A To-Do List Generation

I am a list maker. I’m that person who has hundreds of sticky notes scattered all over my room with random to-do lists and upcoming events. My life would fall apart without my agenda (it practically has my whole life scheduled out until I graduate). When I’m feeling stressed, I make a list.

This seems comical when I talk about it—almost like control-freak meets ultra-organized-type-A-over-achieving student. But when I take a step back, I see how truly ridiculous it is.

I wonder if God ever chuckles at us. He probably looks down at all of us try-hards and smiles to Himself, knowing full well that we are toiling to achieve the impossible. I found myself getting a new perspective on this yesterday at church.

It was during worship; I was swaying to the music, singing along, but my mind was wandering. I was thinking about all the “to-do’s” that I needed to check off my list to get caught up. I’m the kind of person that stresses out if I’m not working ahead—if I’m not ahead, I’m basically behind, right?

In some ways, this isn’t a bad thing. It’s okay to be proactive and disciplined. But what happens when this mentality obstructs our ability to experience God in His fullness?

So I’m singing the words, but not really thinking about them. I’m in the house of God, but my focus is miles away. Okay, so when I leave church I’ll have to eat lunch and then do laundry and then write my paper and work on that project, and then I’ll read a couple chapters of my textbook and apply for that internship and study for my test that’s next week…

This is so exhausting. I’m exhausted just typing the words, let alone thinking them and dwelling on them. We live in such a list-focused world. Always on to the next thing, on to the next project. On to the next hilltop, never just enjoying the hike up the mountain.

And God convicted me of this. I was busy planning out the rest of my day in the middle of church service, and God whispered, “Be with me. Just be. Don’t do, simply be.”

Just be.

Whoa. How often do we commit to just resting? How often do we lay our plans down at the Lord’s feet and trust that He will renew our strength and give us the energy to continue? After all, it isn’t in our own strength or ability that we do anything. Quite the contrary—the Lord blesses us with the ability to work.

And so, at the end of the day, He should be our motivation. He is our means. Our end. Our capability. Our only priority.

I went on a retreat with some ORU students last semester, and our speaker for the weekend discussed this idea of achievement. He said something that really stuck out to me—he said that we aren’t called human doings. We are called human beings. Sometimes we are so focused on doing the next big thing that we forget to experience God in those small intimate moments of simply being with Him.

So join me this week in ditching the to-do lists. Let’s learn to just be.

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“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 1:14

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:11