Finding What’s Important
Did you ever find yourself stuck at a place where you are wondering what’s most important? I’m in the middle of one of these moments right now. It’s not a pivotal time where I am trying to figure out the greater meaning of life or seek some deep theological truth. It is just pausing in a season of busyness to refocus and determine my next steps.
I’m great at underestimation. It’s like the candy filled guessing jars at a family reunion. Someone takes the time to count all those little pieces before they toss them in a jar. Then what happens? Everyone tries to guess, except I can never tell if there are 50 pieces of candy or 753 pieces. My guess is always way too low. That’s what I did with summer. Did you?
Summer has three long months. That is plenty of time to remodel a kitchen, run a business, plan a wedding, and do all the fun things that summer brings like spending time outdoors and taking vacations. Except it is not long enough!
So, this week, I find myself remembering last week’s blog post where I commented, “Life happened, which it does to all of us at some point and what was important today isn’t nearly as important tomorrow.” That’s true right now.
It is also a good perspective to have as we near the end of summer and enter another season of life. But even more significant is that what’s important today impacts tomorrow, or next month, or next year. What are we doing right now, on this very day, that will change someone’s future?
It reminds me of Joseph in the Bible when he became a trusted leader in Egypt and interpreted Pharaoh's dream.
Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. - Genesis 41:29-31
Joseph spent seven years of his life storing and saving food so that when famine came people could live. Ultimately, this even affected his family’s ability to survive when his brothers came to Egypt to buy this same food that Joseph had worked so hard to prepare.
Our everyday choices may not be physical life and death decisions like Joseph faced, but they still impact those we love and with whom we live.
For me, my choice today is to minimize the other responsibilities in my life so I can take the wedding planning pressure off of my daughter, Jael. I want her to experience the joy of her wedding day without the stress of the preparation chaos that precedes it. Will she remember all or any of my effort? No, probably not. And it doesn’t matter because I’m investing in her tomorrow.
What’s important today may not even be remembered tomorrow, but it doesn’t change our need to focus on what is important today so that tomorrow can be better for us or someone else. Whatever we choose that to be, an influential message, a daily task, a simple favor, or a promise. If we focus our attention on what is most important and do it well, it impacts the legacy we live.
Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,
Jody Flurie
Jody Flurie is the Founder and Owner of Red Dirt Legacy Co. where family legacy stories are celebrated through each Little Legacy Film Series - a series of short videos that can be easily shared to keep children and grandparents connected by what matters most for each family.
Jody believes all kids, young and old, need to understand where they came from and why it matters. Everyday, she works hard to instill this in her family because it’s only through understanding who we are that we can be fully ourselves and make a true indelible mark on the world.
If you want the same thing that Jody wants for her family, visit reddirtlegacyco.com to find out how your family can celebrate the wisdom, love, and legacy of an earlier generation. If we don’t step up to bring hope to our families, who will?