I just don't have time to...

I just don't have time to (fill in the blank)...

I find myself saying that when adding one more thing to my schedule seems overwhelming, impossible, absolutely absurd. Or I say it to brush off the moments when I feel inadequate.

I don't have time to make a healthy meal from scratch every single night of the week.
I don't have time to spend hours researching this or that will cause this or that to happen to my kids.
I don't have time to have my kids be involved in 2 different activities each.
I don't have time to exercise 2 hours a day.
I don't have time... I don't have time... I don't have time...

The truth of it all is that I do have time. I have plenty of time. I have 24 hours every single day. Most of those days, I'm working a full time, outside the home, job but... I have time. I know this because I do plenty of things. I'm a very busy woman.

I've been thinking about where I spend my time, how I spend it and with whom I spend it. And when I hear someone tell me they don't have time to go to church or watch TV or exercise or serve, what I want to say to them is "it's not that you don't have time it's that it's not and may never be, a priority for you".

You might love to run 5 miles a day. Fabulous! You might make your own butter. Amazing. You might clean your baseboards every single Friday night while singing praises to Jesus. Kudos to you! That is not my thing, but that doesn't make me or you any better or worse... it just makes us different.

My values, my priorities, my goals and my passions are different from yours. And all of those things have evolved during the course of my life. And yours do too.

So when someone asks you to join something or asks you if you've read the most recent study on how eating too much fruit will prevent your children from fully reaching their academic potential (totally sarcastic), don't tell them you don't have time. Tell them the truth.

It's just not a priority right now.