Good morning all!

Today’s scripture:

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

My list of to dos is long today.  Anyone else? I have meetings galore and plenty of things that keep building. Plus the busy season is upon us, isn’t it? My phone is already ringing off the hook which usually happens right around now.  I joke with people that my telephone starts ringing Thanksgiving morning and doesn’t stop until December 26. And then thing is…well, none of it is bad stuff!  This is the stuff that I feel called to do but it starts to get a bit overwhelming.

We aren’t even talking yet about the getting ready for holidays and some of those details. And then stuff tends to come up.  My office manager starts calling the season, “Court gets sick season.”  Then there are the emergency calls, the unexpected visits, the times when I want to see people who haven’t been around and now are.

So many things to do!  So I start to make lists.  Are you a list maker?  I might have post its or notes on my phone all over the place.  The trick is remembering to look back at the notes….:)

If I can peel away from the frantic energy of the to dos though, I can see that there is a much more important list of things to do.  Thessalonians offers it up for us and when we get out of the busy factor we can see the more important ways of being who we are in community:

To Do:
Be at peace with each other
Admonish idlers
Encourage the fainthearted
Help the weak
be patient with all
Seek good
Rejoice always
Pray without ceasing
Give Thanks

These are the to dos that we can’t lose track of. These are the to dos on how to remember to live through this season and hold one another.

What are your other to dos?

The other trick is to not let the busyness to dos take over the other more important list.

Peace,
C