It’s awful to wake up feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things to do before the day ends. It might be work related tasks, personal issues, or a combination of both. Parents who are taking care of young children often have an even busier life, wondering how they will get everything done before their head hits the pillow at night. The result is usually burnout and shutdown…and who wants to live like that? The joy of life is almost all but lost, and our very existence has been somehow reduced to our success, or failure, at completing a list of tasks. Life is too precious to be squandered this way, and so if we hope to make the most of our time here on this planet, a paradigm shift must be made.

David Archuleta mentioned in yesterday’s blog post what I believe is the new outlook needed to neutralize the hectic pace of life…SIMPLICITY! Here is an excerpt:

My mom thought I was kidding when I said I wanted them all to come hang out with my friends lol. But I think it’s great having my favorite little bunch of people (my family) come together with another group of people whom I enjoy being around. I want my friends to know how cool my family is, or at least how cool I think my family is lol. Everyone had a good time too. But yeah, it was fun just spending time with everyone. It’s something that’s so simple, yet so valuable to me. David’s blog 7/21/09.

It’s one thing to mention that we value the simple life, but it’s another to actually achieve it. Do we simply cut down our task list so that it has fewer items? No, David also provides the answer and it has to do with priorities. For David his priority is his family and when he focuses on that, all the other tasks of his busy schedule seem less important…because in perspective they are less important. When we prioritize and devote our time and heart to the important people in our life all the other, somewhat burdensome, tasks naturally take their appropriate place on the back burner. Prioritizing and putting people first, especially our family, is the only way to really live. David seems to get that salient truth quite clearly and he also knows that it produces within our souls the very thing we all long for…a simpler more meaningful life.

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