Time

I love when God gives me a specific word for something I've asked Him about. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, nothing in the whole wide world can make me happier.
A little while ago I was going over in my mind all of the things I have to get done. Projects for school, stuff for work, even Bible study stuff. And it was really stressing me out because in the midst of it, I didn't feel that I had any time for God. And I know, time with God is the most important thing. But when life is actually happening, when you get away from talking about hypothetical realities and are smack dab in the midst of your reality, it's difficult to believe this. So I was stressing and I just asked God, "God, I have so much to do. I really want to spend time with You but what am I supposed to do? Shirk all my other responsibilities? Do I put everything on hold, even though my grades, my character, my sanity, depends on getting everything done? And what about the rest of my life? Am I just supposed to focus on spending time with you and if I don't get accomplished what I want to get accomplished then, 'oh well'?" I didn't really know if He would answer or not. I kind of expected Him not to, but I decided I needed to get in the Word anyway, because that's the "right" thing to do. So I did.
I picked up in Mark 13 (I've been trying to read through Mark, albeit kinda slowly). Mark 13 is full of prophecy about the end times and about the fall of Jerusalem, which ended up happening a little over 70 a.d. It's interesting stuff, but not super relevant to what I was going through. So I was like "Ok that's fine, at least I've learned to be a little more urgent and on the alert for when Christ comes back". So I finished the chapter and thought about going to the Psalms but I decided to just keep reading. So I started chapter 14. It was about Mary, when she poured all of her perfume on Jesus's head. What grabbed my attention was how the others in the group responded. They said, "Why has this perfume been wasted?" Wasted! They said that something beautiful and expensive was wasted on Jesus. And it made me think of myself. And more specifically, my time. I was viewing time spent with Jesus as wasted time. Time that could be spent accomplishing things. Good things. Being responsible and diligent and stuff like that.
You want to know something else? Jesus was a huge advocate for the poor and needy, the broken and hurt. Yet, when these people said that the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor, Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. Mark 14:6-9"
Because this woman did a good deed to Jesus, her story is heard whenever the gospel is heard and she was blessed by Jesus.
Now, I don't say all of this to say that I should shirk my responsibilities. I shouldn't. What I should do however, is remember that the most important thing is seeking God with all of my heart. If I seek Him, things will fall into place. They have to. Psalm 34:22 says that "None who take refuge in Him will be ashamed." And when I think about my life and what I want it to be, the most important thing to me is that God is my first priority, that He is my first love, that everything else doesn't really matter in light of who He is.

"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!" Psalm 34:8