THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT AND KEEPING THEM THE PRIORITY

You have your priorities and they are in sequential order at this point. This is a major start that few have accomplished. Case and point: Those who say they are too busy. If we are too busy, we are not keeping our priorities. Keeping our priorities straight keeps us from being far less busy and we are then more focused.

If we are tired, again, we have not kept our priorities straight.

If we haven’t been in the Bible and in prayer each and every day, have we kept our priorities straight?

Do you feel stressed or anxious? Irritable or frustrated? Are you really keeping your priorities straight.

Believe it or not, but any negative reaction we experience has a direct correlation to keeping our priorities straight. It really is this simple.

How can I say the previous paragraph? Philippians 4:8 explains the answer in particular, but so does Philippians 4:4-8. So, do the other memory verses we have been memorizing. If we are Christian, then all of our number one priorities should be God and the Bible. Period. End of story. Any questions? Living those things is living with God and the Bible as our number one priority. If we do that, then we will live our memory verses, among all the other verses of the Bible, the New Testament in particular.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT?

One, make sure your husband, children, family, and friends know your priorities. This is important because they will be less likely to rope you into things that don’t meet with your priorities.

Two, make sure that if someone ever asks you to do something, you remember your priorities. Does this fit any of those? If not, don’t do it. It’s okay to say know. You do not have to say yes to everything. Also, you never owe anyone an explanation. It’s okay to just say no.

Three, if you’re thinking of doing something, is it one of your priorities? If not, spend little time on it or don’t do it at all.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT?: PUT THEM ON YOUR CALENDAR

First of all, put them on your calendar.

In fact, put it all on your calendar.

I recommend using a digital or internet based computer because it’s far easier to change if you need to, like if your work schedule changes. If you handwrite it, you’ll need to do a lot of writing and re-writing. Save yourself the hassle and put it on an internet based computer. Not just that, you will never lose the calendar if you have it on the internet and on the cloud. Then, you can access it anywhere in the world.

If you do something today that isn’t on your calendar, add it. But, first, make sure that it is one of your priorities and that you are keeping your priorities in the proper order.

Go ahead. Put your priorities on your calendar now. Do it now and do it for the next year. Yep. You heard me. The next year. Put down your daily quiet time(s). Put your work schedule on it. Put in times of exercise. Put all the others on your calendar as well.

Then, every month from this point on, add another four months until you are to the point you are ten years into the future. I’m not kidding.

Monday, January 6, 2014