"make time"...for what matters least...not what matters most

today, while washing the windows in the church entryway doors, a task i do regularly, i watched as a regular dog walker drove in the church parking lot. i was doing something i do regularly. he was about to do something he does regularly. as i stepped outside to complete my regular task, i observed that there were a couple of other regular dog walkers in the yard.


window washing and dog walking...this combination is what sparked this brief blog entry...i know how often i wash the windows at ccc, and i feel like i have a pretty good idea how often the dog owners exercise their dogs there. these things aren't really things we "make time" for. they are part of our regular routines. i'd hazard a guess that other things happen around these things.


don't get me wrong; we need routine. in fact, this is exactly what this is about. window washing and dog walking are both important. in both cases, someone's depending on the task being done...the guests, the regulars, the dogs...my point is that we never have to "make time" for our habits...the things we do regularly...


ever notice that when u say "i need to make time for ______," it's always something that everything else should be taking a back seat to? i need to make time for prayer, or my family, or the things i sign up for but never stick to...yeah, these kind of things. the kind of things where i'm being counted on to get to it and get it done. the kind of things that all too often take a backseat to all my other habits and priorities. 


i posit that there are things in all of our lives that we should be making time for, so much so, that they become the new regular...that they're no longer the things we make time for and squeeze in last minute if there's time. i bet that they are the things that need to become what everything else revolves around...things like relationships with God and people, for example. i know what i shouldn't have to make time for. i know what should be priority. i know what should come first. i know what should be habitual in my life but has a tendency to become what i give the least amount of my time to in the run of a day.


i'm taking a look at my habits--the things i engage in regularly--and the things that ought to be habitual in my life, but have a tendency to get placed on the back burner. i don't want to get so wrapped up in my important activities that i neglect the things and the people that are at least of tantamount importance, and quite possibly of paramount importance.


the way i see it, taking time to smell the roses is a good thing to do...that very statement implies that it's something you should be making time for. while an idiom, it's an imperative statement. it's not really a suggestion or recommendation; it's a command. just make sure in all your rose smelling, window washing, and dog walking, and all the other habits that fill your day, that other matters don't go by the wayside. make sure you're not just "making time" for what matters so that you can check it off your list as being completed until next time. make time for what's less important, and reserve the best of your time--not what's left of your time--for the habits that matter most.


i dare you.