managing the to-do list

My friend and I were recently talking about how to manage housework, because that’s what girls talk about.  Mostly we bemoan the housework we don’t accomplish.  She suggested I subscribe to this printable list that only costs $8, and it gives a few detailed tasks to accomplish every day in order to get the job done. 

Sorry friend, but maybe you didn’t realize what a free spirit you were talking to.  My artistic temperament combined with a bit of my strong-willed child left me thinking let someone else make a list for me –are you kidding? 

Fold arms.  Plant feet.  I’ll make my own list! 

Then I was talking to my almost-adult daughter last night who wonders when the overwhelming list of things to do will slow down, and I sadly informed her that the overwhelming list is part of her life now.  (Wasn’t that encouraging?) 

I said, This is how you do it.  You wake up in the morning and make a list.  You get a few of the most important things done on the list, and then you go to bed.  Then you wake up and do the same thing again the next day. 

Oh, and some of the most important things you’ll get done won’t be on your list.   

James 4:13 gives us this guideline for list making.  “You should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” 

Often right in the middle of the day God grabs the ballpoint, bends over my list, scratches out a few things I thought were pretty important when I started out in the morning, and writes in something new. 

Usually the name of a person.  Almost always the name of a person.   

My gut reaction is to fold my arms, plant my feet, and say, Hey, what are you doing to my day!  But I’ve learned that God brings one thing to my list that I can’t ever seem to get on there by myself.  Joy. 

How will you respond if God brings a new task into this day that you weren’t planning on doing this morning?