
I heard the familiar sound. An email arrived around 5:15 a.m. I know this because I was awake, stirring, going about my normal routine. I wondered what other soul was stirring early in the morning.
Recent days have been a whirlwind. Life’s demands are, well, demanding my time and attention, attempting to take hold of more than I wish to give. These days expect much. The contemplative side of me remains suppressed reminding me of a parent telling a child, “Not now, I’m busy,” as though we are able to separate the internal from the external.
But the little child inside me cannot be silenced, and it strikes me, do these demands squelch my thoughtfulness? And if I am thoughtless because I am busy, do I believe God will excuse my excuses as men often do? I’m not sure God is so interested in excuses, but more in me leaving them behind and becoming as He intends.
Science tells us a thought can be generated and acted upon in less than 150 milliseconds, the blink of an eye. Who is too busy for 150 milliseconds? Am I too busy to pick up the phone and check on a friend or family member? How many times did I not? How many times have I said the Lord’s Prayer without thought to meaning or intention? Are word and deed so separate? How long can I ignore what I know to be true as the Gospel expresses? Is God a sideshow in my busy life?
Thought is the beginning of servanthood, a spontaneous burst of possibility, a future about to be. Fatigue, busyness, life’s demands, procrastination, prioritizing are the excuses, the delaying tactics restraining tangible meaning. And we are so full of them. Kingdom work puts life’s demands and those excuses in perspective. Thought is not the Christian’s first order priority. Finishing with action, the idea we name thoughtfulness, the movement of intentionality and heart, is.
“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34, NKJV).
Today’s troubles fill me with fatigue while I focus on immediate and momentary work-life related events. Too much do I allow thoughtfulness to lose out. Isn’t this the way life intervenes in serving the Kingdom?
Like the archer who loads his quiver with arrows to be used, I must learn to carry thoughtfulness with me. Thoughtfulness requires practice or more, the elevating of loving others not just as self, but before self, the means by which I may honor and finish the millisecond, serving God first before life’s demands.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).
The little child inside me suffers unto God, seeking, wishing to find, adding what God intends, a first inclination toward the simplest form of love – thoughtfulness.
“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” (Matthew 11:15, NKJV).