A Blank To-Do List

We attended the Iowa Boys Basketball tournaments on Monday, March 8. By the end of the week, the games were open only to parents. An announcement regarding school closure was announced March 15. Social-distancing started for us....

I started with the list-making. There were certainly enough projects underfoot that needed attention. I dug in with the more-necessary tasks--like sorting, organizing paperwork. I evolved to more fun ones--remaking a wool lap robe my mother had made into a warm wrap-around skirt for me. I have re-read four of my novels and marked the errors. Ugh... what was I thinking? Some spring work has been tackled--garden tilled, front flower patch renovations beginning. Etc.


And, we're still social-distancing -- more like self-isolating. Our groceries are brought to our car. We go for walks. More recently,  I'm paying attention to things that are not on my list. This morning it was a female cardinal in our backyard flitting from one tree to another with me pleading, "Stay, please stay. Build your nest here." Yesterday, I called a Bible study friend who lives alone. I'm not much on the phone, but she appreciated my call. On my walks, I notice things I hadn't paid much attention to before: leaf fossils embedded in new cement, the wonder of clouds changing shapes and colors. Waving to a friend from afar and feeling the warmth in spite of our inability to run up to each other with a hug was oh-so-special.

Instead of filled pages in my planner, I'm looking forward to blank pages now and then. Just what might my day provide for me if the pages were blank in the morning? If I just "be still," what wonder will arrive?

 What is the significance of just being....?

A writer friend of mine questions, "Who will we be when we are who we're supposed to be?"

I have a feeling that checking off items on my to-do lists is not going to get me there...

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10