The Important and the Urgent
I am sure that you invest yourself in important matters. You probably also cannot avoid, periodically, facing urgent things. A few decades ago, a productivity and time management writer, Stephen Covey, popularized a decision principle of Dwight D. Eisenhower based on distinguishing between things that are important and things that are urgent.
Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, sold more than a few copies. A simple matrix was created using a box divided into four smaller boxes. In this graph, the horizontal x-axis names two categories: “urgent” and “not urgent”. The vertical y-axis names two as well: “important” and “not important.” Box one, upper left, was for things important and urgent. Box two, upper right, was for things important but not urgent. Box three, lower left, was for things urgent, but not important. Box four, lower right, contains things neither important nor urgent.
The push for productivity in this framework is to live principally in box two. The common activities that fit here are preparation, planning, clarifying values, relationship-building, refreshing recreation, and empowerment. Giving priority to such things as this reduces the number of life concerns from flashing before you as urgent matters, and trains you to avoid wasting focus and energy on things of no importance and things masquerading as important.
No one walks a perfect path of prioritization. Also, in the real world, surprises of varying intensity pop up, and urgent attention will be required. Some important matters are hard to anticipate and demand our action. I have given all this general description because I have noticed that the season of Advent heightens the urgency of our spiritual fitness.
Advent signals us to prepare to meet our Maker. There are things within our control and influence that we practice for our spiritual health. Meditation, prayer, worship, study, and outreach strengthen us. It is easy for us to let important habits slide in practice. If spiritual wellness is of value to us, we do well to practice the disciplines as a matter of our weekly life. The themes of Advent help turn up the heat of urgency and burn away our lethargy.
Advent urges us to consider that Jesus could return at any moment. We are called to get ready. We listen to the strident words of John the Baptist, quoting Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight…all flesh shall see the salvation of God. The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent asks help that we may heed the warnings of the prophets and forsake our sins, “that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.”
I am woefully guilty of spending too much time with the things in boxes three and four: things that are not important, or that come with urgency disguised as importance. What I would love to do is to undergird my prayer habits of all kinds, study, and acts of kindness. I would love to let the tones of Advent bring me to a sense of urgency. Using the language of this week’s Epistle (Philippians 1:3-11), the task is to work steadily toward being “pure and blameless” in the day of Christ, knowing “that the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” We must do our best to live the good disciplines of faith, so let us welcome God’s ways of dialing up the urgency so that our laxity evaporates, and our diligence comes on strong.