Important Things

What is important to you?  Can you name them?  Starting with the least important, what are they?  It probably would take awhile to come up with the list if you had to begin with those that are least important.
What if you had to narrow it down to the top 5?  Try it.  Count them off on the fingers of one hand.  The top 5 most important things in life.  I have to say...don't give me the Sunday School answer.  Be honest, after all, God knows what they are; you can't fool him.

I'm telling you, this is harder than it sounds.  I had a hard time figuring out my top 5!  There were several items that didn't make it that should have.  I suspect that even my stated top 5 may not really be my top 5.  Why do I say that?  Because as a friend once stated, our powers of self-delusion are strong.  I easily delude myself.

What would it take for me to instantaneously determine what was really important to me?  What would happen if suddenly I knew that I only had one hour to live?  60 minutes.  3,600 seconds.  Tick-tock.  Tick-tock.  The seconds are ticking away.  59 minutes left.  Then 58.  Soon I'm down to 50.  In the time it takes to get a shower, get dressed and get out the door...my life is over.  I doubt very seriously that I would continue to watch the latest episode of Law and Order SVU or even my favorite football team in the playoffs.  The yard work would stop.  The internet surfing would be really unimportant (though I could see me hastily typing a goodbye to all my face book friends).  I doubt anyone at the end of their lives ever regretted not watching more TV or not arguing with their spouse more.

What would you do in your last few minutes?  What ever you would do is probably really important...the unfortunate truth is that you probably don't give those enough focus now.  I would guess that most of us would focus on one, our relationship with God, and two, our family and closest friends.  The question is, is that where our priority is this minute?  I say that God is the most important part of my life, but do my actions bear that out?  Would those who know me best, agree with that?

Think about it.