STORING OR STOPPING

I would like to personally thank everyone that takes the time to read each blog that I write. As stated on my website, my desire is to encourage, inspire and challenge as many as possible through the ministry that God has called me to. That is preaching/teaching, writing songs and more recent, blogging. Because of my family’s music ministry, I’ve not been able to blog as much as I’ve wanted to. All of our efforts, for the last two months have been in the completion of our newest album, that was released on May 31st. Since that time, I’ve been able to refocus on my blogging, which is a deep passion of mine.

You may be wondering why I’m writing about this, but as I was preparing for today’s blog, I thought that my juggling act, for the last few months, might help someone. You see, my life consists of being a husband, father, lead pastor, singer, song-writer, musician and blogger. Yes…my plate is pretty full and if everything isn’t timed exactly right, it can be overwhelming. When things begin to snowball, you have to make some important decisions. Sometimes, when you can’t do everything, you have to determine what is most important at that particular time.

You have to know the difference in storing and stopping. Don’t stop what you’ve been gifted to do, just store it for a while until you can put more time and effort in it. Even though my focus has been on getting our new album completed, I still reminded myself of the things I had stored. I love blogging, but I had to put my blogging in storage for a while. That didn’t mean I had stopped and I refused to get discouraged because I wasn’t able to blog at the time. I even planned the week I would start back with consistent blogging. I may not be able to blog everyday, but I’m back in the routine.

Now, for my disclaimer. I’m not the most structured person in the world. I’m not writing this blog to try and convince you that I am. However, in my busy life, I’ve learned a rhythm and if your frustrated and having a hard time getting everything accomplished, maybe this will encourage you. For me, I had to figure out what my options were for what could be stored, what should be stopped and what had to keep going. You have to start with what has to keep going. For me, I knew the things that were not optional. Those are things that only you can do and you have to make sure they get done. I’m a husband and a father first and for me, those things are non-negotiable. That’s a personal conviction of mine and even though I’m a pastor, I’m a husband and father before that.

For you, it may be something totally different, but if you have a family, you have to keep that going. I have found that when there is peace at home, there will be peace in other places too. Don’t ever choose to store or stop the progression of your family. Whatever it is, that only you can do, make sure it follows your involvement with your family. Continue doing the things that can’t be stopped, then look at the things that can be stored. Follow your passion with disciplined priorities.

Maybe you’re completing something right now and you’ve had to take time away from something else that you’re passionate about. Perhaps you’re even discouraged and you’ve been thinking of giving that up. Take my advice and move that from the stopped category and place it in storage. Let your unfinished book be in storage, not stopped. Let that project you’ve always wanted to do, be stored away and not stopped indefinitely. You can still plan while something is sitting in storage. Sure, your main objective is to complete what is most important for right now, but if you get a creative idea, write it down and store it.

Not to mention, when you take a break from something, as soon as you start back, you sometimes have an excited, renewed feeling, much like you did when you first started. Doing too many things at one time can cause you to be completely overwhelmed and even make decisions that you will later regret. Give your undivided attention on what is most important now and keep your other passion stored on a shelf, so you can be reminded that it’s still there and not thrown away. Don’t allow your current project to suffer because your spending so much of your time worrying about what isn’t getting done. Know what your gifts are, but more importantly, know when is the right time to be working on each of them.

Continue to do what has to be done, prioritize what is most important right now and store what can be started at a later time. Remember, you haven’t stopped anything…you’ve only stored it for a season.