Shifting Perspective on Priorities

What if shifting perspective on priorities created more time for Joy in your day?

Recently, a friend shifted her ministry focus to include helping women pursue a more joy-full, life-giving style to their lives through creative efforts.

Rather than putting those creative pursuits on the back burner, or relegating them to a “better time”, she promotes shifting perspective on priorities to include them right now.

As a “work before play” gal, the premise intrigued me. How does one accomplish all of their responsibilities AND embrace the possibilities hidden in those life-giving creative pursuits?

Welcome to Mindfulness Monday! Where we learn some easy ways to be more present “in the moment” at our jobs, in our homes, with our families and friends.

Learning to recognize God and what He has for us in each divine moment He offers. We acknowledge the belief that God is with us always.

We confess His presence is available to us, lifting our spirit and helping us with power and grace. Learning the art of “stillness” so we can hear His voice and view ourselves, others and our surroundings through His eyes.

the preeminance of priority

We all have them. Priorities dictate how we spend our time, money, and resources. Laboring over decisions, we incessantly wonder if we are prioritizing our lives well.

Even if you avoid articulating specific priorities, everything you do revolves around the things, values, or people most important to you.

Yet too often our actions and time allocations betray areas where our talk fails to line up with our walk.

At other times, totally misplaced, our priorities run roughshod over the truly important things in life.

I wonder if prioritizing well looks more like creating space for what ignites life and joy within us, rather than that which drives us to productivity and accomplishment.

Ending each day more exhausted than when I started, invited me to embrace shifting my perspective on my own priorities.

“It’s not about having time, it’s about making time.”

the promise of perspective

I absolutely adore wandering in nature, listening to the birds in the early morning, and watching the sunrise or sunset. Breathing life into my soul, and sensitizing me to the Father’s Presence, creation soothes and refreshes me.

Yet rarely do these activities make it into my day.

Instead, bowing to the tyranny of the urgent or believing the lie of scarcity become the taskmasters which drive me rather than nurture me.

Have you experienced the tyranny of the urgent as this taskmaster proclaims “it” (whatever the current urgency is at the moment) must be attended to NOW?

Or the outright lie from a scarcity mindset as it piggybacks onto the bully of the urgent declaring the lack of time and resources to put off anything to another time?

Shifting Perspective on Priorities

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

John 10:10

While embracing all of the life-giving moments and activities my desires seek after, may not prove possible, by shifting perspective on my priorities, I open the door to a few more than I have now.

Because God never meant for me to live a harried existence, He came to give me life, and that life abundantly.

Prioritizing things which are important and time sensitive displays wisdom. But viewing and living from a place of reaction where everything seems an emergency, in fact, is foolish, not to mention life draining.

Few things warrant such supremacy in my schedule as to preclude carving out time to be present to God, people, and the things which breathe life into my soul.

Far from irresponsible, mindfully shifting perspective on your priorities demonstrates wisdom and a desire for leaving behind drama and striving, while embracing the elegance of ease in our daily walk.

• Slow down. Nothing requires rushed attention. The more you rush, the more you miss. Try slowing your pace in every area down; walk slower, talk slower, eat slower, read slower…notice how much better you feel and interact.
• Shift perspective. Hold your agenda and plans for the day loosely. Instead of everything revolving around the completion of your plans, remain open to an incomplete To-Do List. Create space for life-giving encounters.
• Seek solace. Rather than expending every moment in accomplishing things, seek ways of breathing in God’s goodness in peace pauses, the gift of relationship, and creative fun.

Embracing the abundant life

Ultimately, despite what my ego or anxiety tells me, the world will continue to revolve as it always has, even if I prioritize a little differently. And that urgent “it” will be waiting for me fifteen minutes, an hour, or a day later.

Making time for present moments with God, people, and life-giving activities actually breeds abundance, not scarcity.

More Joy, renewed energy, and inspiration become the life-giving force leading to a better ability to handle those demanding issues once I return to them.

I wonder how much freedom we might experience if we quit cowering to the tyranny of the urgent and believing the lie of scarcity. Might we obtain a right view of self and God?

How might your priorities look if you truly understood the expansiveness and generosity of God?

Perhaps a good deal more like life, and life abundantly.