Urgent Can Wait

Today is the first day in a long time that I am at home in the middle of the day during nap time.  The stars aligned to allow a few extra minutes of quiet in my life. And you know what I am not doing?  Dishes, laundry, or vacuuming. I will admit I washed as many dishes as I could in the time it took for me to microwave my lunch, and then I stepped away.  

Why?  Because the most seemingly urgent things, are not necessarily the most important things.  I like to be efficient, and get stuff done. I like to do everything I can to have peace and harmony in my space.  I feel the pressure to have all the little things taken care of before I sit down to tend to other deeper more meaningful things.  But there are always menial tasks to be done, and rarely much time to do them.

It takes restraint to sit back and leave the things undone for a minute.

But I have found that the doing, while effective for a moment, gets undone so easily.  There will be more dishes by the time I turn around. The floor will have more dog hair instantaneously.  

But what about the work that lingers on the edges.  The things that wait quietly, trying to get your attention, but not outspoken enough to break through the noise of the present.  The work that doesn’t leave you with check marks on your to-do list. But will leave you lighter and freer years down the road.

I am prone to not prioritize, but just do whatever is right up front.  Whatever looks the easiest. Whatever I feel most comfortable doing. And while that is all well and good.  That means I rarely leave time to do the things that help me grow. The things that I have to learn. Or work to become better at.  That doesn’t leave space for new things, or challenging things, or life giving things. That doesn’t leave room to think and process and dream.

So today instead of clean dishes, I am going to choose to sit.  To read the word. To explore my thoughts. To work toward something unfamiliar.  To take action steps that go far beyond the next 2 minutes of my day.

Some days need to be full of the nitty gritty.  The garbage needs to go out, the clothes need to be folded, and the baby needs to eat.

But on some days when the chance presents itself, It’s a breath of fresh air to remind myself that for an hour, its ok to stop doing.  And it’s ok to just be. Or to do something that won’t be finished by the time nap time is over. It is ok to not accomplish something.  But to do something that will take you steps closer to accomplishing something. Or will just give you a chance to be in relationship with the one who accomplished all things.  

Because sometimes the most urgent things, are not the most important things.

And the more we let the loud demands of the present drown out the soft plea from within, the less we are likely to recognize it in the seasons of space or drought.