If you Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

People often tell me I am organized, but I'm really not.  I am a huge procrastinator and I'm very forgetful.  I've tried so many planning systems over the years, from Palm Pilot to Microsoft Outlook to Franklin Covey to my smartphone, and now, my Mead spiral-bound planner I got for a few dollars at Target.  It's okay, but I recently found out about Erin Condren planners, and I want to give that system a try.  You can get more information about the planners here.  Unlike my current planner, the days are set up vertically, with a week's view on two pages, and each day is divided into three parts.  My days are broken up this way.  Morning and evening are more family time, where I am getting my family ready for the day in the morning and helping with homework and winding down in the evening.  I like the separation of the day so I can prioritize tasks.  It reminds me that I need to wrap up "me time" and get back into family mode.

With all the advances in technology, I still work best with a paper planner.  I hardly note appointments in my phone any more.  Good old pen and paper seem to work for me.  Towards the end of last year I started planning on paper again and it's reduced my stress level a lot.  I try to stay on top of managing my household (and I still forget stuff!) but I've been more successful when I wrote tasks down than when I didn't.

I just ordered my Erin Condren planner.  There's currently a 40% off sale, so you know I am thinking about this one!  

Let Them Do Their Job!

It's frustrating when someone won't do what they are supposed to do.  If you're like me, you'd probably want to get the job done so you'd do it yourself.  Sometimes that's fine, but most of the time it isn't.

Doing someone else's job distracts you from yours, wears you out and prevents the other person from ever mastering their job.  This applies to the office, the family and any other relationship.

The Bible describes the church as a body with many parts, each having a specific design and function.  If the elbow doesn't work, and you're an eye, who will do the seeing while you're trying to bend the arm?

If you want them to get it together, remind them of their responsibilities and give them the support and opportunity to function in their capacity.  If someone has fallen short in the past, give them a chance to do better.  We often don't perform because of lack of confidence, lack of encouragement or a lot of guilt. Let them know, "You can do this" - and let them know you believe it.

In our desire to do and be better, we need to help others do the same.

Stop Pushing the Stone

"Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
- Mark 16:2-4

There are some dead things in our Lives that need to be resurrected, but we are worried about moving the stone from the tomb where we buried them.  It could be a dream, a relationship, a talent, or our faith that has died, and we want God to move on our behalf and bring it back to Life.  But instead of believing in God's Power and leaving it in His hands, we worry, or try to move the stone in our own strength.

It is not our place to move the stone.  Stop wearing yourself out and let God do the heavy lifting in your Life (His yoke is easy and His burden is light).  If He has work for you to do, He will remove every obstacle in the way.  Don't let your own doubt or fear be one of those obstacles.  It is often us blocking our own blessings, blinded by doubt.  God can do anything if you let Him.

Stop pushing on that stone.  Step back, believe, and watch God move it.