It's New Years Eve! We have come to the end of another year which is also the end of another decade. I look back and realize this is the 5th end of a decade I have experienced. A lot has changed since 1970 when I saw my first decade turn. The biggest change in my opinion is what I will call the "velocity of life". The rate at which hours, minutes and seconds tick away is the same; however, the way we experience the passing of time has changed. I will not droll on about microwaves, cell phones and the Internet being evil things that have ruined our lives. On the contrary, these technological breakthroughs have made life better in innumerable ways. Microwaves allow us to utilize food more efficiently and decrease the amount of time required to prepare meals. Cell phones afford peace of mind and closer contact with our loved ones. The Internet has opened a new world of information to expand our minds and improve communication across the entire world. So who is responsible for the velocity of life? We are!
Two novels that were required reading through my school years were "1984" and "A Brave New World". Orwell's premise was that in the future Big Brother would control the world through controlling access to information and truth thereby exerting authoritarian control. Huxley's premise was that we would be so overwhelmed by information that truth would be unknowable in the avalanche of data. I must say Huxley was much closer to the truth.
What is our response? We have talked in previous blogs about understanding what we believe and turning it into action in our lives. In order to do that we have to increase our velocity. Speed up? You say, "I thought we just spent time talking about the velocity of life and now you want me to speed up?" Allow me to explain. First, there is a difference between speed and velocity. Speed is how fast you are going. Velocity is speed in a direction. It matters little how fast I travel if I have no direction. Attach a directional vector to speed and now you have velocity. Likewise, time is not our problem. If you are trying to manage time... forget it. No matter how hard you try you will never get more than 24 hours out of a day or 7 days out of a week. However, we can manage our priorities within the bounds of time. The high volume of information and opportunities we face today offer limitless distractions which increase our activity (or speed), but confuse our direction (or velocity). My observation is that we move aimlessly now that we are lost in this maze. By limiting our distractions and focusing on the truly important aspects of life we allow ourselves to have direction in our lives that give us power. Our lives are similar to a stream of water. Regardless of the volume of water contained in that stream, if you move the banks far enough apart you effectively turn a mighty river into a stagnant pool. On the other hand, pull those banks close together and the power of that rushing river can carve a canyon or generate electricity.
Julia Wesley had 19 children. You have no doubt heard of two of her sons, John and Charles Wesley. John was a tireless preacher and teacher of the Gospel and Charles wrote many of our beloved hymns. John reported that he asked his mother to define sin. Julia replied, "Sin is anything that distracts you from the truth of Scripture or violates the sacred right of another." I imagine a mother of 19 knew something about prioritizing time, hence her concise answer. I came to the similar realization when my two boys were young that I could not have and do it all. I decided I would focus on three things: Faith, Family and Vocation. That meant I would say 'no' to many things. I don't play golf, fish, hunt or many other things I could do. None of those things are wrong in and of themselves. They only become wrong for me when they become a distraction from truth I believe as a Follower of Christ or when they cause me to be less of a father, husband or steward of my gifts.
So how do we become the laser focused followers of Christ we are called to be? By narrowing our focus and increasing our velocity!
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