Priorities

Knowing how to prioritize is one of the most important skills an ER nurse can have. On a busy day, guaranteed, there will be a lot of people who need a lot of things and they'll need it all at once. And since we can still only be in one place at one time (come on Scientists!) - you have to prioritize. Who is most likely to die? Who can wait, whether they are happy about it or not, and who will actually deteriorate if they don't get what they need this instance? What needs to be done right now (CPR)?, what can wait until later (peeing)? Not having this skill results in more stress for you (and your coworkers) on the lesser end and actual harm to patients on the extreme end. So needless to say - its a big one. As my years of nursing have added up (5! Woohoo!), I finally feel like I've grown into the ability to prioritize fairly effectively. I can balance my load and nobody dies. (Usually;) )

So why can't I prioritize in my other life?? I know this is where you might expect me to launch into an exciting story of priorities gone wrong during a hectic day in the emergency room. But no. I'm going to talk about the other side of my life. The domestic, cleaning, cooking, laundering, toddler wrangling side of my life. It might not have it's own blog - but its a pretty big side. No come on, keep on reading!

Anyways - if you're still with me... Priorities obviously matter in every faucet of life, and the way we manage them often determines the quality of our lives and our relationships. In my head my priorities go like this:

1. God
2. Family (husband and aforementioned toddlers)
3.Friends
4.Work (be it house work or emergency work)
5.Volunteer shiz
6.Random hobbies (like this blog)

In reality they go something like this:

1. Family (and only because my children refuse to sit quietly in the background, unless I lock them in a closet. Which I've never done - but maybe have in a moment of weakness and stress considered. Maybe.)
2. Work (have you seen what toddlers can do to a house in an hour??)
3. Volunteer shiz (gotta keep up the image!)
4. Friends
5. Random hobbies (if it didn't take constant vigilance to keep my son from seriously harming himself, it might jump up to 1. )
6. God (oh, yeah....)

And it's not until my world suddenly seems to want to crumble down around me that I realize - huh. My priorities are all out of whack. Like this week. Remember how I said I'm not a crier? I've cried three times this week. Three. And not little sniffles. Big ugly cries. I know. Feel bad for me.
But don't really, because the answer has been in front of me all along. I just have a really hard time believing it.

Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things things will be added to you as well." All these things? Do you mean if I take time to pray and study my Bible an angel will show up to clean my house and prep dinner?

He also told one of his followers named Martha, "You are anxious and concerned about many things, but only one thing matters." That's me in a nutshell. I'm trying to do everything in my own strength, while God is trying to tell me to rest in His. I'm trying to pretend I don't have weaknesses, while God is trying to remind me that yes I do - but in my weakness He shows Himself strong. And if I'll remember what really matters in the grand scheme of eternity and pursue that first of all - God has a funny way of working out the littler things too. Even without an angel to do my housework. Although that would be awesome.