To Do? Today?

Tero Vesalainen via Pixabay

I used to harbor the delusion that was actually possible to get to the bottom of a to-do list. Even more ridiculous? I believed that it was possible to do so in a single day.

Pretty funny, huh?

Now with the benefit of age, wisdom and just plain busyness, I've come to terms with the fact that behind every new calendar page lurks a whole new list just waiting to insert itself into my day.

This isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes the things that lurk just beyond today's calendar page are fun and exciting. Other times they're mundane and, every once in a while, they're not what we would hope for -- not by a long shot.  

With age, however, I've learned to trust God with my days, especially on those days when the list looks anything but humanly possible. Worrying, wringing my hands and otherwise stressing out about how it will all get done merely wastes energy I could be spending actually accomplishing something. I've come to believe that if something is really important, it will get done. Otherwise, it will sink to the bottom of the list, which is probably where it belonged anyway.

Parenthood helps with this attitude. Having a child taught me that sometimes the best things in life are the ones that interrupt our carefully scheduled days. Even more important, it taught me that life is more than just a giant to-do list. And, if the most important thing in my day is checking things off my list, then I'm probably missing out.

So, some days, homemade becomes storebought, blog posts get posted at midnight and things I was sure I'd get done get pushed to the next day. I'm still not 100% okay with that, but I'm working on it.