PRIORITIZING PROPERLY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

Proverbs 24:27        

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I’m currently taking my final college class required for me to earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology through Old Dominion University. It’s been something I have been working on since 2001 and I am more than excited to finally have reached the finish line.

Why has it taken me so long?

Well, those who know me or have been faithful readers of The Christian Walk know I spent the larger part of my life, 28 ½ years to be exact, serving my country in the United States Navy. That service commitment often had me on ships and going on deployments that took me away from home quite often, away from my family and away from being able to pursue my degree.

We find quickly in our adult lives that there will be any number of demands placed on our time, demands which require us to have to prioritize as to what we have to do and what we have to wait to do. Success in life is often predicated on how well we prioritize properly.

I was reminded of this a few days ago in the framework of this final course I am taking. It’s a Capstone Research Project and is different from any other class I have done to date. What makes it that way is that it is a group project with the final grade determined by the overall group effort. Add to this that it is a distance learning class and you can quickly see the challenges involved. I mean, how do you get a group of people to come together when you aren’t meeting in person?

Well, since I have a lot of leadership experience, I agreed to lead the group over this semester as we develop a topic, research the topic, and then produce our findings in a presentation to the Professor, hopefully gaining a good grade in the end. I have to say the leadership challenge has been to try and get everyone connected virtually and on the same page. For the most part, I had done that but there were a couple of group members who had not communicated or participated. As I submitted our first group assignment, I had to tell the Professor the names of the group members who had not yet been involved.

After I had done this, I received an e-mail from one of those who had failed to participate. She apologized for not having made contact before then but explained that she had an eight month old daughter who had gotten sick and she had to take care of her, thus not enabling her to participate until then.

I paused for a moment and then wrote a reply telling her simply that she had done the right thing. Her daughter should have been her primary concern, a child that God had created and entrusted to her care. There was plenty of time for her to make significant contributions. The main thing was her daughter was getting well and for that I was thankful.

This student had her priorities right and her actions showed that. Ignoring her child for a college class would have been nothing short of neglect and there’s no doubt in my mind that the Lord will take action on anyone who neglects or abuses any of His precious children.

I highlight these two examples of making decisions on priorities because it’s really the focal point of the following verse of wisdom from Solomon as we continue to study his brilliantly crafted words from the Book of Proverbs. Look again at the key verse for today:

Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. Proverbs 24:27

Here the word of the Lord is exhorting us to prioritize properly. Before one builds a house, they should have the means by which to pay for the house. This is why they should be out working to get the fields ready so a harvest and its associated income can be produced before the house is even built. It would be foolish to build the house first and then try and figure out how to pay for it afterwards.

It makes sense, right?

So as we live life and have to choose between what seems to be an ever present set of options to select from, how can we ensure that we are always prioritizing properly?

Relying on our own wisdom and intellect is definitely not the right answer, that’s for sure.

For only the Lord will always guide us to do the right thing at the right time. Only He can show us what needs done first and what needs to wait. This is because only His will and way is perfectly right and righteous.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and rely not on your own understanding. It’s a continuing theme of this important book of wisdom and one we need to cherish and hold onto.

For the Lord will never lead us wrong. Ever.

Won’t you give Him thanks today for that truth?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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