Routines and Priorities

   This morning my routine was interrupted by a 7AM meeting. I guess I am a creature of habit and, although I have plenty of discretionary time on my hands each day, I feel better doing some things at the same time each day if possible. That fact pertains especially to my study and meditation time. I like it early so my mind is not so easily distracted, and my focus seems to be better.

   The meeting this morning at church was primarily devoted to prayer. Individual prayer in a corporate setting with others doing the same. The time was filled with prayers to God for the church in this particular season of the year, Christmas, and with all that goes on with that.

   One of the other men in the group told us about a mother and son that he had talked to last Sunday before the 11AM service and the problems they faced in their lives right now. As I listened, my mind wondered how many of the people who came into our church on any given Sunday were weighted down with cares and problems, some seemingly insolvable. How many went away as they came, burdened with that same sense of foreboding, hearing words of encouragement from the Christmas story, but still seeing no practical way out of their mess.

   On the Sundays that I count the offering for both services, I have a routine in going through the foyer of the building, emptying the boxes that contain the tithes and offerings. I do this one time after the early service has begun, then again after that service is over, repeating this procedure for the later service at 11. There are 6 boxes around the back and side of the auditorium, and each is emptied and recorded after each pickup time.

   I see people coming into the service when I pick up early and leaving the service when I pick up the later times. I try to at least nod and say hello to those folks, but then go on and do my business. Some I know, but many I do not.

   Then when I take these same tithes and offerings back upstairs to record them for the deposit, I see the names on the envelopes and on the checks, but again, some I know and most I don't. With the ones whose names are recognizable to me, their private lives are, for the most part, still a mystery.

   Each of those people that I see and each of the names on the checks that I record, are lives that are important to God. Important to Him because He cares for each one. He cares about their joys and their heartaches, their struggles and their victories.

   Could my routines be interrupted so that I might take time to notice the individuals in the masses? Could that be a beginning of caring about them as He does? Is the routine the priority or are they?

   I know the answers, whence cometh obedience?