Good morning, DearHeart.

Do you work off of to-do lists, too? It is impossible for me to fight the distraction of the lists. My grandmother, Mom Coon, drank coffee every morning with her neighbor Lela or her sister in law, Aunt Edna. They had a unique gift of cutting away time to simply be together. To linger together. Every day. Sometimes, they did it again in the afternoon.

We will always have tasks to do each day. If we allow ourselves to be distracted we will miss what God has for us each day. “How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness” (Ecclesiastes 8:1, NLT). Wisdom, analyzing, interpreting come from time … with Godly people. My bible commentary has this to say about this verse: “Anxiety, anger, sorrow, and frustration can harden one’s face, but the enjoyment of life and wisdom will lighten it.” Wisdom comes from the Lord and He will give us wisdom, thus lightening our burdens, easing our minds, and changing our very countenance as He changes our souls. My goal this week is to look at each item on my to-do list (because throwing it away would do me in) as opportunities to share and worship Christ. Opportunities to linger … to use it as a prompt to linger in the presence of the Holy with others. Somebody else needed this thought … this reminder … this permission to put relationships ahead of the ‘to-do list’, right?!

Wake up.

Linger.

Go.