Multitasking

"You want it when?"

I find that I spend a great deal of my time at this time of year juggling priorities. Infuriatingly, of late it's been because other people have had a different opinion as to the urgency of a particular situation. 

One of my colleagues had to be reminded twelve times about the need to submit a particular form to me! 

Because of this, I have had to keep rescheduling, changing my tack, working a bit of unpaid overtime, calling in favours, cajoling, negotiating, and copying in other colleagues to try to help, in order to drive things home and finally get things done.

It's been exhausting.

However, I am now calmer.

The rush has died down. I've got time to breathe.

Time to take stock. With a hard-earned day off today.
 

Time to reflect on what God had to say to me this week:
 

Psalm 127: 1-2 (The Message)

If God doesn’t build the house,

    the builders only build shacks.

If God doesn’t guard the city,

    the night watchman might as well nap.

It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone.

Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?

Grace and Gracias

I heard someone on the radio make a point this morning which has really stuck with me today. And challenged me. Perhaps it was because of my ever-growing To Do list...

Anyway, the speaker drew a comparison between asking for God's grace to help in a difficult situation, whilst also having a thankful heart as we do so. He pointed to the fact that many words involving thanks are rooted in 'grace' : the Spanish word gracias, for example...

How thankful, am I, for some of the challenges that I face? Hmmm... it's back to that passage from Thessalonians for me...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, 
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase, 
To added affliction He addeth His mercy, 
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. 

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, 
His power no boundary known unto men, 
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, 
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932)

Battling With To Do Lists

This was turning out to be the longest ever To Do list that I had ever written. It was daunting. It was so daunting that I simply couldn't believe it. And it was self-perpetuating. Every time I looked at one item, something else popped into my head and another line was added. I couldn't put the list down, it was growing and growing before my very eyes...

I groaned at the sheer immensity of the list. How could I ever get to the end of this?

A good friend of mine posted on Facebook that I should "take them one at a time. It will seem easier". I smiled at that - however, would I be able to cope?

I smiled, and added one item to the top of the list. A must for each and every day.

"Pray".

"Work, work from early till late. In fact, I have so much work to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." - Martin Luther

"He does the most for God who is the highest skilled in prayer." – E.M. Bounds

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

First Things First

Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Something mentioned in our morning meeting on Sunday has led to this post. It also reminded me of the following song:

"When the music fades,
all is stripped away,
and I simply come..."
lyrics from 'Heart Of Worship' by Michael W. Smith

If you strip it all away - all the preconceived assumptions of discipleship; all the ties of duty; all those things you feel contractually or morally bound to do; all the glitz, all the glamour of (all and the not-so-glamorous things!) - what is left?

What is left?