From Courage to Change of Nov 13:
I read somewhere that the things that are urgent are rarely important, and the things that are important are rarely urgent. I can get so caught up in the nagging, trivial matters of day-to-day life that I forget to make time for more important pursuits. The Al-Anon slogan I find most helpful in getting my priorities in order is “First Things First.”
Today, maintaining my serenity is my first priority. My connection with my Higher Power is the source of serenity, so maintaining that connection is my “first thing.”
If I imagine I am in a dark room and that my Higher Power is my only source of light, then my best hope for navigating around the furniture will be to bring that source of light with me as I move through the room. Otherwise, I may get through the room, but my passage is sure to be slow, confusing, and possibly painful.
Today’s Reminder
As I think about what to do with this day, I will set some time aside for what is really important. I will put first things first today.
“Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
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There’s a line often attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower — and later popularized by Stephen Covey — that says:
“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”
Even if the exact phrasing shifts across history, the truth inside it remains sharp: urgency has a way of masquerading as meaning. It pushes. It demands. It pressures. But the important things — the soul-things — rarely raise their voices.
Covey built an entire framework around this idea, showing how much of our peace is lost when we live in the quadrant of urgency and neglect the quieter, deeper space where real growth happens. Al-Anon expresses the same wisdom through the simple slogan: “First Things First.”
Today, my “first thing” is serenity.
Not the illusion of control, not a flurry of tasks, not the anxious scanning of what might go wrong — but serenity. And serenity begins with connection to my Higher Power.
This is Covey’s wisdom translated into spiritual language:
When I choose the important over the urgent, I reclaim my life.
When I choose presence over panic, I reclaim my spirit.
When I choose serenity first, I make space for genuine guidance instead of old patterns.
So today, as I look at what lies before me, I ask:
Is this urgent… or is it important?
And will I carry the light of connection with me as I decide?
If my first act is to connect with my Higher Power, everything afterward returns to proportion.
The room brightens.
The bruising stops.
And I can walk through the day with clarity, not chaos.
Daily Reprieve 
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