SCHEDULES

I’ll need to look at my schedule.

What’s your schedule look like for next week?

Can we schedule that for sometime today?

Our schedule has just been jammed packed!

Business schedules

Family schedules

School schedules

Sports schedules

Church schedules

Conflicting schedules

Schedules

Schedules

Schedules

Ugh. Do you feel my pain?

I realize our life must have structure and order, but lately it seems like schedules rule our lives.   And it’s not all bad.  I mean, if there wasn’t some sort of plan, would anything ever get done?  I know if I didn’t have a list of things to do or certain times scheduled to do this or that, my life would be a big, hot mess…well bigger and hotter than it is already

But at what point do schedules become overwhelming?  When are we able to take time to smell the roses?  What about relaxing evenings?  What about slow mornings drinking coffee?  What about a weekend not jammed packed with activities?

Is it crazy to think that if we desire those moments, we need to schedule them?  That just seems wrong to write, but is it true?

I used to tease a friend of mine because he would frequently say, “Hey, let’s plan a spontaneous day!”  You might laugh, but there are weeks (sometimes months) where I feel like that is the only way to have a relaxing moment or break from life’s craziness!  But is that the answer?

Even though I left the classroom, our schedule still revolves around the school year since we still have two small boys, but for added extra, chaotic fun, now we have to schedule around the weather too because of our profession.  Do you know how hard it is to schedule family events or personal outings when your career is governed by the weather?  It’s not easy.  The personal life schedule is hard, but trying to be efficient in your business schedule isn’t exactly easy either when Mother Nature dominates what you might want to do on a particular day.  I know there have been many a days when what we wanted to accomplish just simply couldn’t be done because it rained.  But what can you do? 

 I refer to my years in the classroom a lot in this blog, but I spent many years there and am very familiar with how that process works.  Obviously, there are schedules at school.  There has to be.  You can’t have 100 kids or more eating lunch in the lunch room at the same time, or on the play ground, or in the gym or any place else all at once.  There HAS to be a schedule.  Though there were times when scheduling conflicts came up for the school, usually we could resolve them with some simple creative thinking.  This isn’t the case when you’re dealing with Mother Nature.  When you’re at the mercy of the weather and can’t work because of rain, work piles up and then you get behind.  As the weather clears, you feel like you have no other choice but to take advantage of every dry sunny day available even if that runs into the weekends.  You work and work and work and yet there is this feeling that you’ll never catch up.  So with that scenario in mind, at what point do you stop and relax or spend time with family? At what point do you take that break?  Because even when it rains, there is usually small stuff to take care of, so it’s not like you get a break on rainy days either.

Ugh, ugh, double ugh!!  Do you feel my pain?

Ultimately, this is what I am learning, as much as I may try to schedule my personal and business life, it’s all out of my control anyway.  Psalm 46:10 reminds us of this, “Be still and know that I am God…”  I truly believe we just have to be still, give it to God and let Him take over the schedule.  I mean, when it all boils down -- He’s in charge of it anyway, right?  So when life seems like a never ending chaotic schedule you just can’t control, maybe that’s a sign to stop controlling it.  Maybe that’s a sign to just be still.

My perspective of schedules and life in general has changed during my time out of the classroom. Though I might not always like it, I am thankful for what it is teaching me. One, that the only way to stop to madness is to force myself to.  Be still.  Breathe.   Two, when schedules don’t go my way and I’m frustrated, I need to recognize that my irritated mood doesn’t change the situation it just makes me an irritating person to live with!  And three, I must remember I’m not in control and really I never have been.  I think that’s what’s so frustrating about schedules.  They give us some unrealistic idea that we’re in control so when they don’t work out, it’s just a harsh reminder that our imagined control is gone.

Are schedules frustrating you too?  Try freeing yourself this week from the idea that you’re in control. Keep your schedule in perspective – a good guide, but not a life or death consequence if not followed.  Be still.  Trust God. (And maybe take the time to plan on spontaneous day too!)