LISTLESS? NOPE!
Elizabeth Willis Barrett………….February 2021
I love lists. They create an anchor to my days and to my goals. My most productive days are those that I have planned out, fitting in the things I want to get done. Every Sunday I get out my spiral notebook, turn to a new page and write the week’s dates. Across the top of the page I write: DO———ERRANDS——CALLS. Under each I write all the things I can think of that I’d like to accomplish during the week. I pencil to the side of each listing the day I’d like to do it. When I’m really organized, each night I take a separate paper and make a list from the week’s master list of what I’d like to get done the following day. This helps me know why I need to get up in the morning. Otherwise I might just linger longer in the comfort of sleep.
It’s not that the list is more important than other things that pop into my day. When the grandkids come, that is my focus. When a friend calls, that is far more important than doggedly sticking to my list. But when I’m on my own, the list guides me and gives me purpose.
At the end of the week, only a few things have been crossed off, but at least my desires for accomplishment are out of my head so they don’t rattle around in there getting in the way of other things I’m trying hard to remember.
I have other lists, too: essays I want to write, books I want to read, movies I want to watch.
Lists give me structure. They remind me of things that are important to me. They keep me moving in a positive direction. They keep time from getting lost in countless meaningless nibblings.
I know that many people are annoyed by lists. Maybe they feel that lists add to the frustrations of each day. But I would venture to say that those who want to make things happen, have lists. I want to be one of those.
I wonder if God has lists?
