Rebecca, a loyal reader of my blog, (hey, when you’ve only posted two blogs it’s easy to garner loyalty!) sent me an email with the following thought:
“Here’s something I was thinking about today. I read somewhere that up until the 20th century people spent a majority of their time cooking and doing manual chores and other manual labor in order to make things run smoothly. Then labor-saving appliances began to happen thereby freeing up much of that time. Now we have about a million things we can do like send emails like this, call each other watch tv and many other things. Some people feel that they *need* to do a number of these things everyday. So my question which is just something to ponder is whether we’re really saving time and thereby getting more of an opportunity to improve ourselves and our communities or if we’re just figuring out more things that we feel are essential for a normal life.”
There’s a great deal of truth in what Rebecca is saying. I freely admit a tendency in my own life to get involved doing a lot of things that are not always the most important things. I imagine there are more of you who feel the same way.
I’m not sure if T.F. Tenney was the original author of this quote, though he did publish a book with this title:
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
As a believer in God, I would say the main thing in my life is to keep focused on my relationship with God, that I might love him, follow him, and serve him with an uncluttered heart. This is why the writer of Hebrews encouraged us to:
“. . . remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.” (Hebrews 12:1 NCV)
I certainly do not need anything else in my life that will get in the way of the main thing. Even my goal for this blog spot is not to create just another thing for us all to do.
I’m interested in discovering and sharing a journey with you — that process which invites the power of God into my life, that sweeps away the clutter and fills me with his presence — so I can be the person God needs me to be — for my family, for those to whom I minister, and for you.
2 Responses to “The Main Thing”
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March 11th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Good writing, Randy. I’m pleased you’ve discovered this outlet that we can all share. I, like you, don’t promise to write every day, but when I do, it draws me in to focus on what is important and discard the “junk”. I am also, I think like you, in that I am very critical of my own thoughts and writings, so comments are such a relief! (especially when they’re positive) So, let me say to you, you blessed me today with your thoughts. Keep it up. Love you.
March 15th, 2005 at 7:47 am
Interesting concept about how household chores have evolved from a tasking full time undertaking (who am I kidding? Still is especially for parents of small children)to a question of having the right gadgetry.
But then have things really changed? Yes and no. Yes we can do MORE things in LESS time with LESS effort but then we are doing MORE and MORE things which invariably diminishes the advantage of our technological edge. Surely it takes less effort these days but then our minds remain engaged.
Indeed, Jesus’ admonition about the cares of this world and the worries of life remain as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago the new Dyson Power vacuum not withstanding.