What do you do when your list of tasks is longer than your arm? 

That’s what I wondered today when I wrote out all my tasks on a piece of paper. … I do that sometimes when I have more tasks than normal. 

Usually I just put them into my calendar or my to-do list on my computer. But when the list is really long, and I’m concerned about how many things I will get done, I write them out on a piece of paper. 

When I finished, I muttered, “This list is longer than my arm!” Then, just to be sure, I decided to measure it and, no, it wasn’t longer than my arm. 

Now if I had double spaced the words or written them out in really large letters then, yes, they would have been longer than my forearm. 

But my list was not even quite as long as my hand stretched out over the page.  

So really, how bad could my list be? 

Well, it was 19 items long and on a normal Friday I would probably get about five of them done. 

With all the others, I was dreaming if I thought I could accomplish them. But I put them on my list and I actually prayed and asked the Lord to help me get my list accomplished. 

At the time I wasn’t thinking of all nineteen, but when I prayed I had some tasks in mind that would take some serious time to complete. 

Five of the items were writing assignments – that’s heavy, especially since one of them was my sermon. … I remember a time when having to write one page seemed overwhelming. Now if I only have to write one page I’m thankful.

The scary thing about tasks is the more time you think about them, the more you could add to your list. It’s like they multiply. 

They’re much like rabbits. Some species of rabbits can have three or four litters a year. And they might have up to 12 babies in a litter. 

That’s a lot of babies – I mean, tasks.

They just keep piling up. 

I don’t know what you do to delete tasks from your list but I do two things. I don’t just put a checkmark beside the task. And I don’t just draw a line through the task, cancelling it off my list. 

I do both.

I check them off and draw two or three lines through them. They still can be read what they were, but I want to make it clear to me, and to the paper they are written on, that I’ve completed that task. It’s finished.

I think now I might stop working on this list of tasks. There will be more tomorrow. You don’t really make headway with a task list. It’s like a shoe with a hole in the sole. It just keeps letting more water in. 

I think I might cross out the letter “T” in my “Task list” to turn them all into “asks”. Then I can give them to other people to do for me. 

Here’s the thing: It’s true that we can have too many tasks for us to handle – so many tasks that we become overwhelmed with them all. Thankfully, God never has too many tasks. He is never overwhelmed. So no matter how many tasks you have, you can keep taking them to Him. Ask God for His help and He will help you. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How overwhelming is your list of tasks right now? Leave your comments and questions below. 

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one delivered directly to your email inbox twice weekly.