Balancing Life's Demands Week #1

Wow! The first 30 minute video was full of information and lots of "eye opener" moments.  Chip Ingram is very good at getting your attention with lots of thought provoking questions.  This first 30 minute dvd session focuses on the "Six symptoms of misplaced priorities," which are as follows:

1. Busyness-The Activity trap 
2. Emotional stress and pressure
3. Low grade nagging
4. Financial debt
5. Prayerlessness-"leaking in the devotional life"
6. Escapism behavior

Mr. Ingram goes into detail about each one of the above stated symptoms and opens your eyes to what may be occurring in your own life.  After going down the line with lots of explanations and examples, he tells us not to panic if some (or all) of the above "misplaced priorities" apply to us.  He is very candid about his own personal experience and struggles with keeping his own life in order, and assures us that (although it won't happen overnite) we too can organize our life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.  So, he then moves on to show us "an overview of biblical priorities."   His comments and suggestions are backed up by Scripture and here they are in order:

An Overview of Biblical Priorities

1. God  (Read Colossians 3:1-7 &  Ephesians 5:1-20)
2. Mate  (Read Colossians 3:18-19 & Ephesians 5:21-33)
3. Family (Read Colossians 3:20-21 & Ephesians 6:1-4)
4. Work  (Read Colossians 3:22-4:1 & Ephesians 6:5-9)
5. Ministry  (Read Colossians 4:2-6 & Ephisisans 6:10-20)

 Personally, I really could relate to the Ephesians readings, especially in Ephesians 5: 15-16  where it states: "See then that you walk circumspectly (cautiously) not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."  Here, Paul is talking about taking advantage of opportunities for service.  We all have a limited time on this earth and Paul is telling us to use it wisely-not being wasteful of any opportunity to share the Gospel.  Mr Ingram explained in detail about the above listed biblical priorities and explained how both books (Colossians and Ephesians) were written in an orderly manner which  follows the "priority" pattern of God first,  Husband/Wife are second, Children and family are third, Work is fourth (our first ministry being that we spend so much time @ work/homeschooling) and Ministry last.  I had never noticed that before, but now it is very clear that both books were written with the same order and message.
After his detailed explanation of the "symptoms of misplaced priorities" and the "outline of biblical priorities" we are left, as a group, to discuss, share and really dig deep and confess our short comings.  Thankfully, I am blessed to be doing this study with two great friends and sisters-in-Christ, so it is very easy to open up and state out loud what I'm feeling convicted about.  There are 2 pages of thought provoking, self analyzing questions to answer and discuss.I know this is the first DVD session, however, I already feel like I've learned a lot. I'm looking forward to the next one!

I love quotes and there are several of them that were presented in the DVD and in the book.  I'd like to share two with you:

"Emotion is no substitute for action and action is no substitute for productivity" ~ Dawson Trotman

and my favorite:

"The urgent is rarely important and the important is rarely urgent" ~Dwight Eisenhower