Order

By looking at my house, you wouldn't think that order is something I strive for. Strangely, it is. I like routine, I like knowing where I am headed, I like having a plan, even better if I have it in list form. I am a list maker, Matt would say it is not one of my most redeeming qualities. He is just bitter because I make lists not only for myself, but for our family, and most annoyingly (or so I am told) for him.

I have some health issues I am contemplating as of late. Nothing is definitive yet, I will have another test or two, but it did prompt me to consider my life. I am currently considering my priorities, both what I say are important and what I actually spend my time doing. Knowing that there is a chance that this is the healthiest I will ever be, what should my focus be?

Growing up being taken to church several times a week, willingly or otherwise, I have had it pounded into my head the God should always be first in my life. This is not a practice I argue with, it is just one that I happen to have no idea how to go about. I have heard it described as a pyramid, with God as the base. I have heard it explained as wheel, God as the center spoke. Strangely enough, these word pictures do me no good.

I am reading the book "The Shack". If you haven't read this book, go to Amazon right now and order it. In the book, God talks about a relationship with him being central in life. Yes, God talks in this book. He describes it as a mobile, with everything floating and flowing around one central point. For some reason, this description jives better with me. Relationship is what makes God first in my life, not a preset formulation of rules and expectations. For God to be numero uno I don't have to spend x amount of hours in bible study and prayer, I don't have to be a church attender, I don't have to say certain things or look a special way. My relationship with Him will look different than anyone elses and that's OK.

So what if "priorities" are not a list? What if it is a general, flowing way of life? What if what is most important to me is what is most important to God? If people and relationship and love expressed is what is on God's heart, and I am in relationship with him, what does that mean for my "to-do" list? What does it mean for my savings account and check book? What does it mean that I spend my next few years, or my life doing?