Friday June 17, 2011 Wag More, Bark Less

As I was driving down the road, this bumper sticker had caught my eye.
“Wag more, bark less.”
Then I knew what the title of my blog would be; Wag More & Bark Less


It is about being so busy & finding out exactly how it is that we have become so busy.
We should wag more & bark less.

In my prayer journal this just came flowing forth:

Take care that you are not so busy. Watch out for that very fine line of being busy and being ambitious! Nothing is more dangerous than a busy ambitious soul.
Nothing is more disappointing than an anxious soul that has disguised itself as being busy!
Nothing is more deadly than a nervousness that has masked itself as being dutiful busy.
(Read 2 Sam. 6.7)
Over the top busy is nothing more than hyper-faith. Hyper faith is a over stimulated, keyed-up type of faith that makes us assume we know what God wants. We instead impede the Kingdom & bring confusion.

Being busy is not necessarily being productive.
Use your energy well,
Steward your grace with finesse

Being busy doesn’t equal works.
Being busy doesn’t equal faith.
Being busy doesn’t equal servant hood.
Being busy doesn’t equal learning.
We get so caught up in these things and end up substituting these busy works for real relationships.
Striving is busy work, strife keeps you busier.
Stress keeps your mind buzzing & busy
There is a good busy and a bad busy, a healthy, productive busy and an unhealthy, counter-productive busy. Being so busy has fragmented & frenzied our lives and relationships, to the point we risk losing it all for the sake of it all!
Bad busy: knee deep & swamped (Desperately needing more hours in the day busy)
Good busy: diligent and engaged.
Bad busy: absorbed & immersed (crazy busy & frenzied)
Good busy: focused & working
Bad busy: preoccupied & buzzing (over commitment & distracting ‘stuff)
Good busy: active & flourishing
Bad busy: engrossed & tied up (am I too busy for my own life, busy?)
Good busy: industrious and vibrant.

Here again, is another fine line, between being focused & being absorbed. You can be so absorbed that you block everything out and you can no longer hear. While being focused is being clear and having things sharply defined. One becomes centralized, instead of polarized.
Look at the fine line between being so tied up and being the industrious type of busy. Being tied up busy is being tied down busy, you limit yourselves. It is like the medical procedure of tie off, where they take a cord and tie off the flow of blood. Same as in being tied up busy, the flow of life ceases! While an industrious type busy is healthy, one works energetically and devotedly; like a hard working diligently person should.

The sad part about this is, that there are a lot of people out there who would be absolutely bored with out something to do, they’d go stir-crazy!
Then there is the overworked and overwhelmed person, who complains often and if you listen closely it is with a hidden message of self importance.
There are many who live life by crisis; always looking to put out fires, they thrive on the frantic pace of busy, busy, and busier. Some run from task to task, avoiding life’s bigger issues. Some are so busy, it doesn’t matter. Too busy to notice that they are too busy, the duty bound, guilt motivated busy, those who find their self worth in the ceaseless busy.

I want you to take care not to busy yourselves with useless busy work. Rule the day well. Become skillful in setting your priorities. Sit at Jesus feet. Luke 10.41, 42

A word of wisdom: There is a busy out there that is marked with aggressiveness. The tone has become religious in nature, their pursuit has become tireless. The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violence takes by force ( Matt.11.12). These busy people look down on those who appear to be less busy and they have little or no tolerance. Herein this type of busy has become aggressive in nature and assertive in purpose and these are traits that do not work well in the Kingdom.

What I am after is the busy that bears no fruit in your lives. The busy that keeps you so busy, the knee deep busy, this is the unfruitful activity that I am zeroing in on. When you are being so busy that it steals your time, and time is not meant to be spent this way. You’re so busy you are missing important life events, and missing these things breeds regret and bitterness. There’s a distracting type of busy that produces stress and fatigue, and in turn, you will enter into a burned out stage and this is the perfect storm for discouragement, and disillusionment
You need to wag more and bark less!

A diligent, and focused type of busy keeps you on an even keel, while a buzzing, random type of busy is vain and is very counter productive. A preoccupied & tied up kind of busy doesn’t inspire anybody, while an industrious and vibrant type of busy is contagious to all those around.

Rule the day! Stay sober & vigilant, howbeit that doesn’t mean to be sour & boring.
The call is to unbusy yourself. His mercies are fresh and new every morning
( Lam.21,22). We wake up dragging and dreading the busy day ahead. This kind of busy robs your of your gratitude. Let your gratitude be your attitude!


Psalm 46.11 Be still and know that I am God. Cut back on the rat race, get off the spin! There is an earnest energetic busy that God has for us, a yoke that is fruitful and easy.
There is a need to become skillful in our functioning and in the way we work. This is what it means to be industrious, better said; steadfastness. Steadfastness believes God. We busy ourselves with helping God help us, when all He asks sometimes is to stand still.

Rededicate yourselves! Refresh and renew; do not take things for granted.
Hebrews 4 Be diligent to enter into that rest.
I want you to take off that coat of an ambitious, over achiever. Get out of the in your face, belligerent and combative type of Gospel.
Hebrew 4.16 ‘Come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy & find grace to help in time of need.’
Gina; ‘Wag more & bark less’