Having WAY too much to do. Finding peace.

Here’s what I hate: having WAY too much to do…

Now that my kids are in school, everyone is asking me what I’m going to do all day. (I don’t have a “real” job after all.) One friend, in reference to my lack of a job and the kids being in school all day, said sweetly, “so, you’re a kept woman.” Um, I don’t know what that means exactly, but I do know that I do feel REALLY grateful that I am able to stay home and be available as soon as my kids come home from school.

However, I myself have been wondering what I am going to do exactly while they are both at school (besides write this all-important blog and work on the next great American novel). For one thing, I saved up a bunch of errands—things the girls would hate like boring shops and car service and getting a new iPhone case (well, they probably would have loved the Apple store, BUT, seeing as how it took me like 32 minutes just to decide on a case and another 15 to get my item purchased, it would not have been that fun for them). So, I’ve been clicking through my boring errand list while they are happily learning stuff at school.

I also made a rather large list of things I’d like to accomplish around the house—here are the projects in no particular order:

Clean Pantry

Organize 2010 files (since we are over half-way through 2011, this seems like a good idea.)

Clean up the garage (why does it get so trashed out!?)

Paint Dining room (all my myself.)

Recover Abbey’s window seat and cornice board (Probably have someone else do this.)

Straighten attic storage (that’ll be fun.)

Clean out my closet and take clothes to Goodwill (Been meaning to do this all year!)

Get carpets cleaned (Seriously.)

Weed flower beds (Out of control!!!)

Organize desk area

Get picture prints

Organize iPhoto pictures and back-up (all twenty thousand images…)

Decide on curtains for Lexi’s room (Poor little princess has naked windows.)

Paint guest room (I predict this will never happen.)

Save for, and purchase a new couch

Call roofers regarding possible hail damage. (Why not, the rest of the neighborhood is doing it.)

Take a garbage bag and go through both kid’s rooms to get the junk out.

Does it sound like a lot to you? Well, it does to me!!!

This is on top of the usual stuff like cleaning the entire house, making lunches, making dinners, making the bed, DOING LAUNDRY (which never ends), running not-so-fun errands, getting new watch batteries, grocery shopping, making cookies (so that I can look like a nice mommy and because that’s what SAHMs do), keeping up with dentist and doctor’s appointments, etc. etc. etc. Plus, I do have the privilege of doing a few things that I like to do—like yoga and Bible Study and reading and writing and seeing friends.

As I look at the above lists, my lungs slowly constrict and my computer screen begins to go dark, maybe that’s because I’m not breathing. Holy cow, do I feel overwhelmed! I have no idea how people get anything done. I have to fight the urge to crawl back into the bed (I’d have to un-make it first) and just go to sleep all day while my kids are in school…BUT, that probably wouldn’t be very productive. Plus, it might lead to me doing that day after day which could mean I have a very severe problem. Yep, best to stay awake in the land of the living—better fight the urge to go back to bed.

But, this means that as I come and go, I am faced with things on my list (like the dirty garage that bugs me Every. Single. Day.—OR the stuffed, unorganized pantry!—or the dirty carpet). WHEN will I ever get any of this done!?

Here’s what I love: finding peace.

Then, I remember my mother’s advice (which she may have gotten from someone else, but it’s still really helpful). Are you ready? It will change your overwhelmed life forever!...

“Do the next thing.”

Not earth-shattering? Well, just consider this scenario.

You are sitting in your kitchen staring at all the sticky notes or stacks of papers or days on the calendar and you can’t believe the number of things you have to accomplish in the upcoming week/month/year. Maybe you have a real job and there are even MORE tasks there at the office to be completed. Maybe a family member is ill which is forcing you to put everything on the back burner. Maybe you are a High School student and you need to fill out a zillion college applications. Maybe you have multiple children who are fortunate enough to have your full attention, so tasks like “closet-clean-out” get relegated to weekends (or Never, and you are worried you might end up on a show like Hoarders). Maybe you are a writer and you have deadlines and unfinished projects and other ideas bouncing around in your head.

So, you look at all this stuff and you make a list. I highly recommend list-making. Especially when you keep thinking of the dirty garage or the closet or the unpainted dining room while you are in the shower or out to dinner or awake at 3AM. Get it all down on paper so you can stop thinking about it all the time. That’s step one. BUT, sometimes, looking at that list leads to near-hyperventilation as I described earlier—because, as you look at your list, you begin to feel like there are not enough days in the year to get all of this crap done.

That’s when my mom’s (possibly pilfered) advice comes in.

You just do the next thing. I’m not talking about the next thing on your list—like the one at the top that says something like “fix global economy.” No, no, no. I’m talking about what is literally going to be done in the next moment. Maybe it’s time to make dinner and even making dinner sounds overwhelming (it often does to me), so don’t even think about the whole dinner—what do you do first when you get ready to start dinner? Turn on the kitchen light? Okay, done! That was easy. Wash your hands? Betchya can do that. Get the chicken out of the fridge? Check. And so on and so forth. But, DON’T think ahead. Just do the next thing. Say it with me: DO THE NEXT THING. Ahhh, that’s better.

Because, after all, even if I complete every single item on my project list, there will always be more to do (like spit-shine the rims of my car tires—which actually went through my mind while I was stretching next to my car after my run the other day).

Even more importantly, I could complete everything on my To-Do list and still not have accomplished anything by God’s standards. The following realization brought me more peace than even my cool little “Do The Next Thing” mantra (which is probably crocheted on a pillow somewhere).

Let God lead the way.

No matter what we have to accomplish, we should keep our focus on things that have eternal value.

Sometimes, that means completely putting the project aside. If a friend needs me, I will choose her over painting my dining room any day of the week. If my daughter is crying, I will let the dinner burn so that I can comfort her. If I’m inspired to write something, I will stop cleaning the garage and write it down. Are we willing to take a detour and let our projects go unfinished so that He can teach us something or use us in someone else’s life?

Other times, God leads us to go ahead and get the job done. But, He looks at our hearts and our motives. There are days when I can buzz along on one project or another without interruption—BUT, the only thing that will give a temporal project eternal value is if I do the task as working for the Lord. Doing things (even dishes and laundry and grocery shopping) can bring God glory when they are done without grumbling or complaining.) Think about it, when we do this, we’ve not only completed a task, we’ve allowed God’s spirit to work in us which produces all sorts of yummy eternal fruit in our lives.

So, it’s my choice. I can either lose consciousness stressing out over my long list or I can let God lead the way and do the next thing with a joyful heart.

UPDATE::: My mother told me where she got that advice: Elisabeth Elliot of course! How could I have forgotten?? Here's a link to her genius! Read it!!!