Too Busy?

We've been busy lately. 

Too busy.

Busy with school...

Work...

Music...

Friends...

Church responsibilities...

Even ministry.

I'm ashamed to say it, we've almost been too busy for each other. So many things demanding our attention that seem so small.

Just a few minutes more studying...

One more short job...

Just to the end of this piece...

How often do we really get to go phone shopping, anyway...

We were voted into these positions, we can't let the church down by not fulfilling them...

It's already April and we haven't invited the speakers or finalized the schedule for NEYR- it must be done today...

This past Sabbath really brought this fact home to me, and today made it very real. Sabbath was the first time we took a walk, just the four of us, in months. It used to be a weekly event. On sunny Sabbaths we walked and on rainy Sabbaths we read an entire book in one afternoon. But we've been so busy with hurried "Can-we-get-together-for-a-few-minutes-after-Sabbath-School" meetings, that by the time we get home, we're starved, Daddy needs a nap, and by the time he wakes up, it's dark (not that he takes long naps, it just gets dark very early here).

But this week, we got home early enough to drive to the end of the road and just walk, enjoying each others company. The thought came to me that it's very important to put all the "busy work" of life aside in order to spend meaningful time with your family. You don't know how long you will be blessed with their company.

Which is the reason I'm blogging at 9:30 pm. I'm usually asleep by now, but I'm just bursting with words to get out. Why? Because today I haven't talked to Daniel. Usually, when we're both home, it's a running commentary about everything from "Why did God make chlorophyll green?" to "Do you think Mrs. Romney really has two Cadillacs?" But today it's different. Today marks the first time Daniel and I have been seperated for 24 hours, and to be perfectly honest, it's terrible. I miss him. 

He'll be back tomorrow morning, and it won't be soon enough, but I learned a lesson:

Never take your family for granted. They mean more than any possible distraction.

Enthusiasm

Growing up in New England means growing up surrounded with history. The town where I grew up was home to Atlantic Union College (the oldest Adventist school operating in the original buildings), the Village Church (the oldest church build by Adventists for Adventists), the Rowlandson Garrison, and happened to be the oldest town in the county. Lexington and Concord (where the Revolutionary War began) was about 30 minutes from my house. Where I live now, the first Sabbath keeping Adventist church is in my church's district.

The wealth of the heritage in my area is quite impressive. But I have ceased to be impressed. It is all commonplace. I see it all the time.

Some friends came out east last spring and we went on a history tour. AUC, the Village Church, Lexington, Concord and the Washington Church were all on the list of "to-sees". Watching their reactions to these historic places was eye opening. They saw everything with wide-open eyes, drinking in the places and the stories of the people who made them famous. The youngest daughter was so enthralled that she was imagining the "swarthy Indian who was stealthily sneaking through these very woods!"

Their enthusiasm was contagious. I found myself taking a second look at the things in my figurative backyard, and realizing that they are indeed something to take note of.

Today, on my way home from a conference, I was looking through some of the pictures of the tour last spring. A new thought struck me:

Many of us have grown up with the Adventist message. We've read the Bible front to back many times and have portions of it memorized. We are in great danger of loosing our enthusiasm for God and His ways. We must always be taking a second look, remembering Him and His leading. We have nothing to fear for the future, even, or maybe especially, falling into that sense of familiarity that leads to contempt, except we forget how God has lead in the past.