Drive By Relationships: It's time to slow down!

Each of us have the exact same amount of hours each week.  God gave each of us 168 hours a week. He designed creation to work this way.   Since most of us require 8 hours of sleep (56 hours) we are left with 112 hours of wake time.  Since God want us to take a regular sabbath (which is 10% of 168) we are left with  96 hours. If you are on a 40 hour a week schedule you are left with 56 hours or 9.33 hour per day to do whatever you deem important to you.  So if God has given each of the same amount of allotted time then why do so many people complain they don't have enough time?  Is your schedule under control?  If not, why not?

A number of years back, Bill Gates wrote a book entitled, "Business At The Speed Of Thought." The purpose of the book was to tell us to prepare ourselves for an acceleration of doing life at rapid speed due to new technologies.  Who would have figured facebook, instagram, twitter, snap chat, etc. becoming our regular means of communication?  140 characters, sloganeering, instant messaging have become the norm for marriages, friends, and kids.  No more table conversations around a dinner table. No more early morning coffees with the wife.  Husbands and wives juggling schedules to run kids to school, after school activities, chic-fli-a for dinner, soccer on Sunday mornings to ensure their is no faith instilled in your family life. Sounds old fashion to actually say, "you have the power to slow down and take time for your relationship with God, your family, and yourself."

All I ever hear these days, "I can't BE THERE I have too much work  to do."  Then we wonder why there is an epidemic of heroin use in our communities, porn, kids being abducted into sex slavery, violence in schools, 50% of American kids going home without a home cooked dinner and sitting all night in front of a video game leanring how to shoot guns and killing people. Daycare providers, latch key kids, and supposed vacation fixes for marriage is no excuse for schedules being out of control.  God did not design life to be like a fast food restaurant. No one can do life/business at the speed of thought.  My own brain is very creative, has hundreds of ideas, and is able to move at lightning speed but I regularily empty my thoughts in my "trash bin" because much of it is a distraction.  Too many people are filling up their schedules like landfills.  They are unable to keep up with the trash pile up and then have melt downs when their world is overscheduled.  Recently, I've watched people, even in church, who can't sit still, have to keep checking their smart phones, and won't engage in worship because they just don't know how to unhook from their technology addictions.  Being a human means "being present."  You can't expect a healthy relationship with anyone when your body is present but your not.  You can't expect a healthy relationship with drive by comments...  relationships take time to build, being engaged in conversation, and being together in those 9 and half hours you have to spend daily.  Even the sabbath was designed by God to unhook yourself from the daily routines of life so that you could reconnect to God, yourself and those you love. You make the choices of what's important to you.. you choose how to spend your time - you can't blame anyone but yourself for the decisions you make.  Relationship is either important or not. 

American culture today insists that we must be doing something or accomplishing something in order to have self-worth.  Need evidence?  Just suggest to someone that they're not busy and watch the fur fly. We live in a culture that is out of control.  Being relaxed is equated to being lazy.  Whatever happened to that "conversation over a cup of coffee (Third Place) vs. The Starbuck drive-thu?"  Steve Schultz said in his book, "Pour Your Heart Into It,"  that Amercia needed a Third Place like the Itailian cafes in Italy for people to take regular breaks in their day and connect with others.  Guess the only place for that to happen is the bar... drink your stresses away because you have NO TIME in your overscheduled day. If I sound a bit out of touch here... then so be it.  However, a text message, a FB picture, tweeting, instagraming just doesn't replace good ole facetime.  Being together, enjoying a another person, and having meaningful connections in this busy culture is more important to me these days than what "great accomplishments" my so called friends are posting on facebook.  Is it any wonder the divorce rate is climbing?  Is it any wonder our kids are going to school carrying guns to solve their problems?  It's all because too many people are trying to do drive-by relationships and not taking the time to slow down and let the people they claim are important to them know they are valued over the over-scheduled business of their daily routines. One last thought, don't ever justify your over-scheduled, disorganized, work addiction by saying "Well I am doing this all for you!"  Really?