do the next thing

Yesterday the realization sank in that this summer is going to be very full of activity at work and outside of work. This week it felt like I didn't accomplish anything, although I spent my time doing a multitude of small things. It seems like I do not have anything to show for the work I did after a week - I am used to that feeling for individual days, but this was for an entire week. God is consistently reminding me not to despise the days of small things. I do not want to live in fear that I will fail to accomplish what is important, but faithfully plod along with joy in just doing the next thing. I need to fight to put on blinders like a horse, so that I just see the road directly in front of me and not be anxiously distracted. It can be difficult to start doing something when I am not sure if it is the best thing for me to be doing in that moment. I need to have faith that I will learn from experience and not from perfectly analyzing and planning ahead. It is not a bad thing to look back and see that I could have done something better.

That is an aspect of writing with which I always seemed to struggle in school. The idea of a rough draft was difficult because I wanted to get everything right the first time. My tendency is to belabor each sentence, but there is much freedom in doing a free-write and coming back later to edit.

I pray that I will embrace humility in my work, so that I can have a great freedom, joy, and peace. I will trust God to make clear what needs to be clear, and let other things alone. I am glad I work only because God works. His part is much much bigger than mine.

In other news, I am thankful that I'm turning away from feeling overwhelmed with the immense amount of activity in the weekend. I am thrilled to be able to interact with people. We had some wonderful family time this afternoon at Erin's high school graduation from PA cyber, and tomorrow is the first church picnic of the summer, a baptism, and the Crossway Mile. This weekend will prove to be very full (like many this summer), but I'm so happy that I can fill it with quality time with my family and church.

photo: Mya R. (May 27, 2010)