Step one: Give her a job in ministry. I know it sounds ridiculous that serving God full-time could be the thing that takes our focus off God and His people. But it happens.
And it happened…
to me.
I have become so caught up in the day-to-day “work” of ministry, I forgot what ministry is all about. I could probably make excuses as to why like “I’m new at this” or “When things slow down it will get better”. But the truth is I am the only one who can control my time and effort. I can either daily make it my goal to love God and His people or I can “give the devil a foothold” (Eph 4:27). I can allow Satan to steal my time and focus and energy or I can be intentional about walking with the Lord.
This is a daily issue for me and I would venture a guess it is with you as well. My only advice to both of us would be to pray continually (1 Thes 5:17). This is what God wants from us. I don’t think that verse means that all the words out of our mouths should be prayers (how would we ever order Taco Bell?). I think it means to develop an attitude, a spirit of prayer. Being in such intimate relationship with Jesus that when something good or bad happens in our lives, He is the One we want to tell about it.
So in an effort to get back to my “Mary” state of mind, I am renewing my devotion to prayer. Before I talk to a friend about a trouble in my heart, I will take it up with God. He is the only One who knows me completely and knows the situation completely, and guess what… He still likes me!!
Will you join me in devoting our lives to prayer? I want to get to the place where I can say with confidence “Jesus is my best friend”. Remember when you were younger and you would doodle all over your notebooks?
Melissa -n- (insert random and often changing name here) BFF
What if that one person didn’t randomly change based on petty arguments? What if your BFF were Jesus; the One who made you and loves you no matter what? What an amazing place to be. So here’s the deal. My relationship may have languished but He is the eternal BFF who forgives me when I forget to tell him how ticked off I was at that guy who cut me off in traffic. He forgives me when I tell someone else first that I had such an awesome day.
So again I ask: Will you join me in devoting your life to prayer and making Jesus your BFF and getting into a Mary state of mind?
Hey old friend…
I know myself just how easy this is to do some days/weeks/months/seasons. You are 100% right we must keep our focus set and when we think that life is getting crazy that is the time to slow down. I am blessed to have people around me that can help me to slow down when i feel like I don’t have time for people.
When I feel that life is going too busy for me to deal with people I hear from those MCC staff meetings many years ago “People are more important than projects”.
Hope your journey to keep life focused is going well.
Mark