To Be List
I am the Queen of “To Do Lists.” I learned this from my father. He always has a little book on the table near him where he can write down what he needs to do. I have a much larger book with a written to-do list for each week. I find that it helps me stay on track and prioritize things. Many items appear on the list every week, and I love checking them off. Then there are the things that don’t get checked off but simply get moved to the next week’s list. What is really exciting is when I finally finish a task that has appeared on several lists. I will actually go back and check it off on each of the previous weeks!
Obviously, checking something off gives me a sense of accomplishment and reinforces the message, “I did it!” I’m told that checking things off a list also gives us a sense of completion, control, and reward. When a task gets carried over, it continues to occupy a little bit of our attention. When we finally check it off, we can close that mental loop. A list also has the wonderful ability to turn something vague into something concrete. As I was checking things off my list today, I came across a meme that said, “Instead of focusing so much on a To Do List, I’m starting a To Be List!” This got me thinking: Would Jesus want me to make a To Do list or a To Be list?
Maybe this is part of why we sometimes struggle to name our gifts from God. We associate our gifts with things we do or things we need to accomplish, when God’s call is also an invitation into a way of being. Micah 6:8 asks, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” I think it is important to recognize that this passage holds doing and being together. We do justice, AND we love kindness and walk humbly with God. Faith isn’t simply about completing the justice task and checking it off the list. It is about becoming people whose lives are increasingly oriented toward justice, kindness, and humility.
Paul offers something similar in Galatians 5:22–23 when he describes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These aren’t tasks to complete. They describe qualities that can take root and grow within us. When we answer Jesus’ call to follow, perhaps one of the questions we need to ask is: Who is God calling me to become—and how will that shape what I do? As we grow in faith, the things we do begin to emerge from the people we are becoming. We are called to be in relationship with God, with one another, and with the strangers we encounter along the way. What we do matters, but so does the spirit in which we do it.
So I think I need to start a new list—a To Be List. This coming week, I want to be: present, generous, willing to listen, willing to change, and someone through whom another person experiences love. I want to be at peace and grounded. I will still have my To Do List. It helps me stay on task, and I still really like checking off those boxes! But moving forward, I also want a To Be List so that at the end of the week I can ask myself: Did the way I lived this week move me toward the person God is calling me to become? What will be on your To Be List?
Blessings,
Karen