Who is deciding what needs to be done? Put it another way. Do I drive? Or, am I driven?
Always, there is tension here — and it’s never exclusively one vs. the other. I have, however, on quite a few occasions, put myself into the flow of external circumstances. Falling, like a leaf, into a torrent not of my own making, but a river or stream — it can feel like someone else’s storm run-off — my day gets carried along for the curbside ride, washing down the gutter, into the drain.
Yeah, I hate when that happens. Not much fun there.
We all know how friends, family and forces outside of our selves can bring strong influence into our day-to-day routines. But what about those inner resources? Are we paying proper attention to the quiet murmurs of the heart?
Shiftings. Siftings. How to sort this stuff out. Discernment is a big question for me at the moment. Do I move toward this work? Or some other?
I guess the obvious question could be “What most captures my attention?” To hold attention is to be held. Behold is to be held! What an epiphany. But, how best to move from attention to engagement?
Make choices. Decisions. There are many opportunities for this activity every waking hour of every day. What criteria can we use? One way is to plot out important vs. not important on one axis, and urgent vs. not urgent on another axis, and see where today’s activities end up. Staying in Quadrant II is tricky, but I believe that is where the truly valuable work resides. That Quadrant II requires real vision work and real heart work.
What does your heart desire? What do you see there? Hear there? Think, or feel there? Out of that place emerges what truly needs to be done.
Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. —Ps. 90:12
Richard Rumble
January 2014
