Do you know your answer? Whether to verify or discover your ‘what matters most’ look at your credit card and bank items. How you spend your money will tell you, regardless of your protestations, what really matters… because we do spend our ‘income’ according to these demands. If you bewail that this is not fair because you do have those items that are part of your basic needs, thus requiring you to respond… then, what are you willing to do or to do without in order to align your actions with what you say you believe?
I don’t have your answer to resolve any discrepancy between what you say and what actually occurs. But, to be fair… finances are not the only qualifier. How do you ‘spend’ your time? If something truly matters, do you spend your time involved with your (fill in the blank)? Example: I say that writing is very important to me and has a very high priority on my ‘what matters most’ list. But do I spend time writing? In my case, the answer is – ‘yes’. So I can see a congruence between my avowed ‘most’ and my behavior. At least on this dimension….
But it should be acknowledged that we all have many ‘things’ that matter to us, it’s the prioritizing that tends to become frustrating because there’s only so much of us and not enough time, energy, resources, etc. Obviously what we need to do is a type of a ‘housecleaning’. There are things that do matter to us but some that matter more. Sometimes we have to face the fact that we need to loosen ourselves from obligation(s) – even if we don’t want to.
What is it that the Lord considers our ‘most important’?
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, ESV)
If we focus on these three qualities, our time, energy, resources… in other words, ‘US’ will be in sync. And, trust me, this will take all your time to discover what this means and how it relates to you and your life. It is a lifestyle not just a mindset.
