I admit that I have been a bit absorbed with making my own planner of late. At first, I made a spiral notebook that I simply wrote everything in. Then I discovered traveler’s notebooks. Determined to make do with what I have, I made my own. I used the cover from an old hardcover book, and covered it with scrapbook paper and lots of packing tape. With some elastic and some homemade half-size booklets, I had a planner. Now, it goes with me everywhere. I write to do lists, Bible study notes, contacts, calender stuff, etc. The battery never dies either, lol!
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I use my time. How can I get more done on my to-do list? How will I make it through this tightly packed week? How will I face the dentist drill on Wednesday? I was starting to feel overwhelmed. I’m sure your life is busier normally than mine at its craziest. But I like to keep my life very simple and limit myself to about one event per day. After that, we’re shutting down. YHVH has been stretching me, though. We have had eye appointments, dentist appointments, chiropractor appointments, Shabbat meetings and shopping. He wants me to get outside my comfort zone and I’m really trying. But I was still feeling overwhelmed.
My mom gave me an interesting perspective kind of by accident this week. We had just spent two hours taking two children in and out of two rooms getting their eyes checked and dilated. Caleb thought it was great fun to try to climb under the doctor’s chair. Elisha just couldn’t seem to sit still for the doctor to look in his eyes and was convinced that the bright light shining in his eyes would give him heat vision lol. I was now at the window trying to make two more appointments. My calender consisted of 31 numbers going down the left of the page. Almost every day had one item written on it. My mom asked what I would do if I had more than one item in a day. To be honest, it took me a minute to wrap my brain around that thought. Two things in one day??!! That’s not how I do things!
But YHVH is stretching me right now. Later that day, I printed a weekly calender to replace my monthly one. It has a long column for each day.
When I looked at that calender, my anxiety and feeling of overwhelm dissipated. I was looking at a whole month at a time and couldn’t imagine how I would make it through. There was just too much going on. But when I looked at one day, it was suddenly doable. All I had to do was just meet the challenges of today. Tomorrow, I would handle tomorrow. Yeshua taught us to think this way.
But seek ye first the kingdom of Elohim, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:33-34
When we allow ourselves to focus on everything that is coming our way, it is easy to feel like a tidal wave is about to take us under. But when we focus on today, and take things as they come, we can relax. We can trust our Abba to only send us what we can handle. We can choose to respond to the immediate future with the right attitude. We can enjoy the moment right in front of us, without being distracted by tomorrow. I also don’t want to think about getting that tooth pulled in two weeks. I’m going to stay in today. 🙂
How about you? Are you constantly looking at the future, or do you focus on today? Do you find it easy to trust YHVH or do you tend to worry? Would a planner help you to keep your time in perspective?
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