To Do List

I am the type of person that is very motivated by goals. I live my business-life by a to-do list. Being self-employed I've learned that it is VITAL to my paycheck that I mange my time wisely. If I don't then "Well, I can work on it this afternoon" turns into, "I can do it tomorrow." And that becomes, "I'll just stay up late tonight to get it done." And before I know it the client is expecting a project to be deliver tomorrow and I haven't even started!

I have a To Do List saved in my phone and each night before I go to sleep I pick out the most important things to accomplish in the next day. Bring them to the top and section them off from the other tasks. When I come to the end of a day and I have checked off everything I get a real sense of accomplishment/satisfaction with myself and allow myself to relax for the evening. (Watch a movie, play Dr. Mario, etc.) When I haven't checked everything off... I usually keep working, and I just feel like I'm behind schedule.

The past two days I have virtually checked nothing off my list!! It's been driving me crazy! This or that will pop up and although I've spent the days doing productive tasks, I haven't checked much off my list, thus I don't feel like I can allow myself to relax.

Yesterday I had added "workout" to the list, because the day before was so busy and I didn't want to skip it again. We had an evening shoot with some tiny football players and even though I was hot and tired when I got home I put on my running shorts told my roommate I'd be back in a 1/2 hour and headed to the clubhouse to check at least one item off my list.

I punched in the combination to the workout room opened the door and headed inside. Somehow my pointer finger on my left hand got caught on something. (The door latch, the locking device, I really don't know what.) But I was already headed full force into the room. My hand got caught between my body and the door and jammed my finger from the knuckle back into the door.

Boy did it hurt! I am not someone who cusses and I literally had cuss words forming on my tongue! It tore a gash of skin off my finger and left some blood on door handle. I went straight to the bathroom to clean my hand up and survey the damage. Then took a wet paper towel back to clean up the door handle.

After I was satisfied that my finger was not, in fact, going to fall off I had a choice to make. Workout or no? My throbbing hand wanted to quit. I had set a goal of running 2 miles in 30 mins for that evening and I knew that running, getting my heart pumping would only make it bleed more and increase the swelling in my finger that had already begun.

Stubbornness more than anything pulled me up onto the treadmill. I was going to get something crossed off my list that day if it killed me! Ha! I ended up running very well for myself, 2 miles in 28 mins and I actually RAN a full mile, one half at a time. When I got back to the apartment I showered and crashed early, happy to have at least gotten one thing from my list accomplished in that day!

Intoxicating

     This weekend I was working a Blazing Rock event with my roommate and cousin in Texas. We had one of many booths in a trade show building. A booth that was not very far from us was Scentsy. You know, those little cubes of wax that you melt in a cutesy little pot. I have to confess, I've never been a scentsy fan. I've just never seen the point in having a candle smelly-good thing without getting to enjoy the soft glow of a tiny flickering flame. Maybe, it's more because I'm a pyro... but I LOVE candles! My roommate recently got her first job as a teacher and she decided that she needed to get a Scentsy contraption for her room so she could combat the scent of "5th Grade Boy".

     While looking over the different scents available my cousin wisely choose one called, "Route 66." When she showed it to me I crinkled my nose and asked, "What kind of a scent is that?" But as soon as I removed the plastic and the wonderful smell hit my nostrils I knew exactly what kind of a scent it was. It was the scent of a freshly showered man! Before I could say anything my cousin says, "It smells like a good boy."

     When it was my turn to go pick out a scent I surveyed the titles, "Apple Pie," "Blueberry Cheesecake," "French Lavender," I spied one that not only is the title of my favorite ZZ Top song, but also completed the discussion we had just had moments before: "Sharp Dressed Man!"

     Chatter abounded when I returned to my friends at our booth and we all breathed deep the smells we had collected. All three of us are single and we joked about how we would now at least get to smell a boy every now and then. We would no longer have to walk slowly as we passed by Abercrombie.

     I had to run a quick errand this morning so before I left I plugged in the warmer and put one of our "man smells" on so the apartment would smell good when I got back. Boy did it ever! Scentsys are strong and our apartment is not big. Ha! I was almost knocked over when I opened the door, but in a good way.

     As I went about my morning activities enjoying the smell of my apartment I remembered a praise and worship song I used to love in high school. One of the lines is "Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place." The song is comparing a relationship with Christ to a relationship with a significant other. Now, I've read all the books there are to read about "dating Jesus" while you are single. And to be honest I'm really tired of that game. (Side note: God knows I'm tired of that game, I've told him many times, but I am actively waiting for whoever he has for me, and I'm begging God to bring him soon.) But the scent turned into a bit of an object lesson for me.

     God's love for me IS extavagant. His friendship IS meant to be intimate. He calls us His bride and in Ephesians 5 Paul talks about how a bride is to be cherished. I love that word, cherished. I need to take time to relish in, cherish, and be intoxicated by His love for me just like I am fully enjoying the current smell of my apartment.

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