Stop! Drop! and Roll!

I was in University yesterday and during our lecture on ‘facilitative listening’ lecture (which is basically a lecture on how to counsel people) our lecture asked us how we would respond to someone who felt that they were too busy to enjoy life. A fellow course-mate replied ‘get used to it, thats life’. This response didn’t sit well with me, I can’t imagine living a life where I don’t get to enjoy doing the things I love, but is this the reality for most people? We need to have balance in our life, and not a boring balance but a balance of the fun and the necessary, the leisure and the work, the spiritual and the personal. As I was praying about this I had a bizarre image of a video I had watched in primary school about fire safety and the phrase STOP DROP AND ROLL!

Stop!
When was the last time you stopped, got off the merry-go-round and out of the fast lane to take a long, hard look at your life? It is so easy to live each day just doing “the next thing” that comes along. The “one size fits all” mentality about life plans is from the pit and smells like smoke. God has a plan for your life that is unique and you are the only person who can be “you.” Build on your strengths. Accept your limitations and get in the Word and ask God to show you His plan.

 

Drop!
Once you discover your life plan, eliminate anything that does not fit that plan. Learn to invest your time instead of just spending it or allowing others to steal it. Choose to budget your time just like you budget your money and learn to say “no” without feeling guilty. We are all responsible for how we spend the time God has given us. Every morning we are credited with 86,400 seconds. No balance is carried into the next day and every night erases what we fail to use.

 

Roll!
Roll away the burdens you are carrying and learn the value of resting in God. Every opportunity to worry is also an opportunity to trust Him. I heard a story about a man who had to cross a wide river on the ice. He was afraid it might be too thin, so he began to crawl on his hands and knees in fear, thinking he would fall through the icy surface at any time. Just as he neared the opposite shore, exhausted and weak, another man glided past him sitting on a sled loaded with iron. The promises of God will not break under the weight of any problem or trial you will ever face. Take Him at His Word. Let God be God in your life and trust Him.

 

When Jesus was twelve years old, He traveled to Jerusalem with His parents for the annual Passover Celebration. When Mary and Joseph began the long trip home, they assumed Jesus was traveling with friends. When they realised Jesus was missing, their search found Him at the temple, teaching.

 

Don’t miss this important truth. Jesus returned home with His parents and spent the next twenty years growing and maturing. Luke 2:52 tells us that “Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and men.” Then in Luke 3, we see Jesus as He began His ministry on earth. Don’t miss this important truth! Jesus grew mentally and emotionally, physically, spiritually and socially. His life was balanced – before He began His ministry. You may be waiting for your life to just fall into place, hoping that the things you are doing will achieve balance. The opposite is true. A powerful life comes from a balanced life. Now is the time for you to stop … drop … and roll.