Ditch the List. Be Present!

Hi my lovely friends!!! Something the Lord has been placing on my heart for quite some time is the urge to become more present. Can anyone else relate to the endless cycle of tasks constantly playing through your mind? The to-do list seemingly never ends. There is always another tasks to be done, another event to attend, another person to see, another random thing that was unexpected appears. Life is inevitably filled with the unexpected. I have recently gotten so convicted for fixating my attention so much on a to-do list, that I am missing what the Lord is doing all around me and right in front of me. Is this also a struggle for you? If so, you are not alone and we have hope in Jesus! Sometimes I find myself at a place, checking that event off my list, and the whole time I am at said event, all I can think about is my next event. I think one of the biggest problems with this is that I am missing the present moment. The Bible is very clear when it tells us to not worry about tomorrow. 

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

The Lord has opened my eyes to the reality of my addiction to busyness, distraction, and hurry. A vast majority of this is due to these unrealistic lists and expectations I place on myself. I have heard from countless others that you are often your own worse critic. When we tear ourselves down, how can we expect to be present? What I’m trying to say is that we must switch our perspective. The world is not spinning around the success of you completing your to-do list. There is more to life than this my friend! We must keep eternity in the forefront of our minds. We must turn our gaze on Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

Moreover, when we our so fixated on the next best thing, we miss what God is doing in the now. Who is God placing in your life for you to love? Where are places you could serve? There are ministry opportunities all around us, but we must put an end to our selfish ways and allow the Lord to encounter us and our schedules in order to be present and witness all the he is doing around us.

In the same way, God cannot be apart of your schedule, he must BE THE SCHEDULE. He cannot be on the to-do list, He must BE THE TO-DO LIST! God is worthy of more than partial surrender. He is worthy of our surrender of selfishness, the dying to ourselves, taking up our crosses, and wholeheartedly following after Him (Matthew 16:24-26). If we are so caught up our personal successes of completing a list, we're going to miss out on what God is doing all around us in the present.

Ditch the list. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Smile! Look around you, your Creator is everywhere. BE WHERE YOUR FEET ARE!!!!!