Busy Life? Time to Thin the Radishes

by | Jul 28, 2016

Two things about me… Rarely do I experience downtime and I have a hard time saying no to anyone who asks for my assistance. Yes, I realize the two often go hand-in-hand, and yes, I realize it leads to consequences. It is the way I was wired and there is no changing me. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should not try to be efficient in our mindsets and allocations of our time. In fact, an overly busy life is also often an ineffective life.

This is where the phrase, “stretching ourselves too thin” comes to mind. When something is stretched too thinly, it weakens and eventually breaks down under the strain and duress of being pushed to the limits. Sooner or later, that metaphorical band produces a hole, prompting a leak, or breaking down altogether. At that point, all that was once held is turned loose and scattered.

We have so much biding for our time, whether it is obligations to church, family, career, household duties, volunteerism or anything really. For someone that lacks an ability to say no, this becomes problematic. This band only stretches so far. That’s why I take stock of my life from time-to-time to “thin the radishes.” It’s a practice I started many years back while gardening. It was one of the few years I started all my vegetables from seed, so I was eager to see things sprout. And boy did they ever!

Unfortunately, I did a pretty poor job of getting the seed of my radishes evenly distributed. Instead of a nice row of evenly spaced seedlings, I saw them develop into a clump of radish sprouts.

Radishes

An over committed life produces many minimal results. 

I carefully began pulling some of them while trying to not overly disturb those that remained. When my daughter asked what I was doing, I explained to her that these root veggies needed to have room to produce, or none of them would do well. Instead of several wonderful red radishes, we would have one big, ugly, mutated clump of a radish that would be of very little use to anyone.

Brothers and sisters, our life is much like those first sprouts. As organized as we try to be, as committed to our causes as we are, we too-often forfeit the full potential of our lives and our contribution to building up of God’s kingdom because we are too timid about saying no or recognizing that we have stretched our bands too thin.

An over committed life produces many minimal results. Strive instead for fewer “radishes” with maximum impact. Here’s how…

  1. Know Your Priorities: Too often, my day begins with a short prayer while taking a shower and ends with me falling asleep during an evening prayer. Yes, all things should begin and end with God, but this hardly qualifies. God doesn’t desire to be an afterthought. He wants and commands your whole thought (Matthew 22:37)! If you sincerely desire to have meaningful devotion time and prayer time with God, make it happen. Commit the time to your first priority and work the rest around that.
  2. Ask if you are Master or Slave? This is a hard concept for many to grasp. However, if something occupies your mind and detracts you from God, it has you in its grip. And you have become a slave to the idol (1 Cor. 6:12). Are your hobbies and interests keeping you from dedicated work of the Lord? Then pluck the radish from the clump.
  3. Have an Early Warning System and Exit Strategy: When you take on new assignments, board positions, hobbies, etc. examine if you have room. Also examine whose motive is satisfied (yours or God’s). If you choose to forge ahead, do so with a means for being able to recognize if it is drudging too deeply into your life. Are you skipping Bible Study or showing up late for worship? Have you started skipping devotional time? If you start answering yes more often than you should, it’s time to pluck that sprout. Do it before it becomes a destructive weed and cripples your harvest.
  4. Pray. Seek wisdom, discernment and favor of Glod’s blessings in all things.

Possibly Related Elsewhere on the Blogosphere: