A reader's question: How do you do it all?

How do you keep your focus, spiritual consistency, and clarity with so many demands on your time with caring for a family member, teaching,  lecturing, blogging, Facebooking, answering email, studying, and healing and all the other things you do?   I’m glad, but amazed, you have time for social media, which can consume huge amounts of time if you try to stay up with all your “feeds” and everyone who “friends” you. 

It can feel like a lot to keep up with all the responsibilities of practicing, teaching, family, church and friendships. There have certainly been times that I have felt overwhelmed by many things to do. When this has happened, I find that the thing I have often shortchanged has been my prayer and study for my own spiritual growth. And once my own spiritual resources are depleted, I find I have little inspiration or spiritual energy left with which to help others. So I have learned to put my prayer and study time first. It is amazing what that takes care of.

For example, my blog posts give a peek into the workshop of my daily prayer. Some posts take weeks of thought on a subject, little by little each day. Others write themselves in minutes.  But every one of them charts the progress of my prayer for me, for my practice of healing prayer, and for the world.

Study, prayer and writing aren’t three tasks to me. They are the same thing. Consequently, things are dealt with in my Bible research, prayer and writing that make my response to patient calls clearer and more direct. Treatment becomes simpler and cases more responsive. 

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My teaching comes out of this same study, prayer and writing. The ideas developed keep the teaching fresh and the tasks a joy. As for lecturing, I only lecture on topics burning in me to share. Again, that fire kindles in my regular study, prayer and writing. Pretty much every part of every lecture I give is first worked through in a blog post.

When special needs crop up in the family, I sometimes put one or more of my other activities on hold. A temporary pause allows me to give the attention necessary to help my loved ones progress along quickly. But I never, ever neglect my daily prayer and Bible study. That is where my patience is nurtured, along with the qualities of kindness, hope, faith, cheer and support that are the best aid.

Social media is an extension of blogging for me. For all that it gives back to me, I devote very little time to it. Were I to total it in a day, I would say ten minutes – that is five times two minute intervals.  I have hundreds of Facebook and Twitter friends.  There is no way I could read every post. So I do a quick scan, “like” or "retweet" a few things that uplift and extend the communication of good ideas, post a blog, or share something that makes people smile. Having the apps on the iphone makes it easy to check in and check out , making Facebook and Twitter much less time-consuming than on the computer.  

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Everyone has to find their own way to balance what is important. A big lesson for me has been to step away from my human tendency to multitask – which translated into doing lots of things halfway – to give focused attention to one thing at a time until it is well done. Then I can move on to the next, finding that one task naturally prepares the way for the next. Eliminating the pressure to “perform” many things at once has allowed for a much steadier flow of accomplishment and better quality results.

If there is any take-away from this little sharing, I hope you see how everything we do needs to be anchored in prayer for ourselves, and in the enrichment of inspiration and spiritual understanding that comes from regular time devoted to studying the Bible and Science and Health. If writing helps you keep focused, then do that, too! With regular prayer and spiritual study, there really are no limits to what can be accomplished in each day. In the words of Paul to the Philippians (2:13):

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New International Version
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

New Living Translation
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

English Standard Version
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

New American Standard Bible
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

King James Bible
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

International Standard Version
For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him.

NET Bible
for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort--for the sake of his good pleasure--is God.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For God is carefully working in you both to desire and to do that thing which you desire.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please him.

Jubilee Bible 2000
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

American Standard Version
for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.

Darby Bible Translation
for it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to [his] good pleasure.

Weymouth New Testament
For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

Young's Literal Translation
for God it is who is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

P.S. You might like to check out today's Christian Science Monitor "Christian Science Perspective" article by Barbara Beth Whitewater, CS. She is a Facebook friend and colleague. Her article "One perfect twig at a time" takes on and tears down the fear that we can't get it all done. She writes, "The nest-building showed me how natural it is to expect God to lovingly care for every detail of His creation, one perfect twig – and step – along the way."

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