Restoring Balance To Our Hurried Lives.

Restoring Balance to our Hurried Lives. Part #1

SLOWING DOWN

Daniel 1:8-17.

A. We don’t Take time to smell the flowers.

I had no time to care for myself…” Song of Solomon 1:6.

B. We don’t see the fun in life anymore.

My days go by faster than a runner; they fly away without my seeing any joy. Job 9:25.

C. Our hurried lifestyle can cause us to become less productive.

Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind. Prov. 21:5.

A person in a hurry makes mistakes.” Prov. 19:2b.

D. A hurried lifestyle stops us from hearing God.

Be sill, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10.

1. If we are serious about restoring balance to our over loaded lives then we need to begin by examining our motivations.

It is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time. Eccl. 4:6.

A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; jealousy rots it away.” Prov. 14:30.

2. I need to Learn to say No.

An impulsive vow is a trap; later you’ll wish you could get out of it. Prov. 20:25.

3. I must practice obeying the fourth commandment. You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to Me.” Ex. 20:9-10.

It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know God enjoys giving rest to those He loves?” Psalm 127:2.

4. I must learn to Wait for God’s timing. God does everything just right and on time. But people can never completely understand what He is doing. Eccl. 3:11.

These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Hab. 2:3.

God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my mind. Psalm 51:10

Restoring Balance to our Hurried Lives.

SLOWING DOWN

Daniel 1: 8-17.

Since Christmas in coming up real quick I would like to look at a few messages on the theme of Restoring balance to our Hurried Lives. I love the Christmas season but for some reason this time of the year is filled with twice as much stress as any other time of the year. There was a mailer that was sent out advertizing home delivery of groceries. The mailer was addressed to the Time Pressed Family. I believe we all know that it is obvious that the pace of life is getting faster and faster. Some of the fast food restaurants are coming up with what they are calling Fast Track concept which allows you to get your burgers faster. Though this new concept will get you your food faster there is no mention of the quality of the meal you may be getting. Here is how this is supposed to work. You will sign up for a credit account with the particular restaurant and they’ll give you a little transponder so that when you go through the checkout it automatically bills your account and it shaves eight to ten seconds off getting your burger. Now you and I may not see that as a big saving but on Monday I was setting in the bank of N.S. parking lot and I watched as business people parked in the handicap area so they could get into the bank faster. People are willing to risk life and limb just to save a few precious seconds. Everybody’s seems to be in running somewhere for one reason or another and in the process of trying to get where ever they are going they are trying to do five tasks at one time. The producers of frozen juices did a survey to figure out why sales were down and they found out that in most major cities in the U.S. sales were declining because people don’t have the time to wait for it to thaw out so they could make their juice. If you happen to look in the frozen food section at Wal-Mart in the states you will find a large section has been given to foods that you can microwave in a couple of minutes. Now I think that is great because when I am at work we have our meal while we are working. That is the nature of the position and I am ok with it. We live in a world where everyone wants what they want yesterday. Listen to this article that was in USA Today. Today people are souped-up, stressed-out, and overscheduled. In this brave new world boundaries between work and family are disappearing. Everyone is mobile and every moment of the day is scheduled with daycare, school, after school activities and ten to twelve hour work days. This new pressure cooker lifestyle is now the source of many studies to see if they can predict how it is going to affect our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. We have experience at one time or another what can happen to our lives because of life goes faster and faster. The thing is that most people don’t take time to think about it because they are so caught up in a fast pace lifestyle. One of the main side effects is that we are stressed. Companies are struggling to deal with employees who are off work because of stress yet because we live in a modern world with all the latest electronic devices it is felt that we shouldn’t have any stress.