“Nothing changes if nothing changes.”

The quote scrolled across the TV screen while the leader talked. I immediately started thinking about the truth behind those words.

It was one week before the beginning of the new school year, and I knew it was time to practice some of the changes I had committed to making during the summer.

Let me rephrase it: It was time to start implementing some of the changes I felt God was instructing me to make.

Leave it to me, and I will keep doing things the same way I’ve always done. An innate doer, my fleshly tendency is to fill my calendar with activities and commitments without pausing to pray or think before agreeing to one more move. And I know I’m not alone.

Indeed, many people confuse doing or accomplishing more with great success.

We confuse love for God with more service for God’s kingdom. Or we mistake excellent education for one more extra-curricular activity for our children. And so we add our name to one more committee … or sign Junior up for one more activity in his already overwhelming schedule.

In an age where simplicity is mistaken for lack of success, the world applauds when we step up and lead the charge.

In the meantime, marriages suffer because spouses are so involved in working and serving others that they don’t have time to nurture the most important relationship in their lives. Likewise, children often feel pressured to do more than their small bodies and minds can handle, and we, their parents, often feed the trend and inadvertently whisper to their hearts that more is always better.

There could not be anything farther from the truth. In reality, I believe busyness is one of the devil’s modern tools to prevent us from truly flourishing.

Because the busier we are, the less time we have to, as the psalmist wrote in Psalm 46, “be still” to know God intimately, consequently finding his perfect will for our lives.

At the beginning of that summer several years ago, I found myself tired of the mess, running around, unhealthy meals, and overwhelming loss of joy in my life. My body, mind and spirit were hurting. My soul was malnourished, and I knew it was time to renew my mind and refashion my agenda.

That’s when God started working in my heart, convincing me that it was time to review my habits and commitments, rethink and reshape my family’s schedule.

Going against everything I’ve ever known, I even blocked an afternoon to rest (now, that was a first)! Most importantly, I started telling myself that missing an event or two was OK.

“Nothing changes if nothing changes.”

The quote is not mine, but its simplicity rings as the truth behind my newfound direction and a renewed sense of peace.

It wasn’t easy, but I had to sit down and rethink my routines again and deliberately change my ways.

If you can relate, it may be time to stop accepting society’s hurried, meaningless rat race as your norm. More is not necessarily better. Instead, ask God to show you his will for your days. Take time to listen and breathe. And keep in mind that God’s will does not involve chaos, senseless stress and fear. His will is peace and order. As the apostle Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthian church:

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.”

Nothing will change unless WE change. May we dare to say “no” to chaos and senseless busyness, lest we look back one day, only to realize that we wasted time building empty castles and nurturing the wrong things.

This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday, August 27. Click HERE to find it on the AJC’s website.

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