Crucial Choices

Monday 3/24/2014 4:59 AM

The theme of my devotions this week is crucial choices.  For Lent I gave up social media and I am finding that I have much more time in my schedule.  My early morning running has increased from seven runs totaling twenty-two miles in February to thirteen runs totaling forty-eight miles so far in March.  My journal writing in the morning went from eight times in February to fourteen times so far in March.  The hours in the day have not increased; it is simply the choices that I am making as those hours pass.

Today I read a statement made by Henri Nouwen from an article in Leadership entitled “Time Enough to Minister.”  He writes, “Often we’re not as pressed for time as much as we feel we’re pressed for time.”  I have discovered the truth of that statement over the past few weeks.  Nouwen then goes on to describe a time when he was on a sabbatical and some high school students asked him to lead a retreat.  He felt like he had to prepare a lot of material but the abbot of the monastery where he was staying told him not to prepare anything but to simply allow the students to have a glimpse of his life with God.  Nouwen writes, “The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. … let them be a part of your life in God – that’s ministering.” I pray that I will have the wisdom and the discipline to continue to make choices that honor God and free me up for ministry.