by Jordyn van Gaalen

Realigning Priorities

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

I’ve been thinking about seasons lately–not only the physical seasons we experience each year, but the seasons of change, the seasons of trial, and the seasons of mountain top highs.

Each season brings for me a new home and a new job. Summer, fall, winter, and spring are very defined in my current journey. With each chapter, I bring my set of expectations and goals. I have high hopes for art projects, I expect to make greater headway on the book I’ve been writing for three years now, I set a training schedule for that marathon I’ve been pining for, and the list goes on. 

In my escalating pile of expectations and lofty goals, I constantly find myself in disappointment and frustration. Time slips away, and I never seem to have enough. Each day I set out to accomplish far more than I can ever seem to fulfill. (Maybe one day I can finally be like my Uncle Roger, waking up at 3 a.m. and accomplishing amazing feats before the sun even rises). Instead, time and time again, I meet roadblocks, I discover new deadlines to meet, or the energy level or motivation has simply faded. I also can’t forget to spend quality time with my husband. Before I know it, that “busy” feeling starts rising and suddenly my devotion time in prayer and reading Scripture starts to feel like another block in my daily to-do list. 

I know something in my perspective must change. 

There comes a point where I need to let go of my expectations. My priority must be realigned with my purpose as a child of God:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength… Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mark 12:30-31 NIV

The place where I find myself is just one puzzle piece to a greater picture that only God has the eyes to see. I can’t accomplish my lofty goals in one season. There are things I must let go of, without harboring bitterness, and cling to the God-given gifts and opportunities. Each season is unique and fleeting, holding countless blessings.

No matter what this current stage looks like, the purpose remains the same: to love God and to love people above all else. 

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado