*Seashells*

There’s this billboard for a cell phone company on the freeway near where I live and it says that if you get this new phone, you’ll be able to “Get it done”. Ha! Someone should rent the next billboard down the freeway and put a question on it: “Get what done?” Because I’m not that convinced many people really need an even better cell phone with more features.

It seems like so many people never stop moving…going from place to place: school, work, their jobs, meetings and errands. And yet life, with some sense, is simply passing them by. Their doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it isn’t much of a life.

There is a story of Jesus in the book of mark. He’s in this village and he’s healing all these people. The next day, his disciples go out to look for him and once they find him, he’s all alone…praying. They say to him “everyone’s been looking for you!” Why would they be looking for him? Because he’s been healing the sick, restoring lives, giving hope, teaching, and doing that thing that he does…making things right. Jesus answers them, “Let’s leave…let’s go to the other villages so I can preach there also because that’s exactly why I’ve come.” And then he leaves.

There’s this whole village that wants him to stay, and he basically says “nope, gotta go”. There’s this opportunity to do so much good, to help so many people…but he turns them down.
Jesus doesn’t do everything. His reason is that he needs to keep on moving.

We see this movement continue in the book of Luke. If you look back, he’s constantly moving, setting out to a new place. After a while, we get a sense that Jesus is headed somewhere…and that somewhere is Jerusalem. No, he wasn’t some pre-programmed Robot who didn’t have any control over his own life…he gets erupted along the way and even most of his teachings were about his responses to the questions people asked him. You see, he can’t be everything to everybody. It’s not the fact that he’s going to Jerusalem….it’s that he has a compass, he has an orientation...he has a way to orient his life, a path that he follows. Jesus say’s no because he’s already said yes. He’s very clear about what his life is about.

Do you have a hard time saying no? Or here’s a better question…what have you said yes to? You can’t say no until you have said yes to something else. It’s not a surprise that Jesus is alone when his disciples find him. He’s been surrounded by this crowd that has so much expectations, strong opinions about what he should be doing, and who he should be doing it for.So Jesus steps back and checks himself. He listens to God and makes sure that all these voices aren’t leading him off track. You never see Jesus doing anything out of obligation…that’s actually the tension in the Gospels…because he is willing to go against the expectations of the crowds in order to be true to the few things he is pursuing. He doesn’t let what everyone wants direct his path. You never see Jesus stressed about letting someone down or worried about what people are going to think. You never hear him saying, “Oh, I’m just so busy.”

You have a life, these God-given energies. And if they aren’t focused and disciplined in really specific way…they fall off track, they fade, and they just aren’t as strong as they could be. But when you will the one or the few most important things, you’re focusing your God-given energies.

We all find ourselves, on a daily basis, saying, “I’m just SO busy” or “Man, I just have SO much going on”.

Why?

Look at your calendar…all the things your involved in, all the things you have to do, places you have to be…just ask that question again: Why?

In our culture today, being busy is a drug that millions of people are addicted to. Obviously, sometimes there are specific situations in life…exceptions: when a loved one gets sick, you may be starting a new job, whether its school or family…whatever it may be. But, we MUST examine the rhythms of our life if we are ever going to will that one thing.

Have you ever heard someone say that they are, “drowning in good”? You see, the enemy of the best isn’t always the worst. Sometimes the enemy of the best is the good. It’s when we become so busy doing all these good things that we have no energy left to will that one thing.

Whenever I go to the beach, I love looking for seashells. Walking along the shore, I never actually find shells, just these pieces…fragile fragments and parts of shells. I mean, they’re still amazing in their complexity and design, but they’re just the pieces of what used to be …whole. So I’m just walking, collecting all these pieces of shells when I look a little father ahead and see this beautiful starfish just floating up on the surface of the water. As I reach down to grab it, I notice something’s stopping me from reaching out and seizing that starfish…
My hands are filled with shells.

Are you too busy? Doing so much that your hands are filled with shells? And some of it, maybe even all of it may be good, but you just can’t grab hold of the starfish…

Drop your shells in the pursuit of a simple, disciplined, focused life in which you pursuit the few things God has for you. Be like Jesus, say no because you’ve already said…

Yes.