The Priorities of Life

Priorities.

Everyone has them.

Few pay attention to them.

It never ceases to amaze me the small amount of time and thought people put into their priorities. Whether we realize we're doing it or not we place a priority on everything in life. The list we make is almost like a table of precedence where the most important thing is at number one, the next is at number two, then comes number three.. so on and so forth. Although many people don't want to take the time to sit down and really think about what's important to them, they always want to know why they can't make a difficult decision.

Where I think a lot of people get into trouble is when there is no consistency to their priorities. When someone is constantly changing their list they become viewed as a very unreliable person. For example, if a friend were to promise you that they would be at your house, no matter what, to help you do something you've had on your to-do-list for weeks and then suddenly didn't show, you would be upset. Now, if they had a legitimate reason you would probably understand. However, what if the reason they didn't show was just because they saw a cute girl later that afternoon and decided to ask her on a date and take her out during that time instead? If it were me, I would be fairly upset. Then, what if this were something that happened all the time? You would probably learn not to count on that friend  altogether due to his/her lack of priorities.

When I was younger my preacher spoke on this exact topic one day. The priority list that he laid out in the sermon that day is one that I have carried with me and tried to implement to my best abilities in my life on a day to day basis. The following list is the one he spoke about that day:

1. God
2. Immediate family
3. Extended family
4. Friends
5. Job

Everything after these first five usually pertain to someones personal life and are ordered according to him/her.

Now, I'm not trying to give a sermon in a blog post, but I can honestly say that when I'm going through a rough patch in my life it usually stems from me having my priorities out of alignment. I can't count the number of times where I've been really down and just sitting down to read my Bible, calling my parents to see how their doing, or checking on a friend that I haven't spoken to in a while has changed my day. Understanding who you are and what is truly important to you is worth its weight in gold 100 times over.

Keep your priorities straight.

                         <>< C.T. Gunn