Week 3: Discussion- The cost of being too busy.

I admit it, I am too busy.

• Mother Teresa found time. She certainly seemed very busy in her life but found the time. She used her time to be with God, one-on-one. She remarked that when she prayed, she didn't say anything, just listened. If we pray in our car, can we listen? If we pray as we fall asleep at night, can we listen?
• Forty percent of us are too busy to eat lunch (I am helping to keep the score close for the rest of you too busy).
  
• One of the video group said that he is so busy that the only "downtime" he gets is that hour or so that coincides with when he should be in church. How much is that costing him in the long run? [We are talking about the long run, here, aren't we]
• How about the quality of our time shifting from that time we spend on things that are sacred and those that are not (Tony calls them "profane"). In the video, he mentions that the "profane is squeezing out the sacred."
  
• Is our church a time robber? Do you spend so much time at all the gatherings of the church- Sunday worship, Sunday School (a very fine use of your time, if I say so myself), Wednesday Night Live, small group, bible study, retreats, session/deacon meetings, committees meetings and on and on.
  
• Our culture feeds this hectic busy-ness. Remember the woman, new to the area, who was asked if she was "plugged in yet," meaning if she was already engaged in the soccer leagues, ballet classes, school functions and all the rest of the things that today's family tends to get involved with.
• If our culture glorifies those who are on the go- DVD players in minivans and SUV's make the go-go-going easier, don't they?- what do we say about the downsides- sleep depravation, exhaustion, being too tired for the intimate time of being a family.
• What do you say to those who believe that most people are absent even when they are present? We're not paying attention to all the "life" flashing past us each day!
• Is it a case of being over-commited time-wise? Or is it something else?
  
• If we get too busy, thus too tired, too disconnected, how do we find time to feel God. Tony asks, "Can you feel God when there is no time for it?" He adds that Paul writes that we should "redeem the time." We need to cash-in our hectic hours for some peaceful, God-filled ones.
  

Becoming less busy is difficult. Where will this "extra" time come from?