where a woman can build her strength and freedom

Life is not a to-do list

The photo shows a proud and beautiful purple, gold, red and green design of stained glass to help us reflect that life is not a to-do list.

Most of us work, worry and sweat
day after day, week after week,
month after month, year after year,
trying ever so hard to catch up 
on our ever-expanding to-do list.

Do we ever face the fact we are never going to catch up?
No.

Facing that would make us feel we are failing in life!
So we just keep at it,
like a gerbil running on a wheel.

What if

What if you were victorious 
and overcame all the odds?
What if you actually DID 
every single one 
of those tasks stretching out before you?
What would HAPPEN???
Would you get a medal?
Nope.

All that would happen is
your tombstone would read:
            So and So
        Born___ Died____
TO-DO LIST COMPLETED 

 And if you didn’t, it would read…
TO-DO LIST NOT COMPLETED 

So…  

What about your LIFE?

All our swift running 
on our circular treadmill 
would be funny,
if our lives weren’t just as swiftly passing us by.
Looks like it’s high time we all face that
our to-list is not our life.

If all we think about every day is:
What’s the next thing I have to do?
the years are going to fly by
and one day we will wonder where they went.

Like a Rock  Bob Seger

A to-do list isn’t our life.
It’s just upkeep.
Things we need to do to stay afloat.
Yes, these things are necessary. 
But not sufficient.
Doing them is not enough to create a life.

Time for thought

Actually creating a life requires us
to build into our day 
time for thought.

Time to ask ourselves:  
Who am I? 
What am I building that matters?
How do I become joyful
and have a young and strong life?

Having and keeping a young strong life
is about building something beautiful 
that will last beyond our time on earth.

What do you hope to build?

It could be anything.
Whatever is your gift to bring.
What you build 
that will give you joy as you build
will be shaped by your deepest beliefs.

Have you asked yourself what they are?
Maybe a little exploration is in order!

Link: How can you begin to figure out what you believe?