God did a lot of important stuff in six days. He created 31 verses of living creatures
and landscaping. And on the seventh day, He took it easy.
What a great idea!
I, too, try to accomplish a lot in six days. Unfortunately, I don't get it all done by
the Day of Rest. Never for lack of effort, however. I waste nary a minute because the job
jar of life is too full. Every morning I plunge into the day's activities, planning to get
a lot done.
For the sake of not screaming in frustration and startling my co-workers or my family,
I have prioritized the must-get-dones into two categories. This way I can enjoy the
illusion that something's getting done.
List One is the most important stuff. Eating. Sleeping. Wage-earning. Shopping to eat.
Making the bed to unmake it later for sleeping. Paying bills after wage-earning. Cooking
to eat. Sending the kids to bed so I can go to bed. Prying my eyes open again in the
morning.
This job jar is like the basket that held the loaves and fishes. Its contents keep
multiplying.
List Two is everything else. The problem is, there's no left-over time for them. It
includes exercising off the food I ate. Relaxing. Taking a day off from wage-earning to
get caught up on the chores of List Three.
Oh yes, there's a List Three. I almost forget about it because I've never compiled it.
Too busy. I'm vaguely aware that it should include putting away last winter's boots before
November, searching for mold specimens in the refrigerator and checking to see if I still
have only two children.
There's also the mending, the ironing, the dusting, the letter writing, the
straightening out of my desk, the shopping, the fertilizing, the weeding, the seasonal
decorating, the catching up on my unread magazines -- here comes that scream.
But wait.
Wait.
Ahhh, that's a nice word. It implies doing nothing. Getting from this moment to that
moment in a giant pause.
I'm lousy at waiting. I get impatient because I know there's stuff I could be getting
done. Whenever I do have an opportunity to wait, such as when I watch the ice cream melt
in the grocery line, I work on a needlepoint project or something. Just to keep busy.
Why? Why is it so important to get so much done in so little time?
Jesus accomplished a lot in three short years. He started a new trend in religious
practices while healing hordes of people, sending demons into oblivion, teaching,
preaching and being tracked down by needy crowds and angry Pharisees.
And yet, He always found time to pray. He could never have done so much without
praying. If I do the same, amazingly I get more done with less anxiety. But to add praying
to List One just jams up the job jar. So I sneak the prayers in. Whenever I have an
opportunity to wait, such as when I'm waiting for my eyelids to unseal in the morning or
waiting for the car to get me to wage-earning, I pray.
If I don't, sooner or later I scream. And my co-workers and family look at me strangely
and force me to rest.
What a GREAT idea!
