Getting your priorities right

Alice Tomkinson, 14th Dec 2017
Tags: Life Blog Relationships Success

So here I am on my train home, whizzing past the London buildings and Christmas lights. The usual quiet hum on the carriage, the odd cough and horrendously loud phone call from the girl at the other end exclaiming to her friend, “I just won’t have her say that about me!"

I look up to see the Priority Seats sign stuck above the first few chairs of the carriage. My eyes stay on it for a while, as I daydream about what’s next on my endless to do list, and then it strikes me; every picture on this sign, pictures of the people deemed ‘priority’: the pregnant woman, disabled boy, elderly man and the small child, are the people, or circumstances our society class as ‘priority’.

These people are considered our most vulnerable, and therefore they rightly deserve a space to sit and rest on their journey. In fact, even more than that, others that are sat on the priority seats, no matter what their background, circumstance, or political view, should sacrifice their spot on the train.

Where in our lives do we make people a priority?

Imagine if we took this very important concept and put it into our own lives? Where in our lives do we make people a priority? Where in our lives do we stand up and sacrifice our own comfort? It’s easy to give up our seat to things that aren’t vulnerable, or even helpful, or important to us. 

For such a long time in my teenage years, it was anxiety that I was allowing in my priority seating, and when I got into drama school and trained as an actor, it was the idea of success.

Success forced me up from my seat and made me make way.

Success forced me up from my seat and made me make way; it forced me to stand up by the door and feel my legs aching. I would stare at it, in its ‘rightful place’ as a priority, and I didn’t know how to make it leave.

So here I am, on this train, gazing quite intently at this sign, and asking myself "Who gets my priority seat?"

Imagine, just for a moment, if you looked at your life and found yourself giving time to the things and people that are vulnerable; to the people in your life who you know need someone to listen, or ask a question. 

To God, the vulnerable are the people that are broken, lonely, insecure, scared, struggling, and resentful. To Jesus, he always gave them a priority seat, healing them, encouraging them, or just letting them know he cared.

So I’ve decided, right now, on this humming, mundane carriage, today I give priority to the people that need a listening ear; to my best friend who’s having an identity crisis, and to the youth at my church that need to know that they’re loved.

I will not let success barge its way onto the carriage and ask for my seat. Instead I’ll give up my seat for a more humble, loving and kind passenger. 

Today I choose to make others a priority, and my own selfish needs that control and cause me a great amount of stress, they can stand up, move from the seats and make room for good things.

Today I choose to make others a priority, and my own selfish needs that control and cause me a great amount of stress, they can stand up, move from the seats and make room for good things.

Today, I encourage you to stand up. Stand up, and make room for the people, feelings and dreams that should get priority seating.