Posts Tagged: To Do lists

“ON THE MAKING OF LISTS”

On March 19, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I like to make lists.

Of course, as with everything else that I enjoy, I tend to overdo it at times.  Sometimes, my lists become a disease, multiplying like a fast-moving virus.  I import the expectations of others, in addition to my own excessive self-demands.

However, the fact that a thing can become demonic doesn’t mean that it wasn’t once angelic.  The Bible seems to indicate that the demons are actually fallen angels.  Whether or not demons can ever be rehabilitated, I don’t know.  But I think that lists can be.

So, what do lists do for me?

Well, for one thing, they keep my attention-deficit-mind a little more focused.  I don’t want to oversell this, but lists do help me—provided, of course, that I can remember where I put the list and remember to look at it every once in a while.

Also, there is a satisfaction that comes from checking off, one-by-one, the items on my lists.  It is a pretty cheap form of entertainment, but it entertains me nevertheless.  Years ago, I heard someone speak of “the satisfaction of a bill marked PAID.”  There is a similar satisfaction that is the fruit of an item on the list that is checked off.

Of course, a TO-DO list is no substitute for having worthwhile goals in the first place.  And these goals must themselves flow from a commitment to good, solid values that not only serve me well, but also serve other people, our planet, and God.  A list populated with trivia is still trivial, even if I check it all off.

However, it is precisely at the point of my values and goals that I find the greatest benefit to lists.  Here is how this works for me: Lists often make me ask difficult questions that I don’t really want to ask.  Lists invite me to ask such questions as  these:

  • Do the items on this list reflect my best values and goals?
  • Does doing this item and crossing it off my list make me a better person?
  • Do the things on this list have a shot at helping to make other people better?
  • Does what I’m doing benefit the planet?
  • Does this list and the items on it make God look as good as God is?
  • If the answer to any of the above questions is “No” or “I don’t know,” why am I doing this stuff?

And then, I can ask two more questions:

  • What can I take off the list to make room for the things that do matter?
  • What do I need to add to the list?

I am comforted a bit in my list-making by the fact that God apparently likes lists as well.  There are of course, various lists in the Bible: lists of sacrifices, lists of holy days, and so on.  One of the most famous lists is the Ten Commandments.  It is always good to remind myself that I must not murder anyone today.  (I think that, by extension, this might include not assassinating anyone’s reputation.)

The most famous list of the New Testament actually quotes and puts together two commandments from the Old Testament.  Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment.  Jesus did not answer with one commandment.  Instead, he made a list of two: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Perhaps my individual lists would be improved if I remembered this two-item list.

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“THE MINISTRY OF NOTICING”

On January 26, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Friday, January 26, 2018

I stopped in the middle of yesterday’s gratitude list.  My gratitude list was, in many ways a reflection of my day: truncated and inadequate.

Well, that is not quite the truth: It wasn’t the day that was truncated and inadequate. I was the one who felt truncated and inadequate.  There wasn’t a single thing wrong with the day itself.

I’ve had a bunch of days this week in which I have felt very inadequate.  I’m not getting much done of what I set out to do in the day.  Why is this?  I seemed to be doing pretty well earlier in the month.  Lazy?  Tired?  Who knows?!

However, our puppy is curled up in my lap drowsing, and I’m listening to smooth instrumental jazz on AccuRadio.  Perhaps that is what I am called by God to do right now.  The sun is up after a lovely rising.  I wasn’t too preoccupied to notice.  Perhaps “accomplishing things” is overrated.  Perhaps there is such a thing as the ministry of noticing.

. . .

And then a good friend called, and we had a good chat.  I always feel saner after a conversation with him.  I think that I am saner after I talk to him!

Checking my little thises and thats off my to-be-and-to-do list may not always be the way to go.  A list may be a good servant, but it makes a lousy master.  Perhaps I ought to remember that.

So, my main goal for today is to practice the fine art of noticing.  I will notice my wife, my dog, my house, my external environment.  I will notice when I’m hungry, and the texture and taste of food.  I will notice when I need to take a break, which is right now.

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“WHAT TO DO WHEN I HAVE TOO MUCH TO DO”

On January 15, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“If you’ve got more than you can do in a normal work day, you’ve got more than God gave you to do.” (Source unknown)

Years ago, I participated in a 50-Day Spiritual Adventure that was titled “What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do.”  It was a catchy title and a good, helpful program.

However, I now need a different program.  I am titling this adventure “What to do When I Have Too Much to Do.”

I recently posted about “being in over my head.”  One aspect of this is having too much to do.  There is a lot I can do when I feel like this.  Unfortunately, most of it is unhelpful.  Let me list some of the things that I’ve found that don’t work:

  • Complaining.  (I hope this post is not simple complaining on line, but I am not so sure.)
  • Being cranky with God, my wife, and the universe.
  • Trying to do everything on my to-do list.
  • Eating a bunch of sweets and junk food.
  • Saying, “Oh, the heck with it all!  I think I’ll play word games on line!”

