To-Be-And-Think-List
Overwhelmed, ill-equipped and unprepared? Do this!
I woke up this morning realizing that I must be stressed. At least, I’m experiencing some amount of stress sufficient enough to cause back-to-back nightmares about not being prepared.
In the first, I was a guest speaker at a gathering and could not find my clothes. (Thank God I wasn’t naked, I was just in my gym clothes. Being naked would have been exponentially more traumatic.) I could hear the event going and the clock ticking down that would lead to my presentation, yet in every suitcase I could only find stained, torn, mismatched or wrinkled clothes.
I woke in a panic and made my way to the kitchen for an oatmeal raisin cookie to soothe the soul.
Only moments after drifting back to sleep, I found myself in someone’s kitchen making breakfast. I was running out of time and needed to quickly scramble the eggs. I was searching through every cabinet to find a mixing bowl. I ran to two nearby homes and quickly pilfered through their cabinets also. Did I ever find that mixing bowl? No, of course, not.
Apparently, I am subconsciously feeling ill-equipped and unprepared.
It makes sense to me. I have plenty of reasons to feel this way:
Our lease for the church’s meeting space is up on November 30th. We don’t yet have a location or strategy solidified. I have my leanings, but not a footing yet. Will the next season be fruitful? Will we make the transition well?
I was laid off in February and have yet to find my next employment opportunity. “Where,” “when” and “if” are questions I ask myself a lot in this area. Retirement won’t fund itself, and I’m not getting any younger. Do I even have the margin and capacity to do more than I’m doing now?
The mounting international tension grows as does the economic instability. The nation against nation saga continues to escalate. How will this impact my family and the people I am accountable to lead? How will this war impact those I love?
When feeling unprepared, I do what most type-A personalities do - I take charge of the chaos and make a list. I attempt to find ways to eat the elephant one bite at a time.
In some ways, list-making is simple It’s the easy part.
Stock up on water and canned goods
Pay down any debt
Slash spending where possible
Offload unnecessary items (furniture, gadgets, …junk!)
Acquire potentially necessary items (tools, spare parts, books)
Get extra prescribed medication on the shelf
Get more physically fit so that I can withstand the rigors of unexpected crisis
plus, any number of seemingly small things that could collectively set me up for success
I’m all for making lists. I love them. However, the problem with list-making is that it can quickly give me a false sense of security.
“If I make a thorough list and start gaining traction with task-management, then I will be more in control and feel less stressed,” I reason.
But, for me at least, that’s incorrect.
Gaining more control does not make me less stressed. It only reveals the next level of things, people, and situations that I have yet to master. Control creates a hunger for more control. It’s an insatiable appetite that leaves even kings begging for more bread.
So, go ahead and make those lists. They could prove helpful in managing your tasks. The problem is not in the lists, it lies in the notion that our list and subsequent completion check marks will vanquish darkness from the corridors of our castle. I don’t know of any list that is that powerful.
Part of the problem, I suppose, is that to-do-lists primarily deal with surface level items that are posing as the thing to conquer. Making a list typically only targets our “doing,” not our “being” or even deeper wells of our “thinking.”
Our “doing” helps us feel in control. However, our right “thinking” and “being” helps us to surrender. Peace only comes through our increased surrender, not our increased control.
Perhaps on mornings that I wake up from back-to-back nightmares of being unprepared and ill-equipped, my list should look a little different. It would certainly require more effort to build a “To-Be-List” or “To-Think-List,” but it would likely pay out in healthy dividends of peace and rest.
Today, I will:
Think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and of good report
Trust that God is already in tomorrow, and He’s preparing me for it today
Be the best version of myself and show up fully for family, friends and strangers
Cast my cares upon the One who is equipped to carry them
Encourage someone else because I am blessed to be a blessing
Now THAT feels like an atmosphere-shifting list to me.
Yes, I still have stuff to do, tasks to complete, errands to run, and decisions to make. “Surrender” is not an excuse to avoid the inevitable. Surrender is an active process by which we allow God to guide and sustain us.
We don’t have to be driven by despair, frantic with fear or lost in lack.
The next time you are tempted to feel overwhelmed, ill-equipped or unprepared, grab a blank sheet of paper, your favorite pen, and write out a short “To-Be-And-Think List” just for that day. Ditch the to-do-list and try something new.
Nothing complex. It doesn’t have to be your life’s charter document.
Write something short.
It will be simple, but not easy.
But, it will be powerful, and lead you to greater surrender.
Amen! Fantastic advice.