What’s on Your Plate for 2008?

All day, snowflakes have been wafting, drifting, swirling to the ground, accumulating slowly. The grass blades are now covered. The sky is a grayed-white; the ground, too, is white. Our faces seem extra pale and…what’s the word?  Oh, I know:  wan.

We look wan. We feel wan.

So the year launches wanly.

My spirit discouraged by the pasty pallor of a winter-white atmosphere, I am hesitant to post. Normally, I’m brimming with enthusiasm at the turn of the year, eager to list resolutions designed to improve both self and the world around me.

Instead, today, I sat at the kitchen table rather quiet and contemplative.

And as I pondered a New Year’s post, the only thing that came to me is this:

Simple. Keep things simple.

This applies to far more than the post, though; I want the day to be simple. The year. Life.

Along those lines, I have kept since September a link to a post I came across at Living, Learning and Loving Simply.

Aimee wrote about making her day simple. She described how she tends to plan way too much for a day, and because she can’t complete all that she intends to do, she ends up feeling behind for the rest of the week.

Then she recalled some words of wisdom she gained at some point in her past. I hope she doesn’t mind my quoting a huge chunk of her post:

I remember though being in a Bible Study many years ago and the teacher said something I have never forgotten. She said that really we can only do two or three things well in a day…that the Lord is probably only speaking one verse to us each day and giving us a couple of things to accomplish as well. I remember feeling the heavy yoke of demands lifted and feeling an excitement to just learn to keep my day simple, to do a few things well (which means I’m not exhausting myself) and leaving space in my day for the Lord’s spontaneous leading to see a friend, serve someone, play more with my kids, be creative with my homemaking, encourage my husband in a tangible way, read a magazine, etc.

…

We have all used the phrase “what do you have on your plate today?” I have started envisioning my day as a beautiful plate that can only hold about 3 portions. What will I put on my pretty plate today? Just enough to be healthy! I want to do a few things really well and listen to the Lord during the open spaces of my day for the goodness He wants to fill my plate with…an abundance that I can now give to others He places in my path. As I eat my daily portion from His hand of the good works He has prepared for me to do, He will then give me ideas, encouragement, and inspiration to generously give away to others as I walk the rest of my day.

Keep your day simple…just a few things on your pretty plate. Enjoy margin in your time. Listen to the soft gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit with what to do next. Let go of being driven. Embrace grace. Look for opportunities for creative service starting with your husband and children. Walk lightly and in all things, Love!

I liked the way Aimee explained her simple plan that allows for margin and the space to listen to the Holy Spirit truly lead her to the good works that He has prepared for her do. I appreciated her call to let go of being driven.

Not long ago I read a similar approach–someone explained that he wrote down on a 3 by 5 card just two or three major things he planned to accomplish in a given day. When he completed those, he considered the day well spent and productive. He may or may not add a few more tasks to the day if time allows, but he doesn’t frantically attempt to pile on more and more, working late into the night to squeeze every moment of productivity out of it, like a greedy factory owner pushing the assembly line till it drops. After all, there’s always more to do. When we wake up the next day, we’ll always find more we can find to pile on our plate.

I like Aimee’s concept of the plate. I picture one of those picnic plates that’s divided up into three sections. There’s a bigger section for the fried chicken, and two smaller sections–one for baked beans and the other for a pile of chips.

Wait. That’s not a very healthy picnic. Um, okay, so the bigger section is for the grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast, the second is for the slice of watermelon, and the third is for the, uh, lettuce salad with light dressing. There. That’s healthier.

Anyway, that’s about all I can manage well in a day. One big task that consumes most of my time, attention and energy, and two smaller tasks that I squeeze into open windows of time.

Now that’s not to say that an extraordinary day comes along once in a while demanding that I heap on task after task and simply jump in and tackle it with all of my strength. But a regular habit of hectic and harried days require so much of my limited resources that I resort to slapdash, make-do methods, with nothing done to the same degree of attention, care or excellence.

When my normal days are pared down, deliberate, and focused, I’m more likely to do those few things–those two or three things instead of ten or twenty things–well….and there’s still space available and energy to spare, to share.

When my day isn’t packed full, I can drive a friend to the doctor or help my neighbor with a load of mulch. I can listen to somebody pour out her heart and pray with her on the phone. I can play a game of checkers with The Boy or listen to one of the girls tell me about her last sleepover.

It’s a simpler way to live.

It’s slower. 

It’s sane.

For the most part, this is how I intend to approach 2008. With the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit, I hope to identify three main things to accomplish.

Three main things for the year.

Three main things for each day.

Three main things on my plate for 2008.