WSL West Coast Conference 2023 - Meka Buffington - Faithful not Frazzled

[00:00:00] This podcast is a part of C.G.N Media, a podcast network that points to Christ. We are supported by listeners like you to help us create more great shows visit cgnmedia.org slash support. Hi and welcome to When She Leads, a podcast for Women in Ministry.

[00:00:17] In this episode we are releasing one of our breakout sessions from our 2023 EQUIPped Frey Purpose Conference. I pray it encourages you. My name is meka buffington. I'm from Calvary Chapel, Engelwood. My husband is the senior pastor, pastor Bill Buffington.

[00:00:37] And we've been serving together now for about 26 years, 13 years at Calvary Chapel, Engelwood. Now, pastor wife is not the sum of, I guess you would say what I do. I am a multi vocational, domestic engineer. And I'm like that's a big job because it involves so much.

[00:01:07] So I'm a human resource director training development manager. A personal chauffeur. Fashion consultant and a personal shopper. But I'm also a fulfillment manager in a referee that one can be fine. Secretary, a dog walker, how many of you have dogs? Yes, I'm a dog walker as well.

[00:01:33] I'm an editor of pharmacist and a nurse. Yes. So you understand how this topic can be one that even I need, right? I'm also a travel agent. How many of you like to travel? Yes, I'm a travel agent. I'm a caregiver and it just goes on.

[00:01:55] So sometimes I sit back and like, Lord, you gave me all these jobs. How am I supposed to do this, right? But like many of you, all I really said is I've been married for 26 years.

[00:02:13] I have four kids, three dogs and all of those are the things I do and don't get paid for. How many of you have those kind of jobs? Yes, we all do. We're women, right? So I'm a Christian woman, wife. Like I said, 26 years.

[00:02:33] And if most people say I'm a stay at home, mom, that's really what I am. Right? But all of those things that I listed, those are jobs. And God sees everything that we do, whether we get paid for it or not. And he's concerned about those things.

[00:02:53] Those jobs that you don't get paid for is just as important as the jobs that people go out and get paid for. And probably more important because your first ministry is home. Not what you do at church, not what you do that you get paid for at work.

[00:03:15] Your first ministry is home. So don't get confused thinking that you're so important because you have this title or that title at church. Because God is looking and he sees and he knows and he wants you to represent him well. And all that he's given you to do.

[00:03:37] The verse we're going to kind of circle around is going to be Colossians 3 23. And whatever you do, do it hardly as into the Lord and not to man. Remember, we serve the Lord. Rather people say thank you, great job that was wonderful.

[00:04:02] It doesn't matter because that's not who you serve. Those things may make you feel good and that's okay. And it's a nice low encouragement. Pick you up sometimes. But just as quickly as people can tell you, great job. They could say, oh, did you see what she wore?

[00:04:20] Yeah. Her voice is so squeaky. You know, you're going to have those fans and you're going to have those haters. So keep your eyes on the Lord and you will be able to weather all of that. How you work matters to God.

[00:04:39] He is worthy of our best all the time, whether it's for one or for 500 really, it's for him. So don't get discouraged. If you work in children's ministry, how many children ministry workers do we have?

[00:04:54] Okay, now let me say, how many small church children's ministry workers do we have? Small church children ministry can be hard. Not that big church can't. I have different problems. But small church could be hard because sometimes you had a children's ministry person.

[00:05:09] You're also the snack put together. And you're a calendar. And you're small church issues. And then you get three kids that show up and you've had the prepared this great lesson and bought enough stuff for 12 and you get three. Right? But those three matter to God.

[00:05:30] And he still wants you to pour into those three with all the further that you would if it was 25. If it was 100, that is still the same job to pour into those hearts. He's interested in how we do what we do. Our thoughts, our speech, our attitudes.

[00:05:50] Remember people that we serve are his people. And he cares about them. Now, what you're going to do right now on your worksheet. If you don't have a worksheet, raise your hand. Someone will bring it to you. We're going to go through that worksheet together.

[00:06:10] We are going to blame from Jesus this morning. And hopefully walk away from here with a plan that comes from him and ready to implement and be refreshed and see him and everything that we do. Okay?

