priorities

in the last two days i have been overwhelmed by an almost instinctual urge to urgently "trim the fat" from my life. to what end; i do not know. upon reflecting more i have found that the list of things i am being urged to trim are things that i don't really want to let go of. what is it that i absolutely must have with me? what tools, what necessities can i simply not do without? what things should be left behind as painful and as uncomfortable as it may be? there are things we shouldn't take along because they only weigh us down or distract or dull our senses. there are the things that simply waste our time. i have a whole stack of these things; a motorcycle project, an XBox 360 that has far too many hours on it, a list of pedals and amps that i'm going to eventually build but "just haven't found time." time is a resource that is often misused and wasted, so i am beginning the painful process of trimming the time wasters from the list of things that i must prioritize. what i must keep in mind about priorities is that if i allow dead weight to be loaded on then i'll be affected in two ways; first, i will be loaded down with things that are, well, dead weight. why would you climb a mountain with 100 lbs of extra weight that bears no assistance or advantage whatsoever toward reaching the summit. you take only what you absolutely need. you leave the junk at home. the second way that non-priorities affect the adventure is that they take up space meant for much more useful and valuable things. here is a rather extreme example: if i want to climb mount everest and insist that i bring along my flip flops, my beach ball and my umbrella then i won't have room for my -30 degree rated boots, my ice pick, and my 70 mph rated subzero tent. my insistance upon non-priorities has already doomed my adventure before it truly had a chance.

that which is not a priority is junk. junk takes many forms. things that waste time, things that waste energy, things that waste any of the other resources that there never seem to be enough of. junk can be things like that beloved XBox of mine. junk can also be people. people can waste your time, your energy, your resources. these people should be left behind. they are taking up space that is needed for much more valuable, much more important people on your journey.

something that seems to somehow escape the priority measure is thoughts. there are thoughts that waste our time, make us indecisive, make us hesitant. these thoughts are junk as well. they weigh us down and take up valuable space.

junk. i am getting rid of mine, or at least i'm starting to. what do you have that needs to get left behind.

art and propaganda.

i'm stealing this topic from john mark mcmillan. he asked "what is the difference between art and propaganda?" one person answered "motive." my answer was "art is personal expression. propaganda uses art to persuade those experiencing it to adopt the ideals and thoughts of the artist or the person who commissioned the art."

as i hit the submit button i was struck by the profoundness of this statement in regards to songwriting, especially for worship. i must be careful to write songs that don't attempt to convince those of God's glory, but rather express the glory i have personally experienced. i don't need to (and i shouldn't) try to persuade that God's grace is sufficient. it is more important that i simply express the grace i have experienced.

i have known this for a long time, but at this moment i am experiencing great clarity in regards to it.