Take Time by Donna L. Watkins - The Herbs Place

Take Time
by Donna L. Watkins

What does it take to get healthy?

The first thing I had to do was TAKE TIME!

What would it do for our health if we scheduled the Lord as a priority for a week? Arranged our schedule to make a few hours each day for a week to have a "retreat." You don’t have to leave the house to have a retreat, but you do need to be diligent to get it done. Everything will come at you when you begin to plan this project. You have to decide WHAT is most important?

Have you prayed and prayed for good health and grumbled throughout the days about not feeling well? I spent many years doing that and using every ounce of energy that I did have DOING rather than BEING. I realized that if anybody could get me well it would be Jesus. So why did I run everywhere and accomplish all I could when the most important thing I wanted was to feel better? I guess we think that by DOING things, we feel better….but I’ve had enough of those experiences to realize that I really don’t….most likely nobody notices 90% of what is done in those times anyway. Why didn’t I choose to take time to spend time with Him seeking answers on my health.

Not "fast food" answers. We like to toss up an order and grab the answer as we go about our DOING. I believe God wants us to BE, which means we have to sit still and listen.

Do you spend your time with the Lord continually asking questions or making prayer requests or reading the Bible and then rush off waiting for the answers to come about? Hoping they’ll fly into a "holding bin" waiting for you to stop by long enough to pick them up. I realized awhile back that I didn’t spend much time listening to the Lord..I was always talking. He has a still and quiet voice. I wasn’t sitting quietly awaiting His voice. My quiet time was just an item on my checklist.

Charles Stanley has some great comments from a devotional on this topic:
"Who or what holds the greatest place of importance in your life? What consumes your thoughts? Do you feel as though you are on a production treadmill that is geared for high speed and there is no way off? Does the Lord have a place of honor within your life? Do you spend quality time with Him on a regular basis? Jesus instructed His disciples to "Seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

"Often the problems we encounter with time management have more to do with our own striving than the demands others make of us. We like being needed. We enjoy "fitting in." When someone makes a request of us, and we squeeze it in an already booked schedule, we make a horrendous mistake. Misplaced priorities rob us of our peace and contentment.

"Jesus never hurried from one place to another. He did not carry a cell phone nor did he worry about "picking up His e-mail." Yet He changed the world. What happens if you do get the long sought-after promotion at work, or you are elected as chairman of some committee, but miss the blessings of God’s intimate love? What have you gained? Nothing. In fact, you have lost the greater opportunity – a chance to personally know and be known by the Savior of this world."

TAKE TIME!

I challenge you to schedule time to get well. You will do it when you have to go to the hospital for surgery or a bypass operation. Why not do it BEFORE things get worse? Whether you have small children and a busy household which makes it a real challenge, or you live alone and it is easy.

All it takes is making it a PRIORITY. It’s a matter of choice!