De-compartmentalizing (Breaking Down Linear Prioritizing)
From my conservative Christian upbringing, I know that my priorities are supposed to be God, then others, then myself. I can still hear my elementary school teacher singing, "JOY means Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last." By now, it's simply unquestioned (although still difficult to implement). As one of my teachers, Ryan, explained, this type of prioritizing is a result of our western culture, which seeks to create linear order and compartments. The problem with this compartmentalizing is that we leave things behind; we simply can't focus our energies on everything. Ironically, that theme is exactly what I was grappling with in my previous blog (Late Night Reflections Part 2). Anyway, this thinking implies that we focus most of our energy on serving and relating to God, then spend the remnants on others, and finally leaving nearly nothing for ourselves. Although at first, this seems like a virtue ("Wow, you're so selfless that you have no time for