Caught up in the moment.
It’s an easy place to wind up, unaware we’ve veered off course.
It’s the kind of host that refuses to let us leave on time.
It’s a bit like the junk drawer we fill up with useless stuff while complaining about a lack of storage space.
How often we find ourselves there, wanting to leave but frustrated and flailing instead.
We get caught up in things that aren’t worth our time, but instead of walking away, we stay in a tizzy. Share on XOften, that’s because:
- We want to get lost in the feelings and feel validated in the process
- We want the mess we’re already blaming someone else for to be a huge one
- We want to be certain the stuff gets heaped up and buried big at once
- We want to feel in control while we don’t have control
Despite our sin-warped impulse to stay in a tizzy, we still know that getting caught up in the mess and emotions of the moment isn’t usually helpful. Often, our “caught up” causes us to miss out, waste time, and spend our hearts on junk that isn’t going to matter in a few hours, days, or years.
Lifelines can help us get out of the tempting snare quicker. They can save us from wasting the precious on the putrid and pointless.
Here’s a lifeline I’ve come to love- (indulge me in a silly pseudo-rhyme:)
Will it last? If not, let it pass.
This lifeline can help keep the fretting at bay. Ask it when you’re about to mull over that small offense one more time, giving the petty issue authority to trample another few minutes of your day. Consider it when a problem that will resolve itself is begging for your over-qualified attention anyway.
Challenge what you want to get caught up in with the truth: things that keep you in a tizzy aren’t usually worth sticking around for.
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” –Ephesians 5:15-17
God’s will for the wise has never been that we toil futilely. He asks us to join Him in work that will last, and even warns us against spending our time on things that won’t withstand the refinement of the eternally valuable.
Will you choose today to protect your time against this temptation?
We have lasting work to do, and being tied up in knots isn’t part of it.
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