Don’t Miss What’s Right in Front of You

Life is very full.

We can organize it. Structure it. Schedule it. Arrange every minute of every day so that we can get everything done we think needs to be done.

I remember as a young man in business carrying something called a Day-Timer. I tried to keep my life scheduled down to the hour. In my mind, success required organization. It required structure. It required me to stay on task.

And that followed me for a lot of years.

The problem was what happened when the schedule got interrupted.

My wife needed something.

Circumstances changed.

Later, my children needed me.

And I could get aggravated because the interruption was breaking into what I had planned.

There was something I was trying to accomplish. There was somewhere I was trying to get. There were goals I was trying to reach.

And so much is written today about how to achieve what we want. How to organize our time. How to become more productive. How to make the most of every hour.

Some of that is helpful.

But I’ve come to a different place in my life.

Maybe some of it is age. Maybe some of it is wisdom. Maybe some of it is simply learning that I cannot control nearly as much as I once thought I could.

My life today is very full.

I lead a ministry. We have people working under that ministry umbrella. We do events, training, counseling and a lot of other things. We have a mandate and a mission to train men across the country to do what we do.

I’m also a husband.

A father.

A grandfather.

A friend.

I meet with men every week.

I have children and grandchildren who call and need my attention, my time and sometimes my help.

And just today, I had planned for this to be a workday.

I have upcoming events that I’m concerned about. I have responsibilities connected to them. I feel the weight of wanting to make things happen.

I’ve already done about everything I know to do.

But there’s still that feeling that maybe I need to do more.

Make another phone call.

Send another email.

Push something a little harder.

And then one of my children called.

She was sick and needed help.

She needed me to come.

She needed me to be present.

She also needed help taking care of her child.

So what do I do with that?

How do I respond as a man who is trying to follow God and become the man He designed me to be?

I think about how God responds to me when I need Him.

Is He available?

Is He present?

Of course, I’m not God. I can’t be everywhere. I can’t meet every need. I have limits.

But I can be available to the people God has placed in my life.

And at some point, I also have to trust Him with the things I cannot control.

I can spend every moment of every day trying to make something happen.

Trying to change an outcome.

Trying to make the event work.

Trying to make the ministry grow.

Trying to make people respond.

Trying to make the phone ring.

Trying to make the next thing happen.

But I can’t control the outcome.

There comes a point where I have to do what I can do, be obedient with the time and opportunity God has given me, and then entrust the rest to Him.

That is His domain.

I can begin the work.

I can be faithful.

I can pray.

I can prepare.

I can make the call.

I can send the email.

I can take the next step.

And then I have to trust God with what happens next.

But I also have to be careful that I don’t become so focused on what I’m trying to accomplish that I ignore the people right in front of me.

Because those people are part of the calling too.

Being a husband matters.

Being a father matters.

Being a grandfather matters.

Being a friend matters.

Being available to listen matters.

Serving matters.

Loving matters.

Giving matters.

Sacrificing matters.

Sometimes I think God may simply be saying:

Keep doing what you can do with the time you have.

Trust Me with the rest.

But pay attention.

I’m putting someone in front of you right now.

There’s a moment here to love.

A moment to serve.

A moment to give.

A moment to sacrifice.

A moment to show My love.

Don’t ignore that.

Jesus said,

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”—Mark 10:45

That doesn’t mean we abandon planning.

It doesn’t mean we stop working hard.

It doesn’t mean we become careless with our responsibilities.

It means we hold our plans with open hands.

We do what God gives us to do.

We trust Him with the outcome.

And we stay available.

Because sometimes the thing that interrupts the schedule is not keeping us from what God wants us to do.

Sometimes it is exactly where He wants us to be.