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Am I More Observant Now Or Just Nosy?

What some people call being more observant, others might call being nosy.  

am I more observant now or just nosy?

Retirement has been interesting. Though I have not had a shortage of things to do these last almost two months, I’m now doing them from home. That’s a big difference. 

I’m not sitting in my living room eight hours a day looking out the window though. In fact, I spend most of my time in the basement working at my desk or sorting papers.  

But I come up for air periodically and it’s then that I have occasion to look out the front window. And, when you do that a few times a day, you can’t help but get a little bit of the pulse of the street. 

I remember back in Edmonton we lived next door to a fireman. He was the eyes and ears of the street. He knew what everyone was doing, their schedules, what they brought home and when they went on vacation. 

Working the kind of shifts that gave him several days off in a row, he had time to stay on top of the street happenings. 

It was a little comforting too. 

We knew that someone was watching our place if we were away. If a package was put by our door, no one was going to come along and take it. It was better than having a door cam. 

I wouldn’t say I’m the eyes and ears of our street – well, at least not yet. There are a couple other retired guys who fill that spot. But I’m noticing things … my neighbours got new vehicles and some on the street don’t use their composter. 

And then there’s the guy behind us across the road. He is the most interesting.

For the last two months, I’ve noticed he gets a newspaper of some kind dropped on his driveway once a week. The paper comes in a plastic bag … which is a good thing because it remains there, near the end of his driveway, all week! 

Depending on where the paper lands, it will get driven over several times during the week. No one picks the thing up. 

I first wondered if he was the only one getting this paper, but then I noticed last week that his neighbour gets one too. However, contrary to this guy, his neighbour takes his into his house within a couple of hours.

Last week we got some sloppy snow and this guy’s paper not only was driven over, but it got wet and ground into the driveway. 

I know that this is none of my business and that I shouldn’t care a second about the paper that is on this guy’s driveway – right now, by the way – but I want to know what is going through the guy’s head. 

Why doesn’t he just pick up the paper and throw it into his recycling bin?

My observations have turned into story lines that I have been creating in my mind. I wish I could get to the bottom of it. 

Here’s the thing: We can’t know what goes on in someone else’s mind. We don’t know what they are thinking and believing, but we can present them with the knowledge and opportunity to believe in an eternal God who loves them, sent His Son to die for them, and desires to show them His love and acceptance.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets you curious about others around you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My To-dos May Become My Daily Score Card

I’m thinking about changing up how I keep track of my to-dos each day.

my to-dos may become my daily score card

Probably everyone has a method for making sure they remember what they have to do. Some people have everything organized in their steel trap of a mind. But not everyone can remember all the little things they either need to or want to get done in a day.

That’s were a system comes in handy.

The tried and true method is to write things down on a piece of paper and mark them off when they are done.

In our day and age we can do that but we also have the luxury of tracking to-dos electronically. We can make lists on our phone or computer or tablet. 

For a long time I’ve gravitated to the digital method. I have an app on my phone, tablet and computer that instantly is updated regardless of what device I’m using at the time. 

Over the last several months, however, I’ve gravitated to the more traditional method. I write out my list and check each item off with a pen.

I’ve noticed a couple of things during this time: 

First, I really like scratching several lines through a task I’ve completed AND making a big check mark beside it. There is something satisfying about doing that, more satisfying than merely clicking the item on my phone and having it disappear. 

I actually like to see the things I’ve completed. I somehow get pleasure in it. Just having a shorter list in front of me doesn’t give me the same sense of accomplishment.

It’s like playing hockey as a kid versus playing hockey as an adult. 

In some kids’ leagues they don’t post the real score, presumably to not discourage the kids. But believe me, when my son was a kid, he didn’t need a score board to know whether his team was winning or losing. 

As adults we like to see the score on the screen. It’s comforting to see a lead building up or to visualize that you just have one goal to catch up.

Every scratch and check mark I make is like I scored another goal. I am defeating the list. 

The second thing I noticed is I don’t like having to write everything out again every day. Nor do I like having to keep the paper with me. 

I want to make my list and, if I have to roll things over to the next day, I don’t want to have to write them out again. I also want to see it on all my devices.

You can’t do that with paper.

So with my recent desire to obliterate each of my to-dos with a heavy line that almost tears through the paper, and my aversion to writing things out again and again, I’m experimenting with a change.

I may go to a hybrid method where I have my to-dos on an electronic list, but also print a copy that I can rough up, check into the boards and score some goals on.

Here’s the thing: Like with our to-dos, we may at times feel we need to change things with our time with God. You can keep doing the same thing, but if your time with God is not satisfying, find a way to change it a little. Try a different time of day, journaling, writing out your prayer, using a devotional guide, or a different one. Don’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results. We all know what that’s a definition of.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to consider doing differently? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Will Catch Up This Week

I am playing catch up this week, and it feels pretty good.

Catch up this week

Some people are naturally able to stay on top of most things in their lives; others always seem to be falling behind.

