Are you a 20-something working professional?
Do you look at your commitments (including the necessary daily time out) and wonder how you'll be able to do everything?
Do you find yourself struggling for time but still need to fit that one extra thing into your schedule?
Do you look at the years, wonder where they went and freak out that by the time your parents were your age they had children, a house and their own business?
Please excuse me while I put my hand up first for all these things. I'm sure I just blinked and six years went by.
It's enough to make me yelp on the inside as little red flags pop up and sirens wail: "Organise, organise—time to organise!" I frequently get the distinct feeling that I'd better sort my life out. I find myself saying, Whaaaaaaat am I doing!
It seems like a pretty common feeling for young adults in my situation. We're just old enough to really start noticing the ticking of time. We've got enough years under our belt to feel the beginning of the end approaching.
Ultra-organisation?
But what does it even mean to sort out our lives? Does it mean being ultra-organised in everyday scheduling?
I tried being ultra-organised this week and bombed. Every carefully laid plan folded, flopped or went up in smoke. Day after day events and texts changed plans until it was too late for anything. I felt like I was pushing water uphill with a rake or nailing jelly to a tree. And I still have emails in my inbox which have been sitting there for two months unreplied to!
All my efforts to organise and have my daily events under control seemed—and still seem—futile.
Having a purpose?
So if sorting out life doesn't mean being ultra-organised every day, what does it mean? Having a purpose?
I've tried that too. But it keeps changing! Six months modify my purpose in life beyond recognition. I come up with an elaborate plan, only to have to adjust it or scrap it altogether.
Everything about life is full of flux and change. It seems designed to confuse any attempt at ordering it or maintaining course for one life purpose.
Don't organise, trust God
But the question of how to organise my life still plagues me.
To me the very existence of this question and the difficulties in ever solving it points to the answer for our problems. There is one easy step for organising our lives: don't organise.
This doesn't mean we do nothing but we needn't, and indeed can't, sort out every part of our lives so there is no sense in trying.
My troubles this week in particular have forced me to recognise that I am not in control of my life. I do have responsibility to live well and do what I can but ultimately God is the one in control. This is the reality for everyone.
So when things go wrong or just don't happen at all we can trust that it's being worked out according to God's purpose. This frees us from the red flag alert terror which cries out, "Organise, organise—time to organise!"
Those things we can do we must commit to the Lord in faith. If the organising goes well, we can thank Him; if it goes wrong, we can trust Him because "unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain." (Psalm 127, verse 1.)
Irenie How is young yet, by the grace of God, was saved while she was running away from and fighting against Him. God showed her that He is the Lord and she wants you to know this too. After becoming a Christian she finished studying to become a graphic designer and as this she currently works full-time in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Irenie How's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/irenie-how.html