things are hectic.”

How true those words are. Without our true center, how are we failing in those other priorities of our lives? How much more meaningful would our personal relationships and work life be if we kept our day-to-day priorities in check, putting God first even through the most chaotic days?

Ken also stressed the importance of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In finding that quiet center, we may finally put our priorities in order and learn something about ourselves along the way.

And just days after my friend called our priorities into question, which brought me back to Ken’s column and that scripture, another friend updated her status with the same scripture. And in that moment, scrolling through friends’ status updates on my Facebook page, I found myself amazed to realize the many ways God speaks to us – the many ways God keeps trying to reach us even when we let the hustle and bustle of daily life drown out the message.

-- Angela Cason

Get Connected!

It was an ordinary Sunday. Mark Martin (former BUMC Associate Pastor) and the praise team were leading The River service. Since I can’t seem to go to the same grocery store two weeks in a row, it should be no surprise that I would drag my husband back and forth on alternating weeks between the BUMC service in the sanctuary and The River service. We both enjoyed experiencing the varied worship styles. On this Sunday, however, something caught my eye. I guess I had noticed it before, but since I wasn’t in this service every week, I really couldn’t remember if this was the case every Sunday or just this Sunday… there was no one playing the keyboard. A little voice in my head asked why, but I quickly told that voice that I really didn’t need to worry about that.
The next week, I told my husband that I wanted to go back to The River service. Since we usually alternated weeks between the two services, he asked why. I told him, “I don’t know why … I just want to go there.” Not quite true, something had been on my mind for the whole week; that little voice that just wouldn’t go away. We attended The River service and once again I saw the keyboard empty. “Don’t be silly,” I told myself. “It’s been twenty years since you have really played at all … what are you thinking?!”
I found my mind drifting during the service (not during the sermon of course!) about how my relationship with my church had changed over the years. I had been very involved when my children were little, but the time drain of work, caring for aging parents, and child responsibilities over the middle school and high school years had drawn me further and further away from a meaningful connection at church. Sometimes I felt like a stranger in my own home on Sundays.
The service drew to a close … “It can’t hurt to ask,” I thought. I approached Mark and asked him if there was no one playing keyboard with the band. “Why,” he asked excitedly, “do you play?” There it was; the question I had both hoped for and dreaded. “Well, yes but it has been a LONG time.” Mark quickly replied that he would call me. Should I say that the phone was ringing as I walked in the door? Well not quite, but let’s just say that the Lord did not give me time to get cold feet. I agreed to show up for River practice that Wednesday night.
When I arrived, I was somewhat embarrassed that I did not even know the names of most of the people I had enjoyed listening to every other Sunday, but they greeted me with open arms. My fears of keyboard inadequacy were heightened when I found out there was no piano music. I would have to figure it out from guitar chords. How ironic that my last two years of piano instruction decades earlier had been just that, but my brain and my fingers struggled with recalling the skills learned. The first several weeks were sheer agony. I finally had to have a conversation with the only one who could help me. “Lord, if you want me to do this, you are going to have to help me.” And then it suddenly clicked. Each week it became easier and morphed from fear to joy. I still have a long way to go, but am excited about the journey!
What is it that the Lord is calling YOU to do? What in your past has prepared you for just this moment in the present? Is there a question that a little voice is asking you? Instead of arguing with that voice or hoping it will go away, what if you answered with a YES! Not a “Yes, I can Lord,” but a “Yes YOU can Lord!”
When you do answer YES, a great reward may be in store. How great that as each of us seeks to draw closer to God’s people at BUMC, we WILL draw nearer to HIM! I pray that you will listen for and find your connection today!

-- Teresa Allen