Of Lists, Agendas, and Red Pens

I'm big on making lists.  The white board on the fridge.  My trusty planner.  An occasional scrap of paper tossed on the counter.  The always present tear-off pad that resides on the left side of my ancient oak desk.  There's something safe and secure and necessary in gathering all that's prone to scatter to the wind and keeping it front and center.

I think I'm not alone in this.             

I'm all about taking care of business, having been absorbed in decades of ministry leadership in a myriad of ways, shapes, and forms.  Agendas can be a helpful tool, saving priceless time and energy that's better invested in cultivating relationships.  I love to see things done well and I truly believe that excellence is important because we serve an audience of One, the Creator and King of the universe.  So in the process of it all, it's not uncommon for me to have a red pen in hand, brainstorming, planning, writing, designing, editing, and proofing into oblivion. 

I think I'm not alone in this.

But a reading from Elizabeth Elliot brought a bit of enlightenment recently, a gentle reminder that life is not defined by our never ending lists and the agendas that can grow to possess and define. 

In her classic volume, A LAMP FOR MY FEET, she mused, 'One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today.  If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there.  Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete.  There is always time to do the will of God.  If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.'

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