With flu season approaching, lots of folks are thinking about getting immunized. I just got the flu shot myself. It's only too bad that you and I couldn't also get immunized from busy-ness.  You say, “What do you mean by that?”   In my observation, busy-ness has moved beyond the status of a cultural norm to become part of who we are.

Think for a minute how the conversation went the last time you asked a friend “How are things going?”    Chances are she or he said, “I'm busy.  Really busy”   And I don't doubt that a lot of us are.  We work longer hours....we own more things...we book more social events...we have more single parents.  Many of us are busier.  But the problem is two-fold.  First, some of us are just plain doing too much—so much we have very limited time for personal ministry...or going to prayer meeting...or teaching Sunday School.   

Second—and this is truly insidious--those of us that AREN'T quite as busy, feel absolutely compelled to claim we are.    We wear our busy-ness like a second skin.  Without it we feel naked. It is as if we now define worth by a sense of busy-ness.   That is, if we're busy—the assumption is we're contributing to our church, or to society as a whole.  And conversely, if we're NOT busy, we somehow deserve less sympathy...or we possess less value as persons.

But is that the Jesus way?  Absolutely not.  1 John 2 reminds us “whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”  And how did Jesus walk?   For the most part, leisurely.  With time for friends.  Time for small talk.  Time for ministry.  Time for playing with little kids—and blessing them.

The only way Jesus COULD have had all that time was by not jamming up His schedule ahead of time. 

How unlike you and me.

You know, Jesus will not hand out rewards based on crowded calendars.  It's time to unplug.  Time to get un-busy.