priorities

I had a great week, but one thing that was frustrating was the time I spent preparing for the message on Sunday. This week's is one of those that just did not come easy. My guideline is that the message is ready to go by Thursday at midnight. That didn't happen this week. It's not that I don't know what to talk about. Quite the opposite. There are so many roads to go down with this Sunday's topic, it's been a real task upbringing out which road to take. I'll get there. And this is not the point, only the example.

What I'm thinking about this morning are priorities. I didn't finish the prep for that message on Thursday. That meant that I felt the immediate temptation to work on it on Friday. No go. Friday is my Sabbath day - my weekly day of rest. So, now it's Saturday morning and I have a ton of stuff I'd like to do today. Still, the priority is to be very well prepared for that message tomorrow morning.

My pastor, Gerry Stoltzfoos, taught me a long time ago, "When you say yes to one thing that's always saying no to another." That is the essence of priority. I've said yes to communicating God's Word on a weekly basis. This week, that means I'm going to do less fun stuff today and watch less college football than I'd like. Those are small sacrifices, but it's the small incremental decisions we make that define who we are.

How about you? What sacrifices are you making to prioritize the most important things in your life?