[00:06:30] So you're going to take two minutes right now and where it says, my mini hats. You are going to write down the mini hats that you wear. And I want you to be specific. Maybe you're the accountant. I'm an accountant from my household. Right?

[00:06:48] And like I said, I'm a pharmacist. My husband will say what drugs you have. I have a headache. I have this. I have that. I have something for it. Right? And I have a different hat you wear.

[00:06:58] You're going to have two minutes starting right now to write down your mini hats. Mom's sister does general things. They don't work at specifics please. Don't forget, I know some of you in here are loan officers. To those adult children of yours.

[00:07:27] And I know you have much more. Don't just use those lines. They're all around the hat. Like you were in third grade and you're doing that mind. You have a big storm thing that you had to do before you wrote a story. Do that.

[00:07:38] Yeah, some of you illegal consultants. All right, ladies finish the one you're on. Then let me have your attention again up here. I want to hear a few of these. Some that I didn't need anybody shouted out. Let me hear it. A cook. A therapist. A chef.

[00:08:01] A boarding house. Life coach, a gardener. A babysitter. Wait a minute. What? A laundry mat. Okay. Yes. Yes. What was this one? Text support. I.T. person. Absolutely. Yes. A maid. A referee. Yes. A professional grandma. Okay. I got you on that when I hear you. Okay.

[00:08:47] And all of these things. All of these things that we named. It may sound weird and people think it's quite cliche. But really everything that we named. We could look to Jesus as our example for that.

[00:09:03] And people always say people Christians always say it's in the Bible or look to Jesus. But it's real. And what I found is that all the other books on the market. About being this the best this or doing this great.

[00:09:21] Really they took the principles from the Bible to Jesus out of it and remarketed it. And selling millions of them. Right? But we have the perfect example in Jesus and the perfect example in doing it well and doing it just Excelling in it. And John 829 Jesus.

[00:09:49] We hear he say and he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please him. When I read this verse there's a few words that sticks out to me.

[00:10:10] Number one the father has not left me alone so not alone. And I always always do those things that please the father that please his him. So it leads me to question do I always do those things that please him.

[00:10:33] Because that's what I want my heart wants to please him. I'm sure your heart wants to please him and we're never alone. So we always have him with us to empower us to strengthen us to guide us to teach us. But we have to look to him.

[00:10:54] The other thing that tells me is that if Jesus always did those things that please him. It tells me there were some things that Jesus didn't do.

[00:11:09] So then I started to think about all the things that I do or need to do or I'm expected to do and I ask myself, Do these things please him? Because if they don't please him I don't need to do them.

[00:11:24] Right? And so we need to question that and we need to be okay with not doing certain things. Because some people want to make us feel like, oh no you have to do this. This is what this person expects and that person expects.

[00:11:39] But really we belong to God. God is who we serve. And if we remember that we'll alleviate a lot of the pressure and anxiety that comes with doing the things that we need to do. So being faithful, we need to follow Jesus' example.

[00:12:07] And so in all of the things that you just listed around your hat, he's going to show us how to do them. Because you listed kind of titles but those titles have jobs with them right? Do these tasks that we have to accomplish?

[00:12:25] And so how do we do them and do them well in a way that please is God? So looking at Jesus, we're going to give you some points here. We're going to give you six points and we're going to look at what Jesus did.

[00:12:41] Jesus was faithful. He was never fragile. There are sometimes when we have so many things that we feel like we have to do, we're running around like a chicken with our hat cut off and we don't know where anything is.

[00:12:52] And it's like I know I just put it here. Where is it in? You're just being a mad woman. And people like, oh she's sitting down somewhere. I need her to stop or to add a two-git short. And then you're not pleasant to be around.

[00:13:11] And your husband is like, oh, here she goes again. I just wish you would quit. You know, we know those people and if you honest with yourself sometimes you are that person.

[00:13:23] And so hopefully today you walk away with a new way to look at all of this, a new way to do what you do for God. Jesus was faithful to his call upon his life. So ministry is rough if you were not called to it.

