St. Luke's United Methodist Church - Houston, Texas
Choosing What Counts
Aug 9, 2026 · 19 min · 9 segments
- Speakers
- Katie Montgomery MearsHost
- Show signals
- SuitabilitySafeBiasNot politicalAudience≈3k followers
St. Luke's United Methodist Church - Houston, Texas
Aug 9, 2026 · 19 min · 9 segments
If your house was on fire, what would you take out of it? That question kind of has a way of distilling and clarifying what it is that we think is important.
I would wager that none of you would say the fancy kitchen countertop appliance that you hemmed and hawed about buying, or the clothes in your closet, or even the artwork on your walls.
Most people say certainly kids and pets if they're not out already, photo albums, things that are irreplaceable.
There's something about an emergency that helps us to really see what it is that we know deep down in our bones anyway is the most important.
Fortunately for us, we aren't making those decisions in a burning house.
But we are making decisions about things that are important to us with the hours that we hand over every single one of those ordinary Tuesdays.
The ways that we choose to spend our time, what we choose to focus on.
Last week, Tom talked about how the practice of Sabbath demonstrates that we have freedom to stop and freedom to choose.
And so this week, I want us to talk about that, this idea that when we stop and pause, we can reorder our lives, that we might use that freedom to choose what our priorities are.
If your house was on fire, what would you take out of it? That question kind of has a way of distilling and clarifying what it is that we think is important.
I would wager that none of you would say the fancy kitchen countertop appliance that you hemmed and hawed about buying, or the clothes in your closet, or even the artwork on your walls.
Most people say certainly kids and pets if they're not out already, photo albums, things that are irreplaceable.
There's something about an emergency that helps us to really see what it is that we know deep down in our bones anyway is the most important.
Fortunately for us, we aren't making those decisions in a burning house.
But we are making decisions about things that are important to us with the hours that we hand over every single one of those ordinary Tuesdays.
The ways that we choose to spend our time, what we choose to focus on.
Last week, Tom talked about how the practice of Sabbath demonstrates that we have freedom to stop and freedom to choose.
And so this week, I want us to talk about that, this idea that when we stop and pause, we can reorder our lives, that we might use that freedom to choose what our priorities are.
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