Priorities 101 (Conclusion)

This is the fifth and final post in a series about setting priorities.  Missed any?  Get caught up with the introduction, problem one, problem two, and problem three with a simple click. 

In the last several posts I've shared how our priorities suffer when we're unclear with our goals, when we're too lofty, and when we take on too much.  Because I'm versatile this way, I've been known to mess up in all three areas simultaneously -- setting too many goals that happened to be both too lofty and unclear.  This trifecta, for the record, brews the perfect storm for burning out, fizzling out, and inevitably failing.

To counterbalance these problems, I've written that we can better adhere to our priorities by talking about them in a concrete fashion, being realistic, and finding our big pieces.

Remember our block metaphor?

There's one more thing to consider -- not about the blocks themselves, but rather the box holding those blocks.  If I imagine the blocks as the "stuff" of my life -- all of my roles, all of my responsibilities, all of my interests (being a wife, a mother, a teacher, a blogger, a writer, a friend, a member of my church, a homemaker, an exerciser, and on and on) -- then I need a place to store all of those blocks.

I need a box, one that will contain all of my pieces, whether large or small, in a secure and steady fashion.

God is my box.

He's not a piece of my life to be crammed in with all the other pieces.  He's not a part to be placed on top or shoved to the side.  He's what holds my pieces together.

His hands are capable to bring order out of chaos.  His oversight is able to draw clarity from obscurity.  His grip is large enough to hold everything at once, gently and without damage.

Without question, my best moments of prioritizing have not been when I've attempted to make God my "biggest" piece, but instead when I've surrendered all of my pieces to him for safekeeping.  This isn't a difference of semantics; it's a practice of letting God be God in our lives.

So, set clear goals, be realistic, and know your big pieces, dear readers!  Above all, find a safe place for those pieces in loving hands.

Thanks for following along with the Priorities 101 series!