Dear Shepherdess: LaVonne Neff is a free-lance writer and a busy wife and mother. Her husband is associate pastor of the Walla Walla College church. I am intrigued and blessed by what she writes, and was especially impressed by an article I read this summer from her facile pen, on taking time when one doesn't have time to study the Bible. She understands. She is one of us, young and dedicated to both her husband, home, and church. This is how she wrote: "Too busy to study the Word? Too busy to reach for the only life jacket aboard a sinking ship? Too busy to take advantage of God's wish to save you as an individual? Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord.
"I have to taxi the kids to school, my husband to the train, and the dog to obedience school. Then I have to buy groceries, make a hair appointment, eat lunch, put in two hours' volunteer work at the hospital, and have supper ready at six. Time to study the Bible? Are you kidding?"
She has written an intensely practical article just for us. May we, with La Vonne, allow the Lord to plan our schedules in such a way that there will be time for the words of the Bible to come alive in our hearts. With love, Kay.
AFTER I wrote an article suggesting that people need to spend more time with their Bibles, a woman asked me a question. "How," she wrote, "can a minister's wife find time in her busy schedule for really significant Bible study?"
I pondered her question for weeks be fore writing a word in reply. I thought of answers I had seen, such as, "If you really want to do it, you'll make time for it." Or, "Which is more valuable to you? thirty minutes of sleep or a chance to study your Bible before the family's up?" Somehow these answers didn't satisfy me. I hesitated to pass them on.
Of course I wanted to study the Bible. I wanted to so much that I often stumbled out of bed before the sun came up, even though at 6:00 A.M. I would likely read the table of contents three times before realizing I wasn't in Genesis. I crept into the study, closed my eyes in prayer, and sometimes stayed awake enough to open the Bible and wonder what I ought to read that morning. But I knew that, whatever one might call what I was doing, it was neither Bible study nor communion with God. It was ritual, and I was unsatisfied.
I warmed to one author's suggestion that quiet time does not have to take place before the cock crows. Some sluggish souls function better later in the morning, maybe after the children have left for school. But when I tried adding Bible study to my mid-morning schedule I found that I was too busy doing necessary tasks to stop. The afternoon went likewise, and by evening asking God to guide my day seemed almost superfluous.
How, then, can a minister's wife (or any other woman) find time in her busy schedule for really significant Bible study? I think the Lord is finally showing me the answer.
She can't.
It is practically impossible to add Bible study to an already full schedule and expect significant results. As Elijah found out in the cave, the Lord is not in the whirlwind.
Too many of us come to the Lord in the morning and say something like this: "It's going to be another day, Lord. I have to start a load of wash before breakfast so that it can be dry before my ten o'clock prayer group. I have to take the kids to school at quarter past eight, and that will leave me a little over an hour to do my grocery shopping and still be home in time to fold the laundry before the women come. My husband wants lunch at twelve today so that he can dash to the hospital before his two o'clock committee. I've agreed to spend the afternoon substituting at the church office, and the new intern and his wife are coming for supper. If I can get the kids to bed a little early I shouldn't be more than ten minutes late for Sabbath School Council. Lord, please bless all that I do today and give me strength. Amen."
And all the while God may be sadly saying, "Daughter, why do you do so much?"
It's so easy to overload our schedules without realizing what's happening. We start married life with a job and various church activities. Then we have our first baby and cut back a little. But surely we can still lead cradle roll. The second baby comes. We decide to join a prayer group. An evangelistic campaign comes to town, and we agree to keep the inter est files up-to-date. The church decides to have a weekly potluck, and we agree to be responsible two Sabbaths a month. Our children start to school, and we go back to work part time. The teacher calls and asks us to be one of the room mothers.
And so it goes. Every few months we add another small activity—just one morning a month for this and only thirty minutes a day for that. Every few months the camel's back grows wearier under its load of straw. Then in the midst of the frantic rush we drop to our knees and ask God to bless our schedule!
We all know we're too busy. It's good to sit back now and then and realize how busy we've let ourselves become. But it's even better to do something about it.
I've decided that I'm no longer going to try to find time in my busy schedule for God. Instead, I'm going to keep a regular appointment with Him and ask Him to plan my schedule for me! Al ready God is helping me three ways:
He's giving me a clear picture of how I'm using my time. He's showing me how my responsibilities have added up, how I'm constantly taking on unnecessary tasks just to satisfy my inner pride. This week, for instance, He pointed out how much time I'd have to spend if I went ahead with my plan to make croissants from scratch for the women's group that will be meeting at my house.
He's helping me sort out what I really want to accomplish. I've had to sort out priorities and decide what is most important so that I don't get bogged down trying to do dozens of little things I don't really care about. A relaxed hour with the women's group, I now see, is more important to me than gourmet snacks—and there's no way I can do both this week.
He's giving me courage to say No. Rather than automatically accepting a writing assignment, a speaking appointment, or even a household task such as baking croissants., I first evaluate its impact on everything else I have to do that day or that week. No is a difficult word to say. I'm practicing.
I'm not claiming that I've arrived. God doesn't plan my schedule into eternity—He waits to be consulted every day. But I am getting a glimpse of the peace and joy that should be the possession of every Christian. I am beginning to experience a text that I have always loved: "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15).
Prayers from the Parsonage
CHERRY B. HABENICHT
She isn't a mother, Lord, but she watches children grow, counting the years until they begin first grade. In the one-room school where she teaches there is a world of letters and numbers, projects and programs, to be excitedly discovered.
Bless her dedicated efforts! Her work is never done, a fact that the less idealistic cannot understand. Yes, there are only eight students, but they comprise six grades. One room, but it is alive with bulletin boards, a reading corner, worktables covered with unfinished models, and art work pasted on the windows.
I marvel at her energy. Often the classroom light shines in the predawn darkness or is on as she works far into the night.
Her influence on the homes in our congregation is immeasurable. More important than lesson plans and home work, Home and School, and Investiture are her opportunities to teach Your love to the children. Some are so timid, some so self-confident, a few so cocky—but they are "hers" each day.
Please help her.
