Mark it off!

Ec 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

The way I used to do things is not working anymore. It’s time for a change.

I was a stay at home mom until my kids were 10 and 15. During those years we didn’t have much money and I spent a lot of time doing things that would stretch a dollar. Working meant that I was away from home 9-10 hours a day. You can’t do things the same way you did when you stayed at home all day. I had to learn quickly how to make the best use of my time. I remember waking early and doing household chores that might have taken me all day if I had had the time. Time with friends meant late nights but when you are young you don’t worry too much about sleep. Saturday mornings were for washing the car and mowing the grass before it got too hot. I still managed to cook most of our meals but I had my favorite Hamburger Helpers. The house was not as spotless as it had been but a little dust never hurt anyone.

New interests and hobbies came along and with them the desire to have the best kept yard in town, be the best cook and the fear that someone would drop by and see the house in a wreck left too. For about ten years we rode motorcycles, almost every Saturday was devoted to riding. Didn’t have to worry about friends dropping in to see the house-wreck because they were out riding with us. Didn’t have to cook – “Ride to Eat.”

Marking tasks off of my list – not if I wait until I can do them the way I used to. It is time to adjust again. Sometimes I mismanage my time, other times I add things without omitting something else - both are bad for business. There are only so many hours in a day so it is reasonable to assume that if you add a new task you probably need to find a shortcut for one or more of the old ones or eliminate one all together. Some things are just going to have to be store bought and some things will not be as neat and perfect as before or I’ll never mark them off my list.

We change, circumstances change so the need to adjust is necessary. I didn’t realize back when I was young how precious that time was – time with my family – time learning how to make a home. Now it’s time to learn new things. The things that were important then are not as important now. I have new interests and new priorities - I want to use my time wisely.

Funny how after you turn 40 your body starts to slow down. You can still remember but it just takes longer. You can still move but you better be a little more careful how you jump up on that counter top to get that dish out of the top cabinet. You are just as smart but you have less to prove. You can see but the little things always get past you. With all this you have to make adjustments.

I was off today for President’s Day. I had several important projects that had been on my list of things to do for some time. I knew it was time to make some executive decisions and shortcut the work so I could mark them off my list.

For the past few years I have written and mailed a monthly newsletter for our church. It was time to ask myself what was the most important aspect of the newsletter and my answer was the calendar. Executive decision - I will continue to do the church calendar and hopefully more frequently but December was my last newsletter! I wanted to do a new look for our annual church directory update but the old format works fine and I was able to make the updates this morning and get it ready for proofing - marked it off my list! I worked on the books for my husband’s snack cake distribution company. Not as proud of the finished product as I was in years past but the receipts are totaled and that is what really counts! Learning the proper way to organize a business and be able to go back and look up something with ease was very important to me in years past. I hardly ever pull out any of the old records anyway so it’s okay to take shortcuts and if I do need to look something up I will find the extra time when that happens. It feels good to mark things off your list...sometimes because you are done and other times because you just don’t have to do them anymore.

I still have our tax return to do – but not next Saturday! This week’s project – an 89th birthday luncheon for a dear lady in our church. I’m glad I got some things marked off my list so that I can help make her day special. The tasks will be there but this opportunity to appreciate this dear woman of God will be gone one day.