Challenged by the Calendar

As I survey the train wreck that appears to be my schedule for this week, I begin feeling a bit flustered. My fluster(ation) mixes with a dash of fear, a sprinkle of stress, and a heavy helping of over-commitment. My temperature bubbles to a slow simmer.

I crack open our squeaky mailbox and notice a postcard stamped, “Report for jury duty Monday.” At this moment, the firecrackers shooting through my veins ignite any spiritual fruit that may have been growing and kill it.

I huff, puff, and kick up the snow as I march back into the garage. I crinkle the unwanted mail in my fist and think, “I need this week to be easy and it’s not going to be.”

There is Christmas shopping to do, bills to pay, cleaning to pick up, and now a court case to attend. The to-do list that used to be neatly tied up in a perfectly sectioned bow quickly unravels into a knotted monstrosity. One little pull from just the right string and the whole thing unravels.

Did you notice all the personal pronouns above?

My emotions,

My stress,

My shopping, and

My schedule?

Do you see the presence of God in this at all? Or do you see someone enslaved by her calendar?

In order for us over-extended mammas to maintain a God-centered perspective, we must ask ourselves, “Who are we serving?" Our ‘to-do’ list or our Jesus?

It’s unfortunate, but sometimes our well-meaning selves are more concerned with keeping our schedules than keeping Christ in the center of them.

This time of year, it’s easy to be tempted. We are tempted to become more in touch with ourselves and out of touch with Jesus.

The Bible says we are to have the following attitude when it comes to our calendars:

“What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil, James 4:15-16 (New Living Translation).

The question isn’t what are we going to do, but what is God calling us to do? What does God want on our calendar? When is God calling us to say “no” and when is He calling us to say “yes?”

So, how do we make adjustments in our sometimes worldy calendars?

We begin praying and thinking - we begin “prinking!” We prink, prink and prink some more. We think about God’s Word. We pray we will live it out loud. We pray that we will step away from the wreckage of a capsized day and He will be glorified because of it.

Think about your week for a moment.

Are you drowning in the pitfalls of tomorrow so much that you are missing what God has for your today?

Is your calendar reflective of the call of the gospel? Or is your schedule all about you?

So sweet sisters, the next time we decide to pencil something in, let’s ask ourselves, “Will what we’re about to schedule bring us closer to God or farther away from Him?”