Today at my women’s bible study group the discussion was on that horrible word – discipline. You know – that thing that we all love to avoid and we’re supposed to do but don’t want to do. The question that was posed was:
“If you hear that someone has a lot of self-discipline, or “is disciplined,” what images come to mind: positive or negative ones?”
As we tossed this question around, the subject of “to do” lists came up. We all make “to do” lists and then discipline ourselves to work through the list all day long, checking off each item until we’re done. When the list is completely checked off it’s “Ahhh…done!”. We feel accomplished. We feel good. But what about the days when we are happily going about checking off our items and we are interrupted? The list gets forgotten and we attend to the interruption. Hours go by, we make our way back to the list only to find there isn’t near enough time left in the day to finish it. We feel dejected. We feel unaccomplished. Most days our well-intended “to do” lists set us up for failure, no matter how disciplined we are.
One woman raised her hand and offered a new approach to “to do” lists. She said each morning she gets out her blank sheet of paper for her “to do” list. She presents the blank page to God as a blank slate for her day and asks God what He has in mind for her day. Then, each evening she sits with the blank paper and makes a list of all the things she did that day. Everyday she ends up with a full list of accomplishments, no feelings of failure, and amazing things she never dreamed she could accomplish had she made the list in the morning herself.
How many times does our day fall short of our actual potential because we limit ourselves by what we put on our “to do” lists?
And so, as another day goes by, make a “to do” list or….maybe don’t…..and..I have written.
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