The Sunday morning sun broke the sky in South Florida high and bright. The possibilities for the day are endless. Don’t you just love having choices? I know I do!
It is what I love about shopping. We get to try new things, touch them, and play. But, I can’t have it all. It wouldn’t fit in the house! If I’m shopping, I have to decide before I lay out the cold hard cash!
Ideas started flitting through my head this morning. Let’s see: Church, breakfast, walk on the beach, solitaire, chapter 3 (another rewrite!), blog post, laundry room (yes still not finished), fill a donation box, mow the lawn, clean out from under my bed, bible study, take a nap…
I had to stop. My brain gets revved up in the morning until I am overwhelmed. I forced myself to stop before the list got too long. Years ago in a time management course, I learned my list for the day should not be longer than six items. I need help! This is when I asked the Holy Spirit for guidance.
The first part was easy. Start with God. I had to get dressed, which got me to Church. What a blessing. Returning from church I started writing. I had another idea for my blog post. In fact, I started to write it, but this post came out of my heart and fingers.
In planning a day I like brainstorming the possibilities. Think about it, we get to try on the possibilities for the day. Then we decide how to spend our day. But, the items in my basket all seem important, fun, or both. Some days it’s hard to decide where to start. My possibilities become “should dos” or “need tos.” Today it became a list of tasks. I prayed, “I want my joy back. The joy I felt this morning.”
An “ehm” erupted deep in my soul. A thought filters in, Ya wanted my guidance?”
Oh yeah…“I’m sorry Lord but how do I choose?”
What did you just write?
“Shopping!” I exclaim. We get to choose. When we try to do it all, we have no room for JOY! The trick is to choose with wisdom.
Thinking of that time management course, I need to limit the list to six items. That’s a budget! When I shop for fun, I always have a budget in mind. The six items is a time budget. Today I have about eight hours to budget towards my list. Okay, what do I pick?
My choices began to fall into place. I say my choices because God will guide or nudge us in a direction, but we still make our own decisions. Back to my list; I scratched off the walk on the beach first. It is just too hot! I remembered my mantra, “One Room at a Time.” Cleaning under the bed came off the list.
What is my big goal? Two items bubble first: Chapter three and laundry room. Not my favorite tasks. Time-wise they are expensive. Completing the laundry room will boost my spirit for months. I can even break it up during the day with writing. The payoff is greater than the expense.
Then I considered Buried Secrets Chapter 3. In the last week, I have rewritten it three times. Yesterday I thought I had finished the rewrite. Until the Eldest Prince read it for me. He had a great critique. He told me what worked for him and what didn’t. Anyway, the upshot is; I need to rewrite, remove unneeded stuff, and split the chapter. Hoo boy! I don’t want to rewrite it again but I don’t want to fix it later either.
Then there is the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge for this month. I challenged myself to 50 hours. So far, I’ve only completed 18 hours. To complete on the challenge by July 31st, I need 22 hours by midnight. It’s expensive, but okay, I can budget 4 hours for Chapter three today. It is worth it to get caught up on the challenge and get this chapter done.
That leaves me two hours to complete my post today. Let’s do this!
- Milly’s Blog Post
- Chapter three
- Laundry Room
- maybe… a nap?
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. [John 16:13 NKJV]
May the Holy Spirit guide and bless your day!
Milly!
P.S: I’ll let you know how today works out in the comments. You already know item one is done. {wink}
Milly here: The day did not turn out as planned. I’m not frustrated by that, I find myself encouraged this morning. Because of the process, I went through in prayer, my heart and mind were open to possibilities that arose. While I need a basic plan for my day, I also need to be open to God’s Plan for my day. I got my biggest goal done. This post. Finishing the laundry room is a bonus. The post took four hours from draft to recording. The laundry room took two hours.
I found something more valuable to do with the remaining two hours. Talking to my sons when they needed to talk. Just like shopping, when we get a bargain we can’t pass up. the more expensive item has to wait until later. I am glad my heart was open and available for the princes who wanted to talk. This was the best part of my day!
There is an adage in Crussillo “Don’t Anticipate.” It is one of the teachings I struggle to accept in my planner’s brain. It doesn’t make sense to me. Yesterday I lived the motto, “Don’t Anticipate,” without even trying. God Bless.
Milly Really! 