WHAT “TOO-MUCH-TO-DO” ADDS UP TO

The simple life. We dream about it, talk about it, desire it, and wonder if it will ever be a reality – or if it ever was. We hear and read about the Amish, their way of life, and think that there's something there, something to it. Yet we know that while their life may be simple, it isn't easy. Then, too, maybe what we are really looking for is the well-ordered life. I lived one of those once, for twelve years in a seminary setting. It was truly ordered, well ordered, well regulated – by the bell. It had its advantages, but it wasn't "life," even if it was twelve years of my life.

It often seems that we are at the mercy of forces beyond our control, as if someone or something else is in control of our very being. And yet, when we reflect upon our own lives, we realize that, for the most part, we really are in control.  So why does it seem that we always have too much to do, that there never is enough time in the day to get done what we think needs to get done, never enough time to do the things we want and need to do? My wife who is retired is busier now than ever. All those things she was going to get around to doing when she retired are still waiting for her to get around to doing.

We all have too much to do. The question is, "What does "too-much-to-do" add up to? The answer is: the complicated and complex life, the life of never enough time; a life of stress and worry and frustration. Granted, it may not be that bad or as bad as all that sounds or seems to imply. But it surely is far from the simple life and far from the life that we would choose to live were we able to make the choice on what kind of life to live.

The truth is, of course, that we do have a choice. We are not at the mercy of forces beyond our control. We are in a position to say "yes" or "no" to outside demands and pressures. No one puts a gun to our head and says, "Take on this added responsibility, this new task, this 'whatever', or else." If there is “gun”, it’s in our own hand. So how do we go about getting control of our lives? How do we make sure we don't have too much to do, but rather enough to do that our lives are fulfilling yet not too much that our lives become out of control?

The first step is to step back and let go of some of those self-imposed obligations that have already added up to one too many obligations. We need to step back and make some time for ourselves, time to be able to reflect on the way we have been living our live. For the truth of the matter is that we are no good to anyone else if we are not first good to ourselves.

We'll never get it completely right, of course, life, that is, even if we would discover what the "right" life is. We practice getting it right all the while we are living it. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we get it right, the latter more often than the former.  As we live our lives, as we practice our faith, we discover that there are certain "practices" that help make the practicing and the living much easier. And the more we practice these practices, the more we will find and hopefully live the simple and Christian life. We need to begin to think about the practices of life and faith that will make our lives simpler, with less to do, and also better. The first practice, of course, is learning how to say “no”.