to-do list

i'm sure we all have one in some form or another--a to-do list. maybe your is a set of personal goals to accomplish this week (like mowing the grass or dusting in the living room) or maybe it's a set of personal goals to accomplish before you die (like skydiving and eating raw oysters). maybe it's not a personal to-do list, but a honey-do list. all list of goals whether you set them or they are set for you apply here.
sometimes our lists seem easy and breezy. "i can get that done easily."
sometimes our lists seem too much to bear. "i'll never get that done."
personally, i'm not a list maker unless there are lots of details to account for. for example, for the christmas open house, we make a list because there are so many small things that need to happen or else we'll be unprepared. but, for the day-to-day stuff, i'm not so much with the lists.
well, i'm not so sure of where this blog entry is going. it's prompted by the fact that i'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of work that seems to need to be done this week. i've got the normal week's worth of work (plus that stupid exercise thing i confessed to all of you), plus a special project that will take me out of the office next week. that's double duty: prep for the project, but the extra work to be able to be out of the office for a week.
don't you feel frustrated when your to-do list doesn't align with, though depends upon another person's to-do list. i certainly do. i think that's part of my large list this week. my project for next week has been on the calendar since last july--that's right, a full year! and yet, the leader of the team gave me the materials just this past friday.
so, it comes to me that i'm just venting. sometimes that is helpful and cathartic; othertimes it's gossip. i checking myself, but i think i'm on the helpful side right now.

i need You, Wonderful Counselor, more today that ever before. while i suppose that is a true statement for everyday i am alive, i am overwhelmed today and i need a touch that will calm my soul. give me the diligence to get things done in an orderly and timely fashion. always keep my motives in check (am i honoring you in all things?) and, as the old prayer goes, grant me the serenity i need.
please bless my wife, my teenager, my older and younger sons. please keep the 3 women who bore my children in places of safety. forgive me for not more often bringing them by name before Your throne. i confess that i am all too often lacking in my gratitude to You for the blessings of my family. help me likewise to not be deficient in my duties to them as guide and guardian, provider, companion, lover, caretaker, disciplinarian and compassionate bulwark.
i lift to You Your church. i know of so many, yet so few of the total, needs and concerns, burdens of the hearts of this congregation. even if i tried, i could not name them all by name. i trust You to be present in each situation and to work Your will. i also ask that You listen to those closest to and involved with each situation to hear the desire of their hearts. take into consideration their honest expressions that they bring to You.
i pray for the leadership of this congregation: the elders and deacons, staff and ministry team leaders. possess them with Your Spirit this day and every day as they diligently work. i pray that the desire of each of these hearts if for true and authentic communion with You that leads to practical and tangible actions to be seen and applauded by all--not for their glory, but for Your alone; that is, let the results of our time with You be actions and attitudes that truly reflect us all back to You. You are might and faithful, Father, in all these requests.
i pray for my d-group. i thank You for their constant presence and encouragement in my life. i weep for the burdens we bear together and i am doubly blessed by the joys we share. though i cannot imagine that this is the fullest of Your plan for life together, but it's a good start and i know that it can only get better and better as You bless us and continue to give us glimpses of Your presence in our gatherings.
God, You are great--You are the definition of greatness; You are the epitome of greatness. in every way that the small human mind can conceive, You are more. i can't see it, but i know You are infinite. i love You.