Don’t Let Your Water Get Cut Off

 There’s nothing like your household water being cut off for nonpayment to make family members take a second look at priorities. Not much can function properly without fresh water. How could we have been so busy to neglect such an important element in our lives and let this happen?

Some of my friends and I are overloaded with responsibilities—between home, family, jobs, fledgling writing careers, and community involvement. I pray for all of us each and every day to have the strength to do what we need to do.

But do we really need to do everything asked of us, or is it OK to say no sometimes?

There will always be someone tugging at our sleeves to help out with this or that. Maybe for something they’re fully capable of doing on their own. A former employer once said that if you want something done, ask the person who looks the busiest, because that person gets things done. Not fair, but probably the truth.

We need to ask both ourselves and our petitioners: What will happen if we don’t serve on that committee or agree to make those phone calls or contribute an article to that newsletter? Is the task so important that tragedy will result if we’re not involved?

I’ve been trying to determine which of my activities are water and which are not.  Which ones are a matter of life or health—for me, another human being, or another living creature?  For our mental health, we fiction writers must write our novels or short stories. That’s a given.

Included in the life category is my spiritual life too, and yours.  Personal time with God, time to be good parents to our children, and time to be patient and kind to our spouse and elders. Without these essentials, not much else will function well or matter in the long run.

Have you forsaken a water activity for a less essential one?