I’m sure there are a few other things I’ve proven to myself don’t work, but those are some of my go-to items that I’ve proven, time and time again, do not work.  (Of course, a voice whispers in my ear, “Oh, this time it will be different.”  The voice sounds suspiciously like my own voice.)

So, the question is this: What does work?

I don’t know, but I am being stalked by some potential answers.  I think I’ll quit running and allow those answers to catch up with me.

  • Doing triage might help.  Are there some things I can let go?  Are there some things I really should let go?  Then why not let them go?!?  The pretense that I can do everything often keeps me from doing the best things.   Sometimes, the pretense that I can do everything keeps me from doing anything.
  • I can pray the right kind of prayer.  Prayer isn’t enough.  The phrase that matters the most in the preceding sentence is “the right kind of prayer.”  Sometimes, my prayer basically boils down to this: “God, please help me to do what I’ve already decided I need/want to do.”  A better prayer might sound like this: “God, please help me to do what you want me to do.”  Similar wording, but a very different focus.
  • I can change my to-do list into a might-do list.  The world will not stop spinning if I do not get everything on my list done today.  Even my own little world may not be seriously compromised by failure to check off every box.
  • Finally, I can simply start doing the work at hand, and see what happens.  Who knows?  If I put one foot in front of the other today (and keep putting one foot in front of the other), I may find that I get to the end of the day with a sense of satisfaction, instead of a sense (??) of frustration.
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“My To-Do Lists and God’s Priorities”

On April 28, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

 Sometimes, I confuse my to-do list with what should be my priorities.

Take this morning, for example.  My affirmation to my sponsor (as well as to myself and God) was as follows:

“Today, by God’s grace, I will spread mulch, do some (hopefully) creative writing, and work at Bob Evans.  I will do these things because they are fun to do, because they need doing, because they may benefit other people, and because they will glorify God when they are done in the right way with the right attitude.” (Down to Earth Believer, affirmation sent to 12-step sponsor.”)

But then, I turned to a daily retreat sponsored by the Jesuits and Loyola Press, and read the following reflections on 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

“This scripture passage offers us a chance to reflect on our priorities. It tells us that, at the end of the day, it won’t be the school we graduated from, our annual income, or our zip code that matters. Rather, we will be judged by our fidelity to God, our hope in Christ and the power of his Resurrection, and the love that we show ourselves and our neighbor. It’s as simple as that.”  (Excerpt from the “3-Minute Retreat” for today, April 27, 2017, http://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/love-lasts-forever-start-retreat.)

This invited me to do a little probing of my to-do list.  Here is the question: Do my priorities match up with and reflect God’s priorities for all believers?  In other words, am I going to choose to spread mulch in a loving, hopeful, faith-filled way?

This is one of those questions that I can’t always answer, and don’t want to answer.  I don’t always like other people’s answers to my questions.  I often flat-out detest my own answers.

My answer will not come in the form of this post.  It will not come primarily in terms of my feelings or thoughts.  My answer will come as I put each shovelful of mulch in the wheel barrow and spread it around our flower beds.

Ultimately, only God can decide how lovingly, how hopefully, how faithfully I mulched the flower beds.  But I can at least live with the question.

Postscript: I wrote this blog yesterday, so that I could post it early this morning.  I got the mulching pretty well done.  I’m going to the chiropractor this morning.

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TIME TO PLAY, PAPAW!

On January 13, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

 

Yesterday, I had a lot to do.  Quite a few things didn’t get done—on purpose!

My wife is taking care of her mom, who has a lot of health problems.  So, each week, my wife is gone for several days.

Her mom lives about an hour away from us, so I don’t get up there very often.  Too busy.

However, sometimes I decide that my TO DO list shouldn’t be in all caps.

This week, my wife and I were talking on the phone about the middle of her time away at her mom’s.  She mentioned that my mother-in-law would love to see me.  (I think my wife meant that she would also be glad to see me, but I figured that I had better just assume this.)  I told my wife that, no, I was too busy.

As soon as I hung up, I felt that gentle nudge that I often suspect is God.  “You’re not too busy.  You need to go up there,” said the Nudge.

I don’t think I would have gone (despite the Nudge), if it had not been for a story a friend of mine told me the other day.  He was playing a game with his granddaughter that she had invented.  She is a toddler, and toddlers invent some of the most wonderful games.  This one involved her running over to a door, touching it, and running back to her grandpa, who would then scoop her up.  It involved a lot of giggling on the part of the participants.  It sounded as if this game for two involved two winners.

Later in the day, after they had been playing, the adults (including grandpa) were having a nice adult holiday meal.  The door-touching giggle box did not seem to recognize this “adults-only” aspect.  She came to her grandpa, grabbed his finger, and tried to pull him off his seat at the table.  It was time to play.  It didn’t take him very long to get the message!

So, because of God’s nudging and my friend’s story, I got in the car and drove to the home of mother-in-law, visited for a couple of hours, and headed back home.

Some things on my list didn’t get done yesterday, but it was a good day!

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