Hairy Priorities – See. Perceive. Act.

Priorities can get hairy, former procrastinators.  We all know it.  I experience that.  We know that by definition priority is “taking precedence by importance.”  How many things can be in top spot, right?  Merriam Webster online says “preferential rating/ something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives.”  Boy, does that last one nail our problem.  There are always competing alternatives.  Some of them are loudly demanding.  Some are sneaky and weasel into our days before we know it.  Some promise one level of involvement but require more. Some are very quiet and get forgotten. Etc!

Frankly, we have a lot of important things.  However, if we’re going to bear fruit for the Lord, we need to sink our roots into Him, learn His direction about where to pour our energies, and steadily stick with the essential few He directs. He did not make us to do it all. 

It helps me to think of priorities in two areas. 1) daily life requirements (quiet time with God, feed the family, exercise for health, employment)  2) special things that I believe the Lord is directing in my life as a calling and that I deeply desire (blogging and speaking on procrastination, mentoring and being mentored by women believers).

When homeschooling, I had priorities in different categories, as you may where you work.  It’s common for something to be “tip top” over all categories for a while.

Sometimes priorities conflict.  We have to make hard choices we’d rather not.  (Conflicting Priorities 2, April 16, 2023)

The main thing is to recognize and act on an essential few.  Otherwise, we are too scattered to be effective.  Our vision blurs; our strength dissipates.  We can’t keep up with our own lives.  If we do the essential few faithfully, under the Lord’s direction, that is good.  If we see what He wants, perceive direction clearly and discern the how, then act on it, we are in the vine and He will bear fruit through us.  We should relax about putting more on ourselves than He does.

Mini habits are an enormous help in making progress on priorities.  Some priorities like feeding the family obviously take more than 10 minutes daily, so do not fit into that approach. (Some part of it may, such as making one quick dinner dish in the morning.)  Nevertheless, they are a valuable tool that helps us accomplish something important that we resist doing.  I can’t overstate the compound effect of a routine mini habit. (Yes, that’s redundant.)

The clarity that comes from perceiving our priorities and setting a course to focus on them above all else is life changing.  We will do other things as well, but we give our primary focus and effort to the priorities.  And relax.  Trust Him.

What specific essential do you focus on above other demands?