A Revelation

The other night as I was ironing the bushels of clean clothes I was listening to a sermon cd. It's a series on Family Worship. It's been VERY good and encouraging. The pastor talked about many different aspects of Family Worship (what it is, the Biblical example, the father's role, mother's role, how to do it, etc). But, today, I want to share with you, my faithful readers, just one SMALL point he made about pressure. At the end of each session the pastor asks for questions, and though I can't hear the person asking the question I believe this one particular person made a comment about how time consuming Family Worship is. The pastor responded by saying basically, "what are your priorities?" And he went on to say that there are two kinds of people in the world (basically, this is, of course, all para-phrased!). He said there are those who live their lives by pressures (ie, basketball practice, baseball practice, church activities, etc, etc) and then there are those who live their lives by priorities. He clearly said that if you live by priorities you are NOT going to be liked. People don't like it when you say "no" to something good because of a priority you have previously set. And this got me thinking. Do I live by priorities or by pressures? I think 10 years ago, my life would have been defined by living by pressures. But,now, I think I have moved more to the priority side of life. What caused this change? Well, I don't know for sure but I think 1) God has shown me that He must direct my days and the things with which I fill them 2) CHILDREN! Need I say more? Children have a way of becoming a priority (and rightfully so!) and so many of those other pressures get thrown out but perhaps the biggest reason is 3) MY HUSBAND! HE is a priority man. He doesn't cave in at every pressure that comes along. His conviction is firm and he sticks by it, no matter what. This very issue is what has caused a lot of misunderstandings between us...I am the one who can't say "no" and he is the one who knows his priorities and therefore CAN say "no"! After realizing this the other night, I thanked God for the way He created Paul to be a priority man and I shared with Paul too. We need to have firm priorities...things to govern our lives otherwise we are just tumbleweeds blowing in the wind, being swayed to do this or that with no real purpose. So, what about you, are you driven by every pressure that comes your way or are you driven by God given priorities?