Busy Is the New Stuck

There is a moment that happens when you decide to get serious about your life. Not the kind of decision where you say you want things to be better someday, or you’re thinking about making a change. I mean the moment where something in you locks in. Where your focus sharpens, your energy shifts, and you begin to move, not talk, not plan, but actually move toward what has been placed on your heart.

That’s when things get interesting.

Because the moment you decide to move forward, something else seems to decide to meet you there. Not in a dramatic, obvious way, but in the kind of chaos that looks… reasonable. Necessary even.

This past week for Craig and I has been exactly that. We’ve both been focused, individually and together, moving toward what matters. Our health, our work, our spiritual lives, our home, our future, our wedding. There has been a sense of alignment, of forward motion. And then life started knocking. Loudly.

One thing after another began demanding attention. Real things. Not distractions you can ignore or push aside, but things that needed to be handled. A hot water heater that suddenly needed to be replaced. And it wasn’t even a surprise. We knew when we bought the house it would need attention at some point. But eight or ten nights ago, I woke up hearing it clear as day. “Fix the hot water tank. Now.” Not tomorrow. Not eventually. Now.

We’ve learned to listen to that.

Because when you ignore those moments, they don’t disappear. They get louder. Or they show up later in a much more costly way.

But it didn’t stop there. Furniture needing to be refurbished. Custom shelves being built. Detail work on ceilings and beams. Things that had been sitting quietly in the background suddenly stepping forward all at once, asking for time, energy, focus.

And life doesn’t pause while you handle it.

We still have our work. Our clients. Our families. Our health commitments. Our spiritual alignment. A wedding to prepare for. Being present in all of it.

So one thing becomes five. Five becomes ten.

And if you’re not paying attention, it can feel like everything is pulling you away from what you actually set out to do.

This is where most people misinterpret what’s happening.

They assume they’ve gotten off track. That the chaos means they need to slow down, pull back, maybe even stop. But what I’ve come to see is something very different.

This is not random.

This is threshold.

This is what happens when you start to move.

There are two things happening at once, and if you don’t recognize both, you’ll miss the entire point.

The first is resistance. This is where everything we’ve been talking about with everyday demons starts to show up. Not in extreme or obvious ways, but in busyness, overwhelm, distraction, exhaustion. In being so consumed by everything that matters that you stop moving toward what matters most. It’s subtle, because none of it looks wrong. In fact, it all looks important. But it keeps you managing life instead of building it.

And if that was the only layer, most people would stall out right there.

But there’s a second layer that changes everything.

God steps into the chaos.

Not to remove it, but to illuminate it.

Because in the middle of handling these things, we’ve found solutions. Not just surface-level fixes, but real solutions to things we didn’t even know were issues yet. Things that, left alone, would have become problems six months from now, a year from now, maybe longer. Instead, they’re being handled now. Strengthened now. Refined now.

And that’s when it shifts.

This isn’t just resistance.

This is refinement.

This is alignment being tested and strengthened at the same time.

Because when God places something on your heart, it’s not just about the outcome. It’s about who you become in the process of getting there. And that process is not passive.

Scripture makes this clear in the story of Zechariah. When he was told that John would be born, that something significant was coming, his response mattered. His participation mattered. He wasn’t just a bystander to what God was doing. He had a role to play. And when he stepped outside of faith, when he questioned from a place of doubt instead of trust, there was consequence. There was silence. Not as punishment, but as alignment.

Because what God initiates still requires your cooperation.

You don’t just receive.

You respond.

That’s the part most people miss.

Faith is not passive. It is not sitting back and waiting for things to fall into place. Faith is movement. It is action. It is showing up when it would be easier to shut down. It is continuing forward when everything feels out of order. It is choosing not to delay what you know you are called to do, even when life gets loud.

Because life will get loud.

There will always be something.

The question is whether you allow it to consume you or refine you.

Whether you get lost in the noise or stay anchored in what you’re building.

Because both are happening at once. Resistance and preparation. Disruption and alignment.

And if you can hold that tension without losing your direction, if you can stay consistent in the middle of it, not perfectly, but intentionally, that’s where everything begins to change.

The chaos doesn’t mean you’re off path.

More often than not, it means you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

The question is, will you recognize it for what it is… or will you let it pull you away from what you were just beginning to build?

What’s the “chaos” in your life right now that looks important… but might actually be pulling you off course?

Where are you busy… but not moving forward?

Drop it below. I read every single one.

And if you’re starting to see the pattern, share this with someone who needs to wake up to it too.

As always loving and praying for you and our world,

Rene Schooler

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This post was previously published on medium.com.