I’m involved in a discipleship Bible study with an “older woman” using the book,  Growing Strong in God’s Family .  (This lady is not THAT much older than I am, but she does have some grown children in addition to the ones she still has at home.)  Today, we were discussing an excerpt from Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles Hummel.  I really enjoyed one thought in particular from that excerpt:

“On the night before He died, Jesus made an astonishing claim.  In the great prayer of John 17 he said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (verse 4).

…on that last night, with many useful tasks undone and urgent human needs unmet, the Lord had peace; He knew He had finished God’s work.

…Jesus’ prayerful waiting for God’s instructions freed Him from the tyranny of the urgent.  It gave Him a sense of direction, set a steady pace, and enabled Him to do every task God assigned.  And on the last night He could say, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

How many days do I dispair over things left undone at the beginning of the day – important things?  Yet I was bombarded with one “urgency” over another during the day and couldn’t get to all of those important things.  A friend has shared that the Lord pointed out to her one morning that all of the things on her “to do” list were HER priorities, not His.  If I can learn to focus on the things that the Lord wants me doing, all of the truly important things will get done!