A few weeks ago, we met with our small group, a standard practice for us on a Wednesday evening. While we were going around the room catching up, and offering our prayer requests and praises, one of the members of the group mentioned that he felt like he had been too 'task' oriented lately, and that he feared he was measuring his life with the wrong gauge. Rather than focusing on the experiences that he was living, he was more focused on items on a checklist, and simply crossing them off.
This got me to thinking. I am the absolute queen of checklists. I am practically a slave to the 'Reminders' app on my iPhone, and I definitely measure my productivity each day by how many of the items I can check off. There is just something about checking those items off, and seeing my to-do list shrink in size that makes me happy. What can I say, it's the Type-A in me.
But, maybe I'm spending far too much time coming up with lists, and then buzzing around trying to check them off, than just enjoying the experiences that life has given me during this chapter.
Instead, I should be focusing on my happy marriage. Just two years into our marriage and B and I are happier than ever. We have already accomplished so much as a couple. We bought a house, completely gutted and renovated it, and actually survived. He supported me, and helped me start my own business last year. We've traveled a little, but I'd love to travel more. We joined a church, made new friends, signed up for fantasy football together this year, and have started to plan our family. Together.
Our energetic puppy; she won't be a 'puppy' much longer! The best thing about dogs is that they are just so full of love. Riley loves both of us so unconditionally, and I want to enjoy her, instead of looking at her schedule as just another task to accomplish each day.
Our ability to travel right now will be changing sooner than we know, I'm sure. I love being able to just pick up and head out to spend the day with my nephews, or pack Riley in the car for a two night trip to NJ in the middle of the week. We have friends that live in Northern VA and family in Southern PA, and right now, we can take our free Saturday afternoons to jump in the car and go visit with them.
Often times, I let my to-do lists cloud my vision for any given week. I say no to plans, or make myself stay home so that I can try and focus on the tasks I have in front of me.
Now, don't get me wrong, of course we all have things we have to do each day, each week, each year. And, I am by no means saying that we should just completely abandon our priorities and responsibilities. Trust me, I'm not giving up on my Reminders app altogether.
6 comments:
absolutely love this post! a good reminder for all of us :D
I totally agree. Sometimes it's important to just stop and smell the roses instead of figuring out how many flowers you can see.
Sometimes its necessary to stop and smell the roses but sometimes its hard to just do that!
AMEN GIRL!!!!! I needed to hear this! Thank you for this reminder!
I'm so guilty of this and especially now with my little one I need to remember that laundry and dishes can wait but playing with and snuggling him can't.
I have been so guilty of this at times! Life is so short, I don't see why we shouldn't enjoy every minute of the journey that we can!
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