Bandwidth: Simplify

Bandwidth
Simplfy by John Burke, January 6, 2008

Bandwidth… don’t we all think we need more and more and more of it? But it doesn’t work: time is still a limited commodity. As we keep adding things to our busy lives, often we end up cutting something out… and then feeling stressed and guilty that we’re not doing it all. Is there any hope to find a way to get away from the stress and get it all “under control”?

1. Start with John’s question to us: What is something that worried you a lot in the last year? Do you still worry about it? Go around and see how many people are still worried about the same thing now that troubled them before. (5 – 10 minutes)

2. Take some time in the group to discuss the types of thing that people tend to worry about. Make a quick list of these. Next, go through your list and discuss how many are “real” (legitimate concerns about what is really happening or what is likely to happen) and of these, how many those people have any control over? (10 minutes)

3. Next, take a look at the pressures of life. Do you need more bandwidth? How full is your life? Make a quick stab at estimating your own life script: Take a look at the list below. Before each item are two blank spaces. In the first column, write down the approximate percentage of time you spend each week on that (just as a frame of reference… 40 hours (i.e., 8 hours a day of work or sleep) is 33% of your week each.

____ ____ Work
____ ____ Sleep
____ ____ Other commitments/obligations (i.e. home/family responsibilities/requirements, organization leadership, planned service, etc.)
____ ____ Health/working out/sports
____ ____ Entertainment (TV, movies, reading, etc.)
____ ____ Important personal relationships that are not “programmed” (friends, family, etc)
____ ____ Time with God/Bible study/Spiritual growth
____ ____ Other _____________

Now, in the second column, think about the approximate percentage of your time each week you’d LIKE to spend on each of these. My bet is that two lists of percentages are not the same,. So in the group, spend some time talking about why, for most people, these two lists are different: What keeps people from spending their time they way they would like (outside of normal real needs like basic income and the need for food and sleep)? (15 – 20 minutes for the whole exercise and discussion)

4. Last question: Do you think it possible for the average person to have a life that has enough bandwidth and and is not stressed? Why or why not? Discuss this in the group. (10 minutes)

5. Close with a couple minutes for people to reflect individually on any personal insights about time or worries they have. Is there anything you think God has spoken to you about? Write down any points you’d like to reflect on more. (2 – 3 minutes)


Bible versese from the message:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Matthew 6:25-27

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Matthew 6:29 – 30

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matthew 6:31 – 32

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:33 – 34

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