Priorities and check boxes

 

2 Samuel 4–5; Psalms 52–54; Ezekiel 13; 1 Corinthians 15

 ‘Microsoft To Do” is a simple day planner program that works well for me. I put my list of tasks in groups, date them and include repeats, mark completions and add appointments and reminders of all sorts. The biggest problem with using this or other programs like it is that my days often seem shorter than my to-do list! Interruptions happen too often and I cannot finish everything or I get too ambitious and put too many items on it. Then unfinished chores bump to the next day and in no time my becomes overwhelming.

This morning I read about the beginning of King David’s reign over all Israel. In one chapter, he inquired of the Lord two times whether he should do something and God gave him specific directions. This rings in my ears. For years, God has been teaching me to pray about everything, but I’m not always cooperative. However, this morning I noticed that I was listening for Him while I looked at my to-do list and determined what was most important. Still, I’m left with the sense that when each task is completed, I need to say, “Lord, what’s next?”

Well-known author and Christian speaker Elizabeth Elliot is noted for saying, “Do the next thing” and she wrote at least one book with that title. I first heard that line at a conference where she was the main speaker and tried to imitate her, realizing that the Holy Spirit can whisper the next thing to me. He knows what is important and the best way to tackle it.

I once thought that daily household chores were of no interest to God. He didn’t need to be bothered with requests for parking spaces, safety when I drove to the grocery story, ideas of what to cook for supper and a host of other things. However, this is not true. He is a God of details. I learned it when our phone number served as our personal line, my husband’s business, and a redirect from our church because we didn’t have a pastor at that time. Very quickly I was praying for wisdom as I picked up calls, not knowing what might be on the other end.

Praying about everything is not an easy lesson. I didn’t realize it for a long time, but pride thinks I can handle the small stuff — and maybe I can, but letting God direct every step changes the entire day. For one thing, the tasks seem to be easier, done more quickly, and have more meaning. Not only that, interruptions are either reduced or also have a purpose — either a need God wants me to meet or another lesson on how to be kind to telemarketers, people who dial the wrong number, and others who make inconvenient requests. Seeing life this way turns an ordinary day into an adventure.

The bottom line seems to be that life is short and I want all activities to matter. What better way to ensure that than to ask God what to do next? But there is another reason; asking God to guide every move that I make is a pride-destroyer. It says to Him that I value His will above my own:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13–17)

APPLY: another no-brainer. Seek His input. Sometimes it will be on my knees and specific. Sometimes it will be the confidence of being filled with the Spirit and moving forward until He nudges me to stop or change direction. In Him I can look at that to-do list and know if a task is vital or can be postponed until another day or dismissed entirely.

Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and do not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight my paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6, personalized)