[00:13:46] If you stepped into ministry so that you could have a title or people could think that you're more Christian than you are, that's maybe why you haven't arrived time at it. If you stepped into ministry because God called you and he equipped you,

[00:14:05] because he did equip you. He will not call you and not equip you. So it's a life from the enemy that you're not good enough. You don't know enough. That's a life from the enemy. If he called you, he has equipped you because that's what he does.

[00:14:23] Jesus, what we'll see is Jesus stayed focused on the mission set before him. And that's what we need to do as well. So okay, let's jump in. As we look to Jesus, we see that Jesus prayed. That's going to be on your first line there.

[00:14:40] Look into Jesus, Jesus prayed. Mark 135 says, Now in the morning, having risen long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place in there. He prayed. He talked to the Father, the Father is our commander. God is the one who has the blueprint, the plan.

[00:15:03] Right? So we need to be in constant communication. Jesus came off of a full day of ministry. This getting up early in the morning. This was after a full day of ministry. He had already taught in the synagogue cast out demons. Hill Peter's mother and law.

[00:15:26] He also was bombarded by people who brought their sick loved ones and many others that were possessed by demons. And he healed them. He did all of those things went to sleep woke up, got up early long while before daylight.

[00:15:41] I can't tell you the last time I got up long while before daylight. I don't know about you all, but we were just having a conversation last night. And someone was talking about getting up going swimming like a six o'clock this morning.

[00:15:54] Somebody else said, oh, it might still be dark. I'm like, it's dark at six o'clock. So Jesus got up a long while. Now I will say, I get up in the morning and I pray and I'll read my Bible,

[00:16:08] but this is daylight by the time I get up. But we should start our day like that. If Jesus is our example, he did that for a reason.

[00:16:20] Because we all the disciples thought that they were going to get up and they were going to carry on in that same city, that same town where they did all that ministry today before. They thought, hey, let's get back at it. People are still here. They're coming.

[00:16:36] They're ready for us to go out and to do this whatever our task or ministry is for the day, but Jesus said, we're going to the next town. You're like, huh? What? I could imagine Jesus. Are you crazy to people already knocking down the doors? Next town.

[00:16:53] Because Jesus heard from God because he met with God, right? And God gave him direction for that day. And that's the same thing for us. If we meet with God early in the morning, then we could get fresh direction. Fresh alignment.

[00:17:16] There's not one way communication is not good enough. We know that this here doesn't say Jesus prayed and God spoke to him, out of believe. But we know that God spoke to him because he's like, no, this is,

[00:17:31] we got a new order as we're going to the next town. So our prayers as well. We need to make sure that we're allowing God time to speak back to us. Pray, pray, pray with reading your Bible. Pray your prayer with sitting still and listening.

[00:17:56] Come prepared to hear from God. Have something to write with when you're praying. Write down God's response so that you can look back at that. Next thing we see Jesus do is we look to him as our example. We see him do.

[00:18:15] We don't just pray and get the orders. We see Jesus healing people. He taught the disciples in the multitude. He met with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribes. We see Jesus. He cooked. Did you ever know that Jesus could cook?

[00:18:33] I wish I could taste that cook and it had to be amazing. Right? Can we do that? Everything good. It was a beach breakfast. That beach breakfast on the beach. Yes. Those disciples were out there fishing all night and everything and frustrated when they came

[00:18:52] in the next morning and Jesus had fish ready for him. How sweet. Right? Jesus also cast out demons. So there's a lot of references here on the things that Jesus did. And on our list we will have a lot too.

[00:19:09] The things that we need to do so see that praying was not enough because some of us will pray and we'll hear and we won't move and we'll wonder why things are not getting done. But Jesus prayed and we see Jesus do. Jesus also delegated.

[00:19:32] Like Ruth said, he doesn't need us. He blesses us to be a part of what he's doing. Just like those of us with small kids and they want to be right there with you when you're vacuuming or you're cooking in the kitchen and they want to help.

[00:19:53] We don't need their help. Oftentimes their help is really more of a hindrance because now it's going to take you longer and it's going to be a mess of your thing. Right? But we allow them to help. Jesus delegated in Mark 1435.

[00:20:11] This is when Jesus sent his disciples off to prepare a place for the Passover, told them to go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters the teacher asked.

