Session #1: Busyness
- View Video #1: 10 minutes
- Individual Application: 10 minutes
Please answer these questions honestly (and have your spouse independently do the same):
(10 being MOST important or satisfying and 1 being LEAST important or satisfying. Be totally honest!)
How important are the relationships in your life? Rate:______________
How important is your spiritual life? Rate:______________
How important is it to maintain your health? Rate:______________
How important is it to succeed in your career? Rate:______________
How important is it to have adequate financial resources? Rate:______________
How satisfied are you with your relationships? Rate:______________
How satisfied are you with your spiritual life? Rate:______________
How satisfied are you with your health? Rate:______________
How satisfied are you with your career? Rate:______________
How satisfied are you with your financial life? Rate:______________
How well do you know what you spend your time on? Rate:______________
Total up your scores: Total:______________
- Group Discussion: It’s time to take back YOUR life!
- How did you score?
- Discuss as a group.
- Bring this home and now, ask you spouse to answer the same questions for themselves AND for YOU! Discuss at home.
- Small Group Discussion: 45 minutes
Busyness is of the enemy and he wants to rob you of peace and make you think it’s OK to love a life of stress. That stress doesn’t end with YOU either, for it gets translated into every relationship you have. God cares more about your relationships than He does about your tasks and your ability to “multi task!”
- Do you take pride in your busyness and your ability to multitask?
- Discuss as a group.
The reality is that NO ONE does it well! God didn’t build us to multitask. Research shows that multitasking is actually counterproductive! In fact busyness blinds us and dictates our schedule, so we don’t slow down enough to think about each task. Oftentimes, being busy multitasking fills a need to accomplish tasks in order to feel worthy. We seem to have an insatiable desire to always be one step ahead of where we are. It could be a coping mechanism to keep ourselves from thinking or feeling things we don’t want to acknowledge, or an attempt to live up to the expectations of others. If you identify yourself as someone who’s constantly “busy,” sit down and ask yourself:
- In all of your busyness, are you living the life that God wants you to live?
- Does your busyness fulfill you, or are you living up to the goals and expectations of what others want for you?
If your current busy schedule feels more like a burden than a blessing, chances are you’ve taken on too much than is healthy for you – or perhaps you’ve simply taken on too much of the wrong things. It may be time for you to let some of your busyness go.
It’s time to let your priorities determine your schedule. You can actually accomplish more with less, if you focus your attention completely on each task at hand. Challenge yourself to be fully present in whatever you are doing in any given moment. Allow time for just “being,” not focused on “doing” anything in particular. Make time for the joy God wants you to experience.
The bottom line is that how you spend your time is a reflection of your priorities. God has already defined what should be the most important thing in your life, so now is the time to make time for God and the loving relationships that He has given you to cherish! Don’t think Jesus can’t sympathize with your busyness.