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When am I “too” Busy

  It is important to consider what it means to be busy and also what it means to be “too” busy.  To have things to do is very healthy for all of us. And when the number of things that need to be done increases it forces us to establish some priorities so that we make sure we can complete the things that are most important. Sometimes it can get a bit difficult to determine what is more important. When a person becomes so busy that they don’t have time to eat, this problem needs to take priority and be addressed or we could grow weak and ill or even die.

  How long can a person exist without water?  Or how long can a person go without eating?  We know that eating and drinking are certainly important for our health, but how important are they?

  I asked Google “how long can a person live without water”, and it states, 𠇊 person can typically survive only about three to seven days without water”. Does that shock you? It did me.  Of course there were any number of things that can cause changes to this answer, but the point is that water is vital to life. I also asked Google “how long can a person live without food”, and it reveals that 𠇊 person can generally survive for one to two months without food, provided they have adequate water intake”.  It went on to say, “Without both food and water, survival time drops significantly to about one week”. 

  All that said, it isn’t just our bodies that require food for health and life. So also does our faith. Faith is a gift to us from God, but it is not nourished by food and water, but by the Word of God and the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

  How long can a person’s faith remain alive without providing proper nourishment for it?  There are no exact answers to this question, but we do know that without the nourishment of Word and Sacrament, faith will grow weaker and weaker and may finally even cease to be anymore.  So my question is, “how long does a person go before the next meal of God’s Word and Holy Communion?”  What gets in the way of our decision to attend church on a Sunday morning or attend holy Communion?  Is the 𠇋USYNESS” of life important enough to risk the outcome of neglecting to feed your faith? 

  It seems like our lives are getting filled to overflowing with more and more things to do than ever before. A common response often given to the question of “why don’t you attend worship services at your church anymore?” is that “Sunday is my ONLY day for me to rest and catch up on all the things I didn’t get done during the week”. This response might well indicate that this person must take a close look at the 𠇋usyness” that is filling their week to overflowing and do some emergency prioritizing, lest faith is neglected and becomes malnourished and sick. I do think this is a more common problem than we sometimes think. The reason I say this is that the average number of people worshiping on a weekend today is significantly less than it was fifty years ago. That is probably a true statement in whatever church you attend.  How long will we allow meaningless 𠇋usyness” to jeopardize our faith before we take hold of the problem and do something about it?  See you in church this weekend!