It’s the pile of freshly laundered clothes three feet away from an empty dresser drawer, the dirty dishes next to the sink, the candy wrapper sitting on the counter above the waste basket, the stack of junk mail that grows every day.
Can you guess what it is?
Unfinished business. Simple tasks
started out of necessity or good intention left undone due to some excuse. I don’t have time. I’ll do it later. It’s
not that big of deal. Other things
are more important. I don’t want to
do it. Maybe my spouse will do it. I’ll tell the kids to do it.
I recently found an old story I had written when my oldest was just a few years old. We were playing outside by our driveway. In an effort to multitask, I decided to bring
the garbage can up from the end of the driveway to outside our closed garage
door. For whatever reason, I stood there debating whether or not I was going to
open the garage door and bring the garbage inside. I can do it later. I just wanted to do part of the job. Erik can finish
it next time he’s out here. Little voices inside my head were debating the
pros and cons of walking over to the keypad, punching in the code, putting the
garbage can away, and shutting the door again.
Then I clearly heard these words:
Finish what you started.
The authority in that statement reminded
me how silly my excuses were and pushed me to finish the task I had started. It
also challenged me to bring this idea of finishing into my life on a more
regular basis. It’s the responsible, stress-relieving, God-honoring thing to
do.
The Power of 60 Seconds
In this journey to become a
finisher, I’ve realized that finishing often doesn’t take that long. It’s an
extra three seconds to close the cupboard or put the trash in the garbage can instead of on the counter.
The pile of dishes can be washed, dried, and put away in under 30 minutes. That
thank you note or email you’ve been meaning to send will take two minutes and
the phone call to your bank another 3-5 minutes. If I can get it done when I’m
thinking about it, why not save myself the pressure of having another thing on
my “to do” list?
I admit: My selfish nature often
has an answer for that question. So I’ve put together two keys to help me keep
up with the tasks life throws my way.
The first one is to learn what
you can actually accomplish in 60 seconds. If you are warming something up in
the microwave, instead of standing there for one minute, see how many
dishes you can put into the cupboards before the beep signals your food is
ready. How about your laundry—can you fold a full load of clean clothes during
one commercial break or do you have to do it during two?
A lot can happen in 60 seconds
when you put your mind to it!
Follow the Prompts
The second thing I’ve learned on
my way to being a finisher is to follow the promptings inside of me. I’m
talking about those prompts I believe the Holy Spirit brings my way to do this
or do that. Now would be a good time to
make that phone call… pay that bill… run that errand…. Time and again, the
Holy Spirit has proven to be my biggest helper in de-stressing my life in this
way. He reminds me of tasks that need to be accomplished or ways I can finish
what I start as I go about my day.
I don’t always recognize that
these thoughts are the Spirit. They are easy to dismiss among the myriad of
other thoughts running through my head. When I do find a thought I know is from
the Lord (usually based on hindsight or context of the situation), I remember
that voice, feeling, and prompting, and try to match it appropriately to future
thoughts. More than once I’ve said to myself, “Well, if that thought was from
the Lord and this is a similar voice, I need to listen to it and respond.”
I Challenge Me—and You
I guarantee that I am nowhere
near close to being great at finishing. Daily tasks are so easy to push aside,
but the Holy Spirit’s ideas and the 60-second rule help me save time and
simplify. I challenge you to consider incorporating these ideas into your life.
God will show you how to make these ideas work for you so you too can finish
what you start.
