Checklists Make Me Crabby

Checklists can make me crabby, just ask Lizzy.

Having goals means having a checklist. If not on paper, at least mentally. This is true for most of us, even if we don’t know it. Just stop and think a moment. Do you start each day with a list of priorities that you want or NEED to accomplish. These lists can provide us direction, but also produce busyness and create pressure. 

Is Everyone Busy?

One thing that I have learned since retiring: our busyness expands to fill the amount of time we have available. So, if you are blessed with a free half day, your mind goes to work filling it with all of the things you want or need to get done. It seems this is how we are wired. We have goals, which means we will have checklists.

This is not just true for retired people. No one is off the hook. Young mothers have checklists, and the checklist grows with the number of kids. Number one on their list is keeping the kids alive. If you have grandkids, you have a checklist. If you are a student, you have a checklist. Medical condition. . . checklist. If you have a job, you have a checklist for your working hours, and one for after work. And, don’t get me started about weekends. There is the grass around the house, catching up on housework, repairing the car, the boat, bike riding around the park, playing basketball, watching basketball, walking the dog… Wow, I’m getting tired just thinking about it.

Thorns

In Mark, chapter four, Jesus is teaching by the lake and he gives The Parable of the Sower.  Our focus today is on the seed which fell among the thorns.  After teaching the parable to the crowd, Jesus’ disciples asked the meaning the parable, and he explained that the farmer sows the Word of God.

Are You Wealthy?

The “worries of life” that is what our “busyness” is about. You may not believe it, but we are wealthy, compared to our forefathers. You might remember the story of me asking my dad what the work day was like growing up on the farm. “Dad, what were the work hours on the farm when you were a kid?” “From can until cain’t.” “What does that mean?” “From when you can see until you cain’t see.” In other words, everyone on the farm worked all the time just to survive. 

So, what does the deceitfulness of wealth mean? It means the more you have, the more you have to worry about: houses, cars, boats, nice clothes, free-time activities, vacations, disposable income, etc. These are all good things, but they create busyness; busyness that can choke out the word, making it unfruitful.

Manage Your Checklist

To be fruitful, God must be at the top of our checklist daily. Until we do this, we will be always searching, but never satisfied. You see God made us with a hole. He put a void inside us that can only be filled with him. We will never be complete without him. Nothing else will work, none of our busyness. Until God is at the top of your priorities, you will never be satisfied. You will not be happy.

“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

Mark 4:18-19

Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear

Also, see Victorious Living.