God keeps his promise to work with my prayers (Romans 8.26), even a whiny, complaining lament.  I had a hard time identifying with the Psalms of Lament (like Psalm 28, 55, 56, 57) – full of opponents, pits, traps, and attacks, until I recognized MY silent assailant was having so many assignments that I could not possibly accomplish them.

 Last Wednesday night I once again reached the tipping point on too many things to do. Several days of meetings and emails piling on additional jobs had overwhelmed the switchboard; the kitchen was slammed with too many orders; the web site couldn’t handle the traffic; the rivers overflowed; the highways were gridlocked.  The nightmare came back in the night where I am walking around Berkey Hall on the MSU campus, trying to find the room where the final exam is being held for the class I forgot to attend all semester long.

So I just started making a list.  All the work projects, all the church responsibilities,  all the phone calls to make and emails to send – write down everything that needs doing very soon. Pray, “God, there are too many things to do.  How am I ever going to get out from under this long list?  Please help!”

 Here is how God answered my lamented (demented?) list:

–          There is something therapeutic and peaceful in having everything on a list, gathered in one place.

–          Something funny happens when categorizing the list.  Half are work, half are church, half are family – too many halves makes light of the problem.

–          The right order for attacking the list becomes clear.  Usually a few small tasks to get started, then the most pressing, then a realization that not everything has to be done TODAY!

–          A four hour slot of time opens up!

–          Attacking the list becomes a challenge rather than a weight.

 Thank you, LORD, for hearing my complaint and guiding me past it.