On Sunday the Pastor at my church quoted Charles Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way: Wise Words for Busy People a well known author who has said, “Busyness destroys relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man. It fills a calendar but fractures a family. It cultivates a program that plows under priorities.

Everyone says that the older you get the quicker times seems to go by. Why, because as we age we have more responsibilities and being busy makes the time go by more quickly. While children who have fewer responsibilities and hopefully fewer commitments have time to just be.

It seems to me that being busy has turned into a competition. When friends get together they talk about how busy they are and all of the activities they are involved in and commitments they have. It spills over into the lives of children as well as we schedule their every moment signing them up for lessons and sports and play dates. Do you ever talk to a friend who replies when you ask what they’ve been up to, “Oh not much, just hanging out and enjoying my family.” More likely your friend rattles off all of the committees they are on the projects they are involved in and all the events they attend.

What’s the cost of all this chaos? Aren’t relationships what matters most in life? Are we sacrificing our relationships with family and friends because of our notion that we must be busy “doing” all the time?

We use this busyness as an excuse, an excuse to get out of spending time with others or for not nurturing relationships. I know I am guilty of using the excuse with friends and family that “things have been crazy”. “That’s why I haven’t called or come to see you.”

Is life meant to be leisurely enjoyed or hurried through? Are things on our “To do” list more important than the people in our lives? Will it matter in the end how many “things” we got done or how many other souls we made contact with?

I am going to try and make some changes in my life. I am going to start looking at my list of “things to do” as secondary to the people in my life. I am going to spend more time just “being” instead of “doing”. I am going to stop using the excuse of being busy for not nurturing my relationships.

I hope you will join me on this journey to slow down and focus on the people not the process and to do less and be more.

Valerie