hustle

Squirrels love these trees. Acorns galore. No need to hurry, collect, and bury. There are plenty to last all winter long. Have you ever watched these nutty little creatures? They dart here and there, gathering, collecting, eating, tails twitching, not trusting the border collie who watches them. Squirrels are so busy-busy.

I've thought myself to be busy lately. I'm a list person. When I was young, Mom made us lists of jobs to do before swimming in the summer. We hated them, but it was such an accomplishment to make a fat check mark beside the completed task. So, looking at my lists these past few weeks, I've found myself running around like a squirrel. But if you would see my list this week, you'd have to wonder why I'm running around like a crazy-tailed animal. Seriously, it's not that long.

You see, I lost sight of God's priorities. I look at my list and wonder, Which of these tasks are God-given tasks? Jesus didn't finish all the jobs His disciples wanted him to do, like overthrow the Roman government or heal the rest of the sick and dying people. He prays in John 17:4, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." God gives us plenty of time to finish His tasks. If there wasn't enough time for something, He wouldn't give it to us.

My biggest problem these past couple weeks was setting my mind and heart on the petty things of this world. I quote Colossians 3:1-2 often, and I'm going to quote it again. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." It's when I stray from this mindset that my attitude turns more selfish, more proud. And I end up looking like a crazy squirrel, except with loud vocal chords.

By the way, do you want to know what happened to one of those squirrels the other day? We found one dead stiff by the tree with flies eating its inards. I'm sure I could write 5 more blog posts on that, relating it to all sorts of topics including this one, but I'll stop the analogy here. I won't even include a dead-squirrel picture, although it's entirely possible. He's still there.