Life, Interrupted

Interruptions are frustrating to me. Maybe that's because I feel like I've got a million things to do on any given day and I like to have a plan of how to get them all done (or at least a few).....

I heard something yesterday that got me thinking about how Jesus handled interruptions in his life. Then I started thinking that it seems most of his life was an interruption...at least the 3 years of ministry we see in the gospels. I mean, look at his average day....

In Luke Chapter 4, he's teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath when a man possessed by a demon interrupts, and Jesus orders the evil spirits to leave him...

Later that day Jesus goes to the home of Simon to rest, and Jesus ends up healing Simons mom as well as a bunch of other people who come...the text says "laying hands on each one"...

The next day he got up while it was still dark to go to a solitary place, and the people followed him...

Later in Luke 5:16 is says that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed...holy cow! He'd have to....can you even imagine having people clamor around you all the time? How exhausting...people with physical problems, emotional issues, in need of healing or food or hope...all wanting to see you, touch you, hear you....

Jesus did build alone time into his life. But his public days really seemed to belong to the people around him. What did his "to do" list look like every day? Did he have goals for the day that just took a back seat to the interruptions of those around him? Or was his to do list those interruptions?

How much more effective would I be as a minister (and I mean that in the sense that every believer is a minister) if my to do list would have at the very top of it "Be interruptible"? If the most important thing in my day was meeting the needs of the people around me? No doubt, Jesus understood that those interruptions in his day weren't unexpected, but were all part of the plan. What if I understood the same about my day?

So, I'm still going to make a "to do" list today....on it will be things like:

write thank you notes
order stuff from Jews for Jesus
send out support letters
pay bills
arrange Friday night meals
pick up paige and jacks for pre-school
walk with Sally
buy birthday gifts for Ben and Mom
wedding gift for Danah
clean dining room

But maybe at the top, I'll put "Welcome Interruptions".