"Oh I'll get up early to read my Bible tomorrow"
"I think I'll actually write my Odyssey article before it's due"
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"Maybe since I have this hour free tomorrow I'll use it to exercise"
*Actually me*
*Stays up until 11 PM doing an assignment that's due at midnight because that's what time I came home from watching a movie*
I can admit that a lot of the time my to-do list doesn't get done in the time that I want it to. Sometimes there are fun things on my to-do list that get postponed to a week later because I didn't manage my time well.
Sometimes we end up having too many commitments and we learn that we can't do everything. This makes us feel like we don't have control over our lives or our well-intended plans end of failing. It's a proven fact that when we over-plan our lives we bring in more room for failure. Someone will be late to the meeting that we carefully set up to fit in our schedules. We plan to leave a party early to make another and someone starts talking our ears off. We end up over sleeping instead of reading our Bible.
When we over-plan and set too many expectations, we leave less room to chance and exploration. Sometimes the best plans are ones we didn't expect that day. There might be times when our schedules don't get filled and it's awkward. That's okay. The chance to explore is worth the awkwardness.
"Oh, why can't I have a cool job like her's?"
"How come my Instagram doesn't look as pretty as her's?"
"How come her group of friends are always doing stuff?"
Here's the thing, our lives are not always what we want them to look like. Sometimes we don't get an "A" on our homework or we forget to bring our lunch to work. However, there is something glorious about not having our life together because we're constantly reminded of the One who does hold our life. There is freedom in Christ because we know He holds tomorrow. Grace abounds in our weakness and makes up the difference whenever our efforts fail.
I speaking to a friend yesterday because we both struggle with completing our to-do list. So instead of taking tasks off we added a new one.
"Do not finish everything on our to-do list."
When we finish our daily to-do list it's comforting, but we miss a few things. We miss the meaningful conversation with our best friend because we wanted to start an assignment that could have waited until tomorrow. We spend ten minutes comparing ourselves on social media instead of complimenting our friend on her photo shoot she had this weekend.
Here's to productivity and also unfinished to-do lists.
Here's to less comparison and more gratitude.