[00:20:26] I'm like these disciples had to have a lot of faith in Jesus to do this. The teacher asked, where is my guest room? Where I may eat the Passover with my disciples. He'll show you a large room upstairs furnished and ready make preparations for his there.

[00:20:44] So we see Jesus didn't do all the work by himself. The work that God has given you, you don't have to do by yourself. But yet many of us, myself included sometimes.

[00:20:58] I want it done in a particular way and I want to know it's done right and on time. And so if I want to done right, what do you do? Do it yourself, right? But I'm learning too. I need to delegate because in delegating you're also training.

[00:21:19] And so Jesus allowed them to help and he delegated duties to them. He gave specific directions. So notice, he told them exactly where to go. What to look for? And what to say? The expected outcome was clearly communicated.

[00:21:40] So as we delegate to others, we need to be clear about what the expectation is. We need to share our heart. Jesus spent time with his disciples and we need to spend time with those who we are working with. The next thing is deferred. John 11-17.

[00:22:03] We're not going to read this whole passage for sake of time, but this is when Lazarus was sick and dying and the sister sent to Jesus in him a message. And it says when Jesus heard that he was sick, he said this sickness is not in to death,

[00:22:23] but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

[00:22:39] Then after he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea now. So he got a message that the one that he loved was sick and you would think, oh he's sick

[00:22:54] let me go ahead and get over there and pray with him and help him to feel better because he said it wasn't a death, but he stayed two days more before he traveled.

[00:23:05] And then they didn't have airplanes or you know, he wouldn't go get there in a flash. This was going to be a journey by foot or by camel or something like that, right? But he was not in a rush.

[00:23:17] He was not frazzled by the message that Lazarus was sick and that he stayed two more days where he was. Everything is not urgent ladies. Everything is not urgent and there's times you'll find or if you pause long enough something that you think is urgent,

[00:23:41] and you actually self what can I really do? There's nothing you can do. Pray. That is it. Just Christmas time. No, not Christmas March. My husband and I went on vacation and we were in Miami and we live here in Southern California.

[00:24:02] And I got a phone call from my brother saying that my dad fainted and was in the hospital. He hit his head, broke his nose and had a blood clot in his lungs. And I'm in Miami. And I am a daddy's girl.

[00:24:29] The only girl of four boys and my dad is reaching 80 years old. And there's nothing I can do. I'm in Miami. But the one thing that I could do, which is more than I could do if I was in California, was pray.

[00:24:49] Because even if I wasn't California, what could I do to help him other than pray? So sometimes realize that the best thing you can do for someone or for a situation is pray. No matter how much skill or talent you have, prayer, prayer, prayer.

[00:25:15] The night is the fifth one. The night there are some things that you are going to deny. Some things you're going to not accept that task and it will be okay. Be okay with saying no sometimes. There's going to be a lot of things to do.

[00:25:39] There's always a lot of things to do. More things than we can't ever do. We have to be okay with saying no sometimes. But if you did, he's our example. If Jesus did it, then it must be okay to do.

[00:25:55] The Pharisees and Sadducees, one of the signs, and they were pressing Jesus. They were really testing them as what they were doing. But he said a wicked and adulterous generation, six after a sign,

[00:26:08] and no sign shall be given it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah, which they've already had that sign. And he left and departed. He said, I'm not dealing with y'all right now. It's okay. The last one is rest.

[00:26:29] I love that they hit on this one in the session. Rest. Jesus rested. Don't be superwoman. You'll be a bad imitation because she's fake anyway. People trying to have their house all clean, looking like an Instagram photo.

[00:26:48] That's the first stage that house looked like that for that picture. Let it go. We see when Jesus went through some, Samaria, he, when he got to the well, he sat down. He sat down and rested.

[00:27:04] In the bottom of the boat in Mark 4, 4, 5 and 6, the up on the storm of the sea. Jesus was in the boat with a pillow. Sleep. Now that's the part that got me with the pillow, right? Not on his arm, but he had a pillow.

[00:27:24] He was prepared to sleep in the midst of the storm when there's so much going on. Chaos. Because some of us have chaotic lives sometimes. But in the midst of the chaos, we should be able to sleep because our rest comes from Jesus.

