Can anybody relate to the I Love Lucy chocolate wrapping episode? It cracks me up every time. Partly because my life often feels like that way - throwing so much at me that there's no way I can keep up. I scramble to maintain appearances, but it often feels like someone pushed the fast forward button and it's out of control. There's something peculiarly American about this syndrome. Our family letters at Christmas lament our breakneck pace, but we seem at a loss to do anything about it. The system is designed for failure. We can't keep up - some part of our life is bound to break - our marriage, our job and ultimately, our peace of mind.

Jesus didn't live that way. He waited 30 years to begin his public ministry. He regularly got away from the crowds to pray. He winnowed his disciples down to 12 he could focus on. We call ourselves Jesus followers, yet we look more like Lucy than Jesus. Caught up in a life on fast-forward where something is bound to break.

The answer is to re-draw the margins in our lives. I've gotten in the bad habit of staying up late in the last several months - it sets in motion a cascading series of events in my life that erases the quiet spaces where God can speak to me and help me calibrate my pace. And if I turn on the computer in the morning, it's like hitting the fast-forward button myself. It's a bad habit and I need to ask myself, "If Jesus didn't live that way, shouldn't I pay attention and commit to changing my bad habit?"

When Jesus returned to his disciples and found them sleeping, he said, "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?"*

I figure he's asking us the same question on a regular basis.  If we keep watch with Jesus, we can see the things that push the fast-forward button on our life.  What pushes your buttons?

*(Matthew
26:40)