My "To-Do" List

Last weekend, I realized that I had too many tasks to be able to manage in my head. I decided I needed to make a list. For me, making a list is when you know that there is just too much happening. I can usually keep track of most things in my head, but this is too varied!

The best part of a to-do list is getting to cross things off when they are completed. Right now, my list is about half crossed off. If I were to take after my mother, I would write incredibly detailed lists, just so I can cross off more stuff! Instead of writing "Clean Kitchen", she would write "clean sink, wash dishes, sweep floor", then she could cross off each individual item to make her feel better. I'm not quite to that point, but I can certainly understand it!

I remember a class I took when the teacher talked about the fallacy of making God first in your life. He said that if we truly followed the "make God first" mentality, we could create a list, much like a to-do list. Then, once we've satisfied God with a prayer, or song, or worship, or offering, then we could cross God off the list.

His point, which has impacted me, is how do all our actions speak to how we relate to God? Can I praise God when I'm cleaning a toilet? Martin Luther (among others) would say yes. This is the sense of Vocation I've been dealing with for the past three years. We want to figure out a way to understand our whole lives as an offering to God. Not just the "good works" we do, but what we do with all our attributes, both good and bad.

God is not on this to-do list, but the items listed there (as varied as putting up Christmas lights to booking a flight) are all considered God's work.