"My" Days
Who Owns Your Schedule?
Introduction
My schedule is packed, especially when I am trying to squeeze a few days to visit my grandsons and their parents. I have been contemplating my busy days and full calendars, hence this issue of Adventure of Reflection
.
A Minute of Motivation
Spontaneity vs. Self-Control
A person without self-control is an easy victim if attacked by inappropriate desires or impulses. Too much spontaneity can be destructive.
Being spontaneous, being flexible, being impulsive – these are good qualities to have, provided the actions chosen are tempered by adequate self-control. An impulse to call someone who has been on your mind, just to make sure everything is alright – that’s a good impulse on which to act. An impulse to take revenge on someone who has wronged you, however, would be a time to use self-control, and refrain from taking action.
Spontaneity versus self-control – which is better? Actually, neither is better, both are essential to a well-managed life. The ideal is to balance spontaneity with self-control. Too much of either will make for an ineffective existence.
Too much self-control could make a person rigid and inflexible. It’s important, sometimes, to move with the spirit of the moment, and set aside a plan or agenda formed earlier.
A balance between impulsivity and self-control is my recommendation for you. Be flexible enough to act spontaneously when the spirit of the moment compels you into some unplanned kindness or healthy fun, but be self-controlled enough not to act quickly when a desire to do or say something wrong strikes you.
Be spontaneous with self-control.
Note. Originally written in 1992 and printed on dot-matrix paper. Published for the first time here.
Enjoy Life More
Divine Appointments
I have several calendars; my work calendar is in Outlook and on a paper version to which it aligns. My husband and I have a personal calendar on the kitchen wall for trips and events. With a full-time job, kids and grandkids in three states, various family strewn a few hours away, and other factors, I try not to waste time or be surprised by what is ahead. I like feeling in control; calendars help me feel as though I am managing my days, weeks, months, and years.
There’s another calendar none of us can see. It contains the unexpected and unplanned schedule demands. The phone rings, a frantic voice at the other end, asking, “do you have time to talk?” Or, while digging through a stack of papers to review, a colleague or distressed student appears in my doorway. Was this on any of my calendars?
Times to serve another come calling, without a “calendar invite” to help us plan for them. The “spirit of the moment” often brings opportunities to set aside “my” plan in order to help others. These “interruptions” are actually “divine appointments” scheduled on an invisible calendar.
Responding with kindness and patience requires a weave of spontaneity, managed by the discipline of self-surrender. These appointments don’t correspond with items on a “to do” list which can be crossed off when completed. They do, however, bring a deep sense of meaning for having helped someone “sent” to us.
To enjoy life more involves management of our time, combined with the flexibility to respond to divine appointments.
Faith Corner
“Teach us to recognize our days are limited; help us to spend them wisely.” (see Psalm 90:12)
How do you spend your time each day? If your days were a finite stack of dollar bills, how would you treat each bill as the stack became smaller? How would you “spend” the last one?
You don’t know how many days are left in your “stack” of days. I don’t either. I do know that each day, when it is gone, means my stack is one day shorter. How did I spend it? I think about that when I cross off each day on a calendar.
Lord, teach me to recognize my days are limited. Help me to spend each day wisely. Thank You for today. Help me to spend today in ways that bring You glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Poetry Pause
My Days
I am
All my days -
All my yesterdays,
All my todays, and
All my tomorrows.
Are they all my days?
Tomorrow is a Question Mark
For me,
But not for Him.
The days of my life –
He knows each one.
This day of my life
Is part of His plan
For me.
Yesterday was His.
Tomorrow is His.
Today is His.
I am never lost.
To Him.
By Cindy MacGregor, October 5, 2022
Old Mom to Young Mom
Windshield Chats
When our children were still at home, and especially before they were driving, my husband and I spent a lot of time as chauffeurs for them. The task of taking them to school and picking them up afterwards, typically fell to me, sometimes dropping them off and retrieving them from two to three different locations. Then there were the after school and weekend lessons, practices, and events. More driving. Countless hours looking ahead through a windshield, with a child as the passenger.
As our children got older I realized something about those car times. A child who wouldn’t talk about personal things when sitting across the table or across the room, would talk more freely when we were both staring straight ahead at the windshield. There was something about looking at each other that suppressed open communication. Looking at the windshield, and not looking at each other, was safer somehow.
We had so many good windshield chats, my children and I! We talked about school, friends, life, and even taboo subjects. Now, years later, my son calls when he’s driving home from his evening classes, one daughter calls when coming home from school with her sons (she’s a teacher), and one daughter calls during long road trips. I’d like to think those “windshield chats” from their childhood years are why they think of calling me when they are driving.
From an old mom to a young mom, don’t resent the many hours you transport your children. When these active chauffeur years are over, I hope they still call you for windshield chats.
Dear Dr. Mac
I enjoyed hearing from some of you about my “Fading into Glory” story from the previous newsletter. I am thankful this “divine appointment” with my pajama-clad visitor was a blessing to you; it certainly was to me!
As always, you can email me at: drcjmacgregor@outlook.com; I will respond via email or in this section of a future newsletter, or both. I hope to hear from you!