Doing, doing, doing ... but what am I getting done?

Confession: I love to make lists. I make lists of what I need to get done for the week, what I need to get done for the day, the grocery list, meal ideas for the week, plans for people's special days, when we go on vacation I list out everything we need to take, ... basically, if there are multiple things, I can list them. And then I love to organize my lists by priority or when I am going to get them done. It's ridiculous. And yet I love it. Every morning I sit down with my list and compile what I am going to get done that day. And throughout the day I get little thrills of joy when I can take my red pen and slash through them. I could go on about the complete insanity of things I do with lists, but I think I'll stop here.

But lately I've been thinking, "Am I really getting done what I want to get done?" I've begun to realize that the mundane day-to-day activities seem to be weighing me down so that I can't do the spontaneous things that come up, or even the fun things on my list because the way I order my priorities make it so that the things I know I'll enjoy doing I do after the things I don't want to do (so I won't spend all day scrapbooking and the kitchen is buckling beneath the weight of the dirty dishes). Not to say that the household tasks aren't important or that they don't need to be done, but when do you say, "Hey - I need to take a break and do something else?"

There have been things on my list for 3 weeks that I haven't gotten to because I've been so busy with what "has to be done." And that's just no fun. I don't want my life to be so consumed by the day-to-day that I miss the fun of the day, the joy of the week, and the excitement God has already put in my life. Basically, I don't want to put off enjoying things because I haven't done enough of the boring!

All of this has reminded me of the account of Martha and Mary in Luke 10. Martha was so busy with the preparations of the meal for Jesus that she missed sitting at His feet and learning from Him. How sad is that? I think this is a HUGE temptation for women. That we get so busy in what we are doing that we miss God, and we miss what He is doing in our lives. I don't want to do that.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm declaring next week "No Boring Needless Housework Week!" YAY!! Because let's be honest - if we don't clean the bathrooms one week out of 52, we're probably going to live through it. And not only are we going to live through it, but I bet no one will even notice. So all who are willing - join me on my vacation from housework.

I think this could be really fun. :)