Conquering Your Chaos: No Time to WasteSample

Is everything on your agenda important? Dwight Eisenhower said, “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent,” (known as The Eisenhower Principle).

My problem seems to be my inability to tell the difference most of the time. Everything on my list runs together. Some items demand my immediate attention, like this morning when we had to go back to the clinic for an unplanned x-ray of my daughter’s spine or the many Covid quarantines forced upon us because of exposures. These things can’t wait. Along these hurried lines, other realities need attention. All of my family members want to eat every day. Someone invariably needs a ride somewhere, and then there is the laundry. Beyond the mom jobs are the items aligning with ministry and my role as a wife. I’m sure you feel stretched in all directions, looking at your load as well. It’s excruciating trying to decide between what to tackle and those things that can wait.

Prayer for wisdom across the landscape of our days is critical.

While our lists lay bare before God, we should ask for His counsel in distinguishing the important from the urgent. But what exactly makes the distinction? How can we know if it’s important but not urgent, or urgent, but not important?

Urgency surfaces when the activity demands our prompt attention. Often the immediate consequences are unpleasant, and we cannot see a way of escape. Maybe the water pipe bursts in your house, or the car breaks down on the highway. It could be that your child comes down with a fever, or someone gets food poisoning, forcing the issue with you, like Hezekiah faces, with the Assyrian threats. The urgent threatens to extinguish the important. But we cannot let that happen.

Important matters are more far-reaching. They often have to do with our God-given goals and callings. No, it’s not a busted water pipe, but the tasks remain significant. Because it’s not urgent, we can easily keep pushing these important matters aside or remove them altogether, never accomplishing the goals.

Don’t do it. Instead, take your list before the Lord today. Label each item as Urgent, Important, or Neither. Then go over each item with the Lord, asking for discernment in approaching that which He prioritizes for your life.