The other day I was wondering if there were outward signs to identify which category people fall into. Like, for instance, when you see a car that has a foot of snow on its roof and it hasn’t snowed in two days, that might be a sign that the owner doesn’t stay on top of his work. 

… Or the person who has a snow covered car, except for half of the front windshield on the driver’s side – that might tell you that the owner also doesn’t take the time to clear his desk at the end of the work day.

That method might not be a consistent telltale sign because I don’t do either of those snow abominations, yet I do find myself falling behind in the work before me.

This week I had some time in my schedule to catch up on things that have been building up on my desk.

Those things are mostly paper, but represented in that paper are actions that I need to take, responses I need to make, suggestions I need to consider, and requests I need to say “no” to. How all this manifests itself is in paper strewn over my desk.  

What happens to me is that I keep up with the duties that are before me, but when there is no clear path forward on an item, that paper can settle in a pile. I will need to do something to address that item, but I don’t need to do it “now” as I have other things I feel are more pressing. 

So “later” becomes the go-to for these demands that don’t have a date or time attached to them. 

They’re nebulous and the paper on my desk becomes this clutter that collects together … much like the problem we have with plastic gathering together in the oceans. The plastic enters the ocean separately but somehow, over time, it is attracted to other plastic and they gather in large ocean garbage patches.

This is exactly what happens on my desk. Each piece of paper is placed on my desk in a specific spot, entirely independent of any other paper that might be there already. 

But, over time – in a much shorter time than the garbage in the ocean – it accumulates and forms piles that spread out and begin to take over the entire surface of my desk. I then have to sift through the paper and deal with each piece. 

I did this yesterday and, I have to say, my desk is looking really good and completely free of paper. 

Now my biggest concern is how to keep that paper from coming back. That question I haven’t solved.

Here’s the thing: In our lives we can clean up really well, get our acts together, correct wrongs, make  amends. We can restore and repair relationships. We can do right things. But like the paper on my desk, how do we keep our lives clean? We might have a plan that works for a while, but old habits and patterns tend to sneak up on us. We find the same messes start to pile up like they did before. Our only hope for cleaning our lives and keeping them clean is God. He makes us clean when we receive Christ’s sacrifice for our mess. He then keeps us clean by giving us power through the Holy Spirit to make wise decisions. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What needs a good cleaning in your life? Leave your comments and questions below.

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How Shredding Makes More Room In Your Life

I think I would really hate to work for a secret service agency with all those redacted documents and shredding that goes on.

shredding

Not that I really know much about what they do, I’m just imagining it all. What’s got me thinking about it is my wife Lily’s new kick on cleaning out our files. I have to agree that we have a serious stockpile of paper.

We have files full of old utility bills, income tax – you name it, we’ve kept it. And it’s all getting shredded. Lil really loves her shredder! It’s a Royal 1212X; apparently it crosscuts the sheets so that even CISIS or the NSA or FBI couldn’t piece the confetti together.

I’m thinking she might burn the motor out (which wouldn’t be a bad thing), her shredder’s been humming for days. We have bags and bags of shredded paper.

It’s not all going to fit in the garbage/recycling this week. We have an old bean bag chair that’s a little flat … maybe we could puff it up with a few bags of shredded paper.

If anyone knows of a wedding coming up soon, I’m sure Lily would sell some of her shredding to throw at the happy couple.

It’s not just saying goodbye to the paper during her Watergate-style purification of files, it’s the noise. Someone should seriously come up with a muffler for these machines.

While it’s destroying any evidence of my name and address on Union gas bills, it keeps me from hearing the TV or concentrating on reading, or focussing on writing things like this blog.

Lily likes it when we do things in the same place, even if we are doing different things. Generally that’s a good thing and I agree. But in this case, I’d consider me in the family room and her in the garage with her precious shredder close enough to being in the same place. At least it’s under the same roof.

What concerns me most is that we have a large filing cabinet, about four feet wide, with four draws. I could be in for a noisy spring and summer. She just better not take it on vacation this year.

I understand what’s at the heart of all this paper mutilation. Lily doesn’t want our personal information ending up in some recycling plant or land fill. She can’t handle the thought of someone digging through garbage to find info to steal our identity.

But I can’t see the seagulls in our neighbourhood being able to lift our credit info and charge some vacation to our card like the penguin on the CIBC Visa commercials might do (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9BIsrSPRFY).

Lil is not one to take chances. So I guess I should be grateful that she is making room in the filing cabinet for the next twenty years.

Oh wait, I think she’s saying something … I think she said she’s nearly finished … though I may not have heard her correctly over the racket of that blasted shredder!

Here’s the thing: It’s not easy when you recognize that you need to get rid of something in your life that is causing you harm. It takes some work, and it’s going to mean a disruption and annoyance to your old way of life. But when you come through it, the benefit is a life that has more room for the Holy Spirit to work in.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How often do you do a life-clearing to make more room for God in your life?

I would really love to hear from you. You can leave your comment below.