Most of us have the best of intentions when we start out our day or our week. Some of us may even have spent time reflecting, ahead of time, on what should be our ‘most important’ ministry tasks in that coming week. However, the week gets started and … two or three ‘urgent’ emails come into our box needing ‘immediate’ attention; a ministry partner calls and asks if you could do lunch together today; and the one hour Skype call turns into a two and one-half hour discussion. It’s the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ where everything that comes across our desk needs to be addressed now.
The ‘tyranny of the urgent’ plagues all of us.
Our hearts, as cross cultural workers, are attuned to the needs of others and so we genuinely want to meet the needs of others; whether it’s an email, a luncheon appointment or an online discussion. We just have a hard time saying ‘no’ in the moment and learning to juggle our days in light of His mission to which He has called us.
‘Interruptions’ are certainly God given opportunities for growth and ministry. However, God has given us a missional task that calls for us to focus our energies, not dissipate them in a flurry of activity that may not lead us to seeing that missional task realized.
Perhaps the following steps (or others) might help us stem the tide of the plague of the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ in our lives:
Ask the simple question: Do I really need to do this now? Oftentimes, I place the expectation of immediate response on myself. When I go back to a person and ask if I can meet with them later or if I can answer their question in a few days, they are happy to give me that added time.
Solicit the help of others. Many of the leadership teams I have worked on have helped me to respond to an immediate request by saying: “I need to talk to my leadership team about this before I can give you an answer.” This lets me to put that activity in a larger context and to get the input of others first.
Ponder whether the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ activity helps to fulfill the larger calling of God on one’s life that week. The answer may be a resounding ‘yes’ and you can jump in with all your gusto. Or it may be a ‘no’. Yet, by placing it in that larger context, it gives you the ability to sort out those ‘tyranny of the urgent activities’ so as to keep your mind and heart focused on the larger objective.
Filed under: Accountability, Intentionality, Mission, Setting goals | 4 Comments »
Let me give you a couple of examples. First, during the time of prayer, everyone prayed, all at the same time. In our local church, maybe in yours as well, people pray out loud one at a time, one after the other, during time dedicated to open prayer. Now I had experienced this kind of ‘all together’ prayer in small group contexts, but never in a church meeting of 40+ people. Second, they gave room for people to grow in their gifts and talents. The young woman leading worship explained, at one point, that a year ago she did not know how to play the guitar. However, the need arose when their main worship leader left. So, the church encouraged her to learn how to play the guitar and let her ‘grow’ in her ability over the past year. She is now writing worship music which local Christian editors would like her to include in a new release of songbooks for churches. Third, for a small church they had an exciting and adventurous vision. At the end of the service, the pastor explained that he would be leaving for Africa that week because of a ministry opportunity the church had to train a group of women in microfinance. This would allow these women to meet the physical needs of their families as well as open doors of opportunity for the church to minister to the community where these women live. As we left, Rebecca and I both commented on how amazing it was that such a small church could have such a large vision.
This driver was in the passing lane, next to a huge ‘earth mover’ type truck. The truck was obviously ahead, but neither driver was going to ‘give way’. With every meter, both drivers tried to ‘assert their authority’. At one point, I thought the truck was literally going to scrape the side of the smaller car, and take the side view mirror in its path. I kept thinking to myself: “Just give way! What’s the big deal? So you’re behind the truck or behind the car, you’re eventually going to get over the bridge either three seconds sooner or later.”
matter to God. We will see men and women created in His image, yet living broken lives separated from Him.
