day no. 15,420: what matters most

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." -- Goethe

As my wife often says, "Live your priorities." When she says this, she means just what Goethe is saying here above as quoted in 7 Habits. Your priorities must be decided and your practices must flow from those decisions. The word decide implies a cutting off. It comes from the Latin decidere, which means, "to cut off." To make something your top priority is to cut off anything other thing from occupying that top position. And that which you have determined matters most must not be subjected to the demands of that which matters less.

God has given us our marching orders and we must watch our steps. If you are not living in light of your stated priorities, it is because you are living in light of your actual priorities. Whatever matters most makes its way to the top of your priorities. In one sense, then we are all living our priorities. However, for many of us, our deeper desires for ourselves in responsive faith to God's commands, would result in a different life than the one we're currently leading. 

But that's just it: priorities lead. 

God has given us governance over ourselves. We are responsible to put our priorities in His prescribed order and then establish disciplines and practices that not only keep the priorities in their proper order in theory, but executed in their proper order in practice with the top priorities receiving the first and best and refusing to lend to lesser priorities until they have been fulfilled.