Scrapping the List

I am a very organized person. I am a list maker, and I am so diligent about this that if I do something that is NOT on my list, I add it to my list so I can mark it off. Seemingly insane, I know. I know how long it will take me to accomplish each task, and I thrive on a schedule. I can’t seem to rest until every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted. Seriously, I can’t. I will lay in bed at night and think of all the things I didn’t accomplish that were on my list and how I can cram them into the next day’s schedule. A curse for sure.

Yesterday, I had my entire day planned out and list made – laundry, changing the sheets, bathing the dog before his hair cut, cleaning the bathrooms, running errands in town, and other various “important” tasks, all to be done before I could fix supper and take my Sunday school class of 7th grade girls to a new animated movie at a nearby theater. I was a woman on a mission and nothing would stop me … or so I thought. Then the phone rang. It was Melanie (name changed), a former youth group member from years gone by. She and her husband live many miles away and work with the youth in their church. They have been ministering with students since they were college age, and are now in their 40s. My youth pastor husband and I have been their “sounding board” off and on for years, the ones they call when they need advice on youth ministry or life changes. The first of many calls yesterday was a cry for help, filled with heart-wrenching sobs on the other end of the phone. Melanie’s marriage is in shambles. Her world is falling apart.

For hours I counseled Melanie. I cried with her, prayed with her, agonized with her, and loved on her over the phone. I wished she was in my living room having a heart to heart over a cup of hot tea, but she was miles away and needed a friend, a confidant, a mentor. And for this, I scrapped my list. I sat aside those things that were once so important to me, and focused on a friend in need.

We all need to do that when “duty” calls. We need to scrap the list of our personal desires when we hear of a financial need so we can give sacrificially, we need to scrap the list of our scheduled time when our child needs our attention or a friend drops by for a visit, we need to scrap our list of planned thoughts when a student reveals a need in the middle of a lesson or Bible study, we need to scrap our list of activities off our calendar when there is a greater need, we need to scrap our list of “needed sleep” when the phone rings in the middle of the night, and we need to scrap our list of “BFFs” when God brings someone else into our lives that needs a friend. We all need to be flexible and be willing to put our life on hold so we can truly minister to those whom God places in our path. John 15:13 (NIV) gives us the same message: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. I’m not even challenging you to lay down your life … just be willing to adjust your schedule or scrap your list.