In a previous blog entitled, Conversation With Things Undone, I wrote about doing what I don't want to do. In this piece of writing, I am adding to the theme of getting things done, with this: While I Am Waiting. Let us visit a for instance.
I want coffee in the morning, and I quite enjoy the smooth and aromatic heat waves that travel to my nostrils, coming off the dark brew that pours out of my new stainless steel french press (Thank-You for my birthday gift baby sis). The end result of coffee made, takes time in the beforehand. In the beforehand, water for one mug is measured and boiled. While I wait for the water to boil, I measure a heaping tablespoon of previously ground coffee (I buy the beans and grind them in a convenient little machine), and drop it to the bottom of the french press. When the kettle of water gurgles and then switches off, I pour the hot water onto the coffee in the french press, apply the lid with the filter-plunger attached, and set a timer for four minutes.
Mundane, you say? Boring description, you think? Maybe, but that is not the point. I don't want to bore you or tell you about things you already know and perhaps do yourself regularly, I want to share the before-hands, the in-betweens, the opportunities to accomplish what waits to be completed and doesn't get done, because you and I don't feel like it, you and I think we can put it off, you and I would rather, do something else.
Water boiling, timer set ... there is a stretch of moments in the waiting, and I am keenly aware that I have wasted more time than I have made use of. This is what I want to avoid, change, stop doing. I want to do what must be done in order to savour the good. Work goes into every little marvellous achievement. Work is the mundane, the minuscule, the unseen and unsung hero that makes our world go round. Did you know, God keeps all of creation working, round the clock, world without end?
Let us return to my morning kitchen, and the pile of washed the night before items that rest ready in the drying side of the sink, waiting to be put away in cupboards and drawers. I have never liked putting away dishes, but hey, someone's got to do it, why not me? While I wait for boiled water to soak up the essence of coffee and become a drinkable brew, I buzz around the space between the sink and the various places plates, pots, lids, knives, forks, spoons, and spatulas go. I could play a game on the near-by iPad as I wait, but that is a form of procrastination that will steal valuable time away from doing something productive and worth while, because those sink things, still need to be put away at some point in time.
I love something my father used to say: When you are at work, your time is sold. Is your time sold, dear reader? Is it only sold, for pay? Will you work when money is at stake, or do you value work so much, that you see what needs to get done, whether you feel like it or not, and just plain old, do it?
I made my coffee this morning, and enjoyed sipping while I read Matthew Henry's Commentary On The Whole Bible. I read a page, and knew that this topic, the one that has been brewing in my head for weeks on end, had to be tapped out from my fingertips. While I am waiting ... our time must be put to most excellent use, to do what is mundane, so that important items on our personal check lists can get done.
With tasks done, will you, dear one, move on to the more vitally important items on your list of things to accomplish? Will you take a look at your thought life, your inner workings, the emotions you plunge to the bottom of your mental french press and never wash out? What is stale and growing mould in that mind of yours? What conversations do you need to have, that will filter the grounds that can catch in the throat, so that you can enjoy the essence of relationship?
Maybe while you are waiting can turn into something wonderful, as in, I am not waiting anymore, I am doing. Do not get me wrong, I wait on the Lord when I am in my most excellent state of godly mind. I wait for his timing because it is perfect, but in the beforehand, in the mean time, I am learning about who he is and how he runs our universe, and it is a never stop, won't stop way of being that we must admire and assimilate.
You have time, the same amount of time you had yesterday and the day before. You have time, the same amount of time as your super successful friend, brother, sister, former spouse, present boyfriend or accomplished girlfriend. Come on now, you have time, to think about what is valuable, what is important, what needs to get done that is a tasky tasky, that feels mundane but contributes to your overall well-being.
That french press is sitting in my kitchen, waiting for me to wash it. If I don't dump the grinds in the garbage pail and rinse the stainless steel container, tomorrow morning won't be nearly as delicious for me. Bigger on the list though, dear reader, are the people in my life. I take care of what needs to get done, so that I can be with the ones I love the most. I kill procrastination so that I can savour the good things and people in life.
What, do you do, while you are waiting? What are you avoiding that is soulful and has been pushed to the bottom of your to-do list?
You have time to read this ... you have time to do what you know you need to do. Do it now.
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