The "Gonna Do's" Versus the "DBD's"

Every day when I wake up I want to have my priorities in mind for that day. My first priority usually is having a cup of coffee and catching the morning news. As I shower and shave, I get fired up about the rest of the day. That means I am rebooting the old brain - just like the computers we use after they sleep.

I keep a calendar with a list of events I have on my schedule. When I have a lot of things going on, I sometimes get stuck and forgetful. I am not able to move as quickly or as fast as I feel I need to, or I am not able to complete what I had committed to do. Sometimes I get so busy that I forget to do what I should do besides the things on my list. All these things cause stress.

Sometimes I really need to get down to the basics. I love acronyms. It helps me when I use the KISS method. You know, the Keep It Simple Silly method.  If you know me very well, you might hear me gladly say that a task is a "DBD" - A Done Been Did. In our lives we find ourselves working our "Gonna Do's" and hoping to mark a "DBD" off our list.

Having the privilege of preparing this article has been on my "Gonna Do" agenda for a long time but only this Tuesday did I start. And this is a 'doosy' of a week if you know what I mean. This "Gonna Do" had suddenly become a challenge and somewhat stressful. What did God want to say through me to make this a meaningful reading for you.

As I was going in one direction on my computer the email signal came up and told me that I had another email. It was my weekly email from A Sermon for Every Sunday. This week's sermon is titled The Worst Church Member Ever, by Jim Somerville. Well, it got my attention. While I was wondering who in his congregation of ours, for that matter, that he was talking about. I had to stop what I was going to write and read his sermon. It's the title of a sermon on Mary and Martha, from Luke 10:38-42. While we all know the story about the sisters putting on the dinner for Jesus and the Disciples, this story brings something to our attention that maybe we should remember about our "Gonna Do's" when confronted with real life. An excerpt from the Sermon follows.
     "It would be so much easier if our choices in life were between good things and bad things, but so often they are between one good thing and another. It's good to sit at the feet of the Lord and listen. It's good to cook him a nice, big dinner. To choose between the two is hard. Mary did it. And so did Martha. And in the end all Jesus said was that Mary had chosen the better part, to love the Lord her God, with all her heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. If we could make the same choice not only would our lives be simpler, but our church membership would take on a different quality."
 
Just think. Everything we do-the gifts of our time, our talent, our treasure, the teaching of a class, the cutting of the grass, serving Mission 5000, etc. - can be an overflowing expression of our love for God.
 
I am glad that God hasn't marked his Gonna Do's on me and JFUMC as a DBD!
 
May all our Gonna Do's at JFUMC continue to come first as an expression of our love of God, and then of God's love for our neighbors through us!
 
Bart Gray
Lay Leader