The Summer Plan:
At the beginning of the summer I came up with a great plan. At least I thought it was a great plan. It was a way to get the whole family active during the summer, to enjoy time outside, and teach all of the kids the basics of different sports. We were going to go to the near-by park twice per week, in the evenings, to play a different sport each week (basketball, softball, soccer, frisbee, etc…). First, we were needing for the younger kids’ swimming lessons to end, so that we had a little more free time during the week in the summer, but then we would be in full-force. I even was planning (in my head) creative picnic ideas where we could eat dinner at the park, as well. After the swim lessons had ended, on the first sunny day of the summer (which, for those of you in Oregon know that it did not come until late July), we all loaded up and went down to the park, with frisbees in hand, and had a great time. Then, just two days ago, I realized that was the only time we went….. School started last week, the entire summer has passed by, and we only went once. What happened to the great plan?
Friend In Need:
I have a friend right now who is going through a very hard time. She is suffering from a variety of medical issues, and has been having a hard time dealing with them emotionally. What makes it more challenging, is that she lives in a different state/time zone than me, which makes it sometimes difficult to call her with the schedule I maintain. I care about her greatly, and have had a plan of using some uninterrupted time to check in and see how she’s been doing. However, three weeks has now gone by, and I realized that I still have not called her. Best intentions, huh?
Bible Study:
A good friend of mine was interested in meeting up with me on a weekly basis to catch up over coffee, and to spend some time on Bible-reflection together. When she approached me with the idea, I got so excited! Not only was I in need of some good Bible study time, but she would be a great person to do that with, and I would gain the benefit of seeing a friend (who I don’t get to see very often) on a more regular basis. We picked Friday mornings to meet, as it seemed to work for both of us. We have yet to meet once….I’m still excited to start it up, but it is sad to say that we came up with the plan over three months ago.
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Did you know that the two most common words that are found in the Bible are, “Don’t Forget?” So many times the Bible reminds to “not forget”, or to “remember” all the wise words of wisdom about how we should be living our lives. This idea (of the two most common words in the Bible) has come up a few times in church recently, so I spent some time recently reflecting on the importance of why I thought these two words would be chosen as the ones to appear most often.
Ever hear the saying, “It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil?” I think this saying applies in this situation. We often divert our attention to whatever is screaming at us the loudest. The emergent situations in our lives are the ones we give our attention to, and other, maybe more important things, are left by the wayside.
Stephen Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, recommends the following grid to organize how we spend our time.
It organizes how important tasks are, by how urgent they are, realizing that a task may be 1) Important/Urgent, 2) Important/Not Urgent, 3) Not Important/Urgent, or 4) Not Important/Not Urgent. We often spend our time mostly in categories 1 and 3, but not near enough time in category 2. I think category 4 tasks are the ones we should just cross off our lists, as we need to just realize they will never get done. However, to our detriment, the category 2 tasks (Important/Not Urgent) are often the ones that are most needed in our lives. They are the ones that help define our character, the ones that help shape our future, the ones that we place above all else in importance, but never seem to find the time to do. I think a lot of these “Don’t Forget” points in the Bible fall within this category 2.
God doesn’t tend to scream. He doesn’t tend to squeak. He is just waiting for us. Oh, He’s right there amidst all the chaos with us, but He is simply waiting – not yelling, not trying to fight for our attention, but just waiting for a time when we are ready to come to Him, and then He is there, greeting us with open arms.
So, why should we “Not Forget?” Because too often we do.
For more info on Covey’s grid, feel free to visit (https://www2.usgs.gov/humancapital/documents/TimeManagementGrid.pdf).
