Is Something Missing from your To-do List?

           I have so much to do today that I'm going to need to spend

three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.

Martin Luther

        I plead guilty to being a to-do list-er. I like to organize my day and plan what needs to be done by bedtime. I also love the satisfaction of crossing off items as I complete each task. Lists are good, even useful, if they are used for organization and keeping one on track.

            But lists can also trip us up if they aren’t somewhat flexible. Emergencies happen, plans change and within moments you can go from being productive to falling into survival mode. If you have a child on the autism spectrum, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Those phone calls from school and dreaded words on the other end of the line, “You need to come and pick up your son. He’s having a very rough day.” Even as I sit here, writing this post, I can hear my son arguing with his brothers, the first step towards a meltdown if my husband or I don’t intervene right away. Plans; they can go awry in the snap of a finger.

            When our son was first diagnosed with autism, we wanted to provide him with the best help modern-day medicine could offer. All too soon, we found ourselves running from doctor to doctor, therapy to therapy (to date there are more than sixty different types of therapies available for individuals on the spectrum), treatment center to treatment center, all so our son would be able to learn coping skills, manage his emotions and control his sensory processing disorder. What we failed to do was ask for the Lord’s guidance. At one point, while we were driving three-hours to an appointment, I asked my husband “are we doing the right thing?” That’s when we came to the realization we could search the world over for the best treatment for our son, but if the Lord wasn’t in it, we were merely installing a screen door on a submarine.

            I have been reading through the book of Isaiah and came across this verse in chapter 22:11. The context tells us that the city of Jerusalem was under siege. The people were terrified and fighting for their lives and, as a result, they were frantically storing up water, tearing down houses for stone to strengthen the walls and gathering weapons to defend themselves. Crucial? Absolutely! Urgent? Undoubtedly.

      Yet though they intended well, they forgot one vital step: “But you never ask for help from the One who did all this (says the Lord), you never considered the One who planned this long ago.” In their desperate effort at survival, they failed to seek the Lord first. Had they forgotten how God rescued them so many times from enemies that seemed so much stronger than them? Had they fallen into a pattern of believing action was more important than prayer? Everything they did to save the city was useful. But it became futile when they failed to commit their circumstances to the One who could save them.

                       I am often guilty of doing the same thing. I rush headlong into a busy day, list ready and objectives clearly defined, yet somehow forget to commit my day and my plans to the Lord first. As a result, I find myself doing what is important, yet not necessarily what is on God’s agenda.

            In an effort to remedy this, I have begun a new format for my to-do list. Item #1 is always prayer. No matter how busy my day may seem, no matter how much I have to accomplish before bedtime, I must find the time to talk with my heavenly father before I tackle the day he’s so generously given to me. He is, after all, the One who created it and entrusted it into my care.

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            Proverbs 16:3 reminds us to “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans” (NIV). God wants to meet with us at the dawn of each new day so we can make sure we are on the same page. Can an orchestra play beautiful music without tuning their instruments to the same A? Can a mission succeed if all parties concerned don’t synchronize their watches? Can students pass the exam if they aren’t all reading the same book?

In the same way, we need to surrender our daily plans to Him. Not that those calls won’t come, not that our days won’t fall apart. But when they do, we have the assurance that God knows all about it and He cares. His hand is upon each day that we entrust to Him, and He will do with it as He sees fit.

            Is something missing from your to-do list? Take the time, this very day, to adjust it so the first item reads “Prayer.” Commit your day to the Lord and your plans will succeed. Not because your plans are remarkable, but because His plans are best.