I have written about my love-hate relationship with my to-do list multiple times. I love to make a list. I love to check things off. I even love to add things I have already done just so I can put a check mark next to them.
The challenge has always seemed that I never get to the end of my list. Never in my life have I checked everything off. I have started over and rewritten the list on another page. I have checked off MOST things – but never, ever have I checked off everything.
This has challenged me for years. My husband is for sure that the problem is with the list and not with me. Being the gracious guy he is, he says I work really hard and so the problem must be that there are too many things on the list.
The list has come up again this week because – well, my children are visiting my mother-in-law for two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks in my own house by myself. My husband will even be in the field for part of that.
Oh my. You can begin now to imagine how long that to do list has become. Let’s just say that where I started writing the list there were not enough lines for everything.
It is quite a list.
This time, though, I am excited about the list. Not because I think I might actually check everything off. Not because my house might actually be clean and we might be organized for school this year. These are all good reasons to be excited, but I am really excited because in a conversation with a friend the other day I determined the fate of my to do list.
Knowing me, I will have a to do list until the day I go to meet Jesus, which may seem a bit overwhelming at first – but this week I decided it is actually a great thing that I will never check it all off.
While chatting with my friend the other day, I said that my husband will probably bury the list with me because it still won’t be done.
Now, before you all think my husband is some kind of horrible task master please remember that what is left of me will not really be me at all. I, personally, will be with Jesus. What is left behind is simply dust that I will no longer use – such is the fate of my to do list as well.
And THIS IS AWESOME.
Why?
I will have a to do list until I go to meet Jesus – thank goodness because that means He is still using me. He still has things for me to do. This is awesome. As long as God leaves me here, I have a purpose. He has a plan for me.
In light of this, my to do list becomes a wonderful thing – it becomes a daily reminder that I am here for a reason. So the fate of my to do list is the same as the body I currently occupy – dust. I plan to use them both the best I can until God takes me home.
Today – I am thankful for the what I have seen in the past as an “overwhelming to do list” and now see as proof that He can still use me.
What is on your to do list today – and do you ever check it all off?
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