Whose to-do?

^{Mark 8: 34-38 34} Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

I have mentioned many times that I struggle with procrastination and time management. I consider schedules a necessary evil. I started thinking about this because I was going through my e-mail. I laughed because in the "junk" mail box, I had NUMEROUS (esp. over the last few days) notices that I had won $$$ or somebody in another country just needed "my" help clearing some funds in exchange for a portion of the funds. AND right underneath those was an e-mail stating I could learn to drive a truck. Hmmmm. Easy money or work for it?

I have a very scattered train of thought. I went from thinking about being buried with e-mail and communication from TV, newspapers, discussions, etc. and what a waste of time that can be. SO, I wanted to write about that. I usually try to link it somehow to a Bible verse. I searched words like clutter, junk and ruins (don't even remember how I got to that). Most of those were not mentioned unless in the Message version and still not what I was looking for.

Then I thought of a good quote "build me a stone wall" from Facing the Giants movie. I went to look on YouTube for a clip and couldn't find what I was looking for. It was about Nehemiah and the stone wall (just build the portion in front of you and let your neighbor build his part) because many times I'm trying to build the whole wall...on my own. I did read through Nehemiah though on www.biblegateway.com and found some interesting information and links. Along the way I also saw some disturbing videos on how some people view Christians and God followers. (topic for another day!)

I finally found the part of the movie and it didn't fit the way I thought it would. While on biblegateway I found the following: http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/roh/today.php?pid=246 "A State of Bondage" I glanced through briefly. Talked about time management and obligations. Then she talked about Jesus' short time on Earth and all He accomplished. She mentioned some verses in Mark so I looked a few up...and came up with the ones listed at the top here.

I started thinking about my "obligations" and my to-do lists that I try to prepare (and follow, ha!) daily. I usually try to rack my brain of all the possible things I know that I need to do and fit them into a day over the week. Ideally, I do this Sunday night to mentally prepare myself for the week. Notice how many times I stated "I" and "my" above? Oops, forgot something!

How much better could my day/week go IF I prayed first and asked God what He needed me to do with my time? Whose to-do list am I following? The one I think I need OR the one God lays out for me as someone who denies herself and follows Him? (vs 34)

Prayer: God, sometimes we get SO busy with details that we lose sight of the big picture. Help us to make prayer and time with you the FIRST thing on the to-do list so that we do not labor in vain. Provide wisdom to make our to-do list filled with your desires first.

Maybe I was looking TOO hard. This was the verse of the day for today. “[Two Kinds of Wisdom] Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." James 3:13 (NIV)

^{Psalm 127:1-3 1} Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. (NIV)