Ever feel like life is overwhelmingly busy? Apart from being the awesome pastor, husband, and father that I am (not including all the other hats I wear!) I am also a home owner. Yep, I’ve got the American dream of debt and the burden that comes with it. When we purchased our home, a couple weeks later a parishioner gave me a bit of a warning when he said “owning a home is a great thing, but it is also a full-time job.” And boy he wasn’t kidding! The honey-do list is long and no sooner do I finish one project than two more are added to the list. And that’s not including the daily/weekly tasks of cleaning, laundry, and mowing.
I frequently stop by Grace and Mercy, a local outreach to the community that provides lunches, food pantry, clothing, and other resources to those in need. When I visit I almost always meet some great people, from a wide variety of places in life and yesterday was no different. I was talking with one of the volunteers who asked me how thing were going and we got talking about some of the items on my project list that are starting to become pressing, like create a nursery before July 19th! (That’s when my wife is due.) Is it needed? Absolutely and the time is getting shorter.
One of the benefits of visiting places like Grace and Mercy is I get to experience the love of Christ that keeps me in perspective by reminding me of the blessings that I have been given.
While I was there, this same volunteer that I was talking with had talked to a man who is a frequent client. He is homeless and sleeps under a bridge that he calls home. Today is his birthday and she had offered to pick him up and bring him to Grace and Mercy for lunch where they were going to celebrate his birthday. Her offering and his current situation put a hard critique on my to-do list.
While everything on my to-do list is important, and we really do need to have a space for the new one to sleep!, I am also reminded to put such items in their place. What is more important: have the nursery prepared for her, or get me and my wife prepared? Mow the grass or play ball in the yard with family and friends? Basically, celebrate the gifts that are truly important or fuss with the details. I’ll give you a hint, if you are finding yourself saying “I’m suppose to be enjoying this, but right now I’m over stressed and it has become a burden” then you need to take a look at what you are burdened with. Ask yourself what is on your list.
Admittedly, no where on my honey-do list does it say “celebrate.” When a job is finished, on to the next. Rest when the work is done. Our lives are like this list: go to work, pick-up the kids, go to practice, get groceries, go to doctor appointments, attend events, eat dinner quickly, clean something, fold something, wash something, crash on your pillow for a couple hours sleep to wake up and do it all over.
We stress out about our jobs, but don’t celebrate employment.
We stress out about the projects that need to be done at home, but don’t celebrate a place to sleep.
We stress out about our kids, but lose ourselves in frustration and fatigue.
The old saying, “you don’t know what you have until it is gone” is true because we are so busy stressing over having it that we miss the celebration of having it.
Celebrating is the difference between have to and get to. If I have to create a nursery it is a burden, but if I get to create a nursery then I am celebrating. If I have to take time with friends, it will not be an enjoyable time. If I have to mow the grass then I will loath doing so.
So how are you celebrating your life today and the blessings that God has given you? Our lists of things we have to do can be consuming, causing us to become so overwhelmed with anxiety and frustration that we haven’t celebrated in a while, and at times find nothing to celebrate for.
Like I said, the client was homeless and slept under a bridge. Yet he was not complaining about it, instead he celebrated the blessing that came in his life. And today he is celebrating his birthday with people who have taken the time to befriend him. Not because they have to, but because they get to.
We are called to emulate Christ in our lives. Remember Christ did his ministry at parties and weddings, dinners with friends and strangers alike, and occasionally he sought seclusion to rest. So, if you are list driven, insert a few more items: spend time with family, drink a glass of wine with friends, and celebrate the things that God has given you today.