It's Always the Little Things

In the past two weeks the Lord has really been impressing upon me the need to use my time wisely.  Last week I had been feeling the pressure of the various things I needed to complete, but I didn't feel like I had the time to even sit down and come up with a solution to manage my time.  Unless you count last Thursday when I wasted good time and then felt guilty afterward.  {ahem!}

This week started off the same, until the Lord made it evident to me that I really do have time to do the things I need to do.  I just got my priorities out of whack.  If we do the necessary things first, then the rest will fall into place.

First thing in the mornings I've begun to do something as simple as writing down on paper the studying and reading I must get done that day for the ministries and Bible studies I'm involved in during the week.  I couldn't believe the difference it made. 

Really?  Could it be that simple? 

I can look at that short list and know about how much time it should take me to finish my work after I get home in the afternoon.  For some reason, having it down in print makes it easier to assess how much time I will need to spend. 

I know all you list makers and organizing junkies out there are scoffing at me right now.  Listen, I have never been a list person, and I didn't really want to become one.  It's probably the "recovering" perfectionist in me.  If I were to fail at completing the tasks on the list, I would give up.  And then I'd get frustrated.  And mad.

It's just that I'm now seeing the value to doing this one little thing, and I'm pretty sure that the Lord directed me in it.  Typically, if I do something opposite of what I would normally do, I know it's the Lord who's prompted me. 

And if I didn't start using the list, I think I would continue living with guilt day after day for not doing the needful things.  So a list, albeit a small one, will be assimilated into my life.

It's all about the baby steps, you know?

  

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What I Learned This Week: 1st Edition

What did I learn this week?  It's pretty simple, really.  I learned that I'm just as sinful as the next guy... or girl.

In the last 7 days or so I've gotten pretty miffed, steamed, and quite ticked off at various people at church.  {gasp}  Yes, you heard me right.  At church.  Let me tell you... I was quite justified in every one of those incidents, too.  {ahem}

Strange thing happened, though.  Within 24 hours of each of those incidents I was making demands within my own heart that each of those offenders had made of me.  Oh, I never spoke them out loud to anyone, but I know what was going on in my thoughts.  God made it glaringly clear to me that I am JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.  A sinner.  {sigh}

You know what?  That's why I need the grace of God, and it's also why I need to extend grace to others.  We are not perfect, no matter how much I wish I was.  I'm not.  That's why the apostle Paul told us that we need to bear with each other and forgive when there is an offense because we want to look like Christ and have the kind of love we've been called to have in His body. 

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  - Colossians 3:12-15 (NKJV)

So the next time I get a little crosswise with someone, I'm praying I'll remember I am exactly like them.  Very much in need of grace....and willing to extend some.

~Click on over to Musings of a Housewife to see what other bloggers have learned this week.~