Values and Priorities. Again!

July 15, 2023

I’m so stressed! I’ve done it again, fallen into the whirlwind of just ordinary living in this modern world. 

I never know how it happens that I find myself thinking about all the clutter in my life, trying to solve the problems of those around me, and letting my to-do list get longer and longer!  How do these things become the priorities in my life?  I don’t want it to be this way. If you’ve followed me for awhile you know (and I know) how much I value and dedicate myself to quiet and solitude and pursuing deeper and truer and more meaningful truths about why I am here. 

In the “about me” page you can read that I am a person of faith. I think that’s the popular term nowadays. But I don’t quite fit any term. Yes, I pursue relationship with God, but not in any way that fits into the popular churches of these modern days. It’s why I call myself a sort of out-of-the-box Christian.

So that’s my highest priority, yet I so easily find myself with that at the bottom of my list. This post is not going to be about “faith” or “Christianity”, so don’t click off!  

I’m just thinking about why we don’t stick to what’s really important to us. For some of us it’s our family, our children. Or it may be a career. Or the state of our country, where it’s heading. We all seem to be driven by something, but is that something a thing I’ve chosen? A thing I really, really, want?

For me, it’s often not what I really want. What I really, really, really want in the depths of my heart. What I really value. There – that’s the word. Value!  

There’s a difference between wishes and likes and preference and values. Values are things that I will sacrifice for.  I value quiet meditation and solitude. I need it every day. But…am I willing to sacrifice for it? Can I let the dining room table be cluttered, the few weeds growing in my garden boxes, and the garage be a mess so that I can go sit on the swing with my journal and declutter my mind and heart. Is that more important than how things look? 

If something is a value we hold, we sacrifice time and energy for it. Wishes are things we like and hope for, but that we don’t need in order to breathe.  

I need quiet meditation in order to breathe. Without it I am gasping for breath all day long. 

But it is so hard to ignore the books and papers taking up space on my dining room table. It is so hard to ignore someone’s voice when they point out the weeds. It is so hard.

I’m not saying I can be a slob and not get anything done all day cause I just want to sit on my swing and gaze at the clouds. Nor do I want to go on adventurous hikes every day. Not saying that.

But by golly, there is a balance.  For most of my life that balance is easy for me to keep. But every so often, like now, I let it slip away, a little at a time. Just a little, just for a day.  And another day. And then another.

I let other people’s priorities invade mine and I think that just once, it won’t hurt. But it does hurt. It’s a slippery slope and before we know it we are all tangled up in other people’s wishes or priorities and we lose ourselves.  And get crabby and controlling and maybe depressed. Or just discontented.

Let’s not go there!

I spent some really valuable quiet time this morning. It’s a start. I have this app “Do Meditate” with several options. Today I chose to spend 15 minutes listening to ocean sounds. Just having that soothing sound in the background helped. No voice directing my thoughts. Just nice ocean waves.

Waves that kept getting interrupted by frustrations I have. But I didn’t let my mind go there. I just kept quiet, for 15 whole minutes. I’m getting back on track.

I’ve been at that happy place before and it is wonderful!  Ironically, more things get done then! Go figure!

Whatever we truly value, whatever we need to breathe, let’s sacrifice for it and put it first. Let’s do it. Starting now.