[00:27:45] And when we have the peace of Jesus in our heart and when we're focused on him and we understand that he's in control, we can rest.

[00:27:55] But if we think that we're in control and the world's going to fall apart without us, if we're not awake and if we're not doing this and if we don't set that in order, we will be fragile, we will lose sleep.

[00:28:07] We will be cranky and we will not be easy to deal with. Those are not the women we want to be. It does not represent Jesus well. So we need to pattern our time management after Jesus' example.

[00:28:24] His example to us is prayer, do delegate, defer, deny and rest. Once again, his pattern is prayer, do delegate, defer, deny and rest. Praying and reading your Bible, that time with God is never wasted. Never wasted.

[00:28:57] It is essential time that last thing on the front page is essential time prayer and reading your Bible. We never waste time when we take time to spend with God. This aligns our will with God's will because we're living for God that His will would be done.

[00:29:22] It teaches us also what pleases God. If this is a problem for you, if you find that you have a hard time reading your Bible on a daily basis, connect it to another habit that you already have. Most of us, I'm going to be real nice.

[00:29:41] I'm going to make this assumption in ladies. Don't make that saying about assumptions assuming things being true. You know what that saying is? Okay, don't do that to me. I'm going to safely assume that we all brush our teeth every morning. Okay?

[00:29:59] So if you have a problem reading your Bible every day, tell yourself you can't read your, you can't brush your teeth into your read your Bible. I bet you would become a habit real fast. Right?

[00:30:14] It sounds ridiculous, but if it means that much to you to read your Bible every day and it means that much to you to have clean teeth and fresh breath, then you make it a task to read your Bible and pray before you brush your teeth.

[00:30:32] It's essential time. Do it and see how your day changes. God created our bodies in a way that we have limitations. Our brain is a storage place, right? It's also a processing place. It is not a storage place for to do list. It's a storage place for memories.

[00:30:56] Okay? Some of us have some memories we wish we could forget. I understand that but God can use those things as well. And he will. But your brain is a processing place. It's a transportation place for information. True or fast?

[00:31:18] You only use about 10% of your brain each day. True or fast? Many people think that's true. It's actually fast. Your brain, your brain into entirety, is constantly working even when you're sleeping. If your brain is trying to remember you're to do list because that's in your short-term memory,

[00:31:43] you can't give your full attention to the task at hand. As much as we as women want to believe that we can multitask, the brain cannot multitask. What the brain actually does is switch between tasks so quickly that you don't notice it.

[00:32:01] It's really interesting that information in your brain travels so quickly the energy that it produces can power a small light bulb. It travels actually hundreds of miles per hour in your brain. That's how God made our bodies. So complex. Also, your brain has no concept of time.

[00:32:25] That's why your brain is constantly bringing up things. Did you remember this? Did you do that? You're supposed to do this. Did you tell her? Your brain is always doing that because your brain doesn't even know that that person is not even available for you to tell them.

[00:32:39] Right? So you have to tell your brain and what to do and when to do it, but you need to get it off of your brain by getting it somewhere else.

[00:32:53] And so we're going to turn our mind now to how do we get these things out of our brain so our brain can really give its full attention to the task at hand. Because some of you have been sitting here and your brain is already somewhere else.

[00:33:08] Thinking about the other 20 things you have to do today or what you have to do next week, you're not fully present. And that's our issue with technology nowadays. It has made us think that we could be in so many places at one time when literally you can't.

[00:33:24] You have limitations. So we're going to declutter our mind. So we're not going to judge anything right now. Go ahead and open turn to the next page. We are going to declutter when I mean by no judgment is you're not judging can I really do this?

[00:33:45] How long is it's going to take do I want to do this? You're just going to write down any and everything that's in your head that you have to do. But that you're going to pass on to somebody else that you need to check on.

[00:33:59] Just write keep your pencil moving just right when I taught third grade for years I did something called a quick write. It would be right after recess and really it was just the calm the kids down.

[00:34:12] But they had five minutes and they just had to keep the pencil moving. I don't care what you write about it because the capital letter or punctuation mark if you misspell it, it does not matter keep your pencil moving. So that's what you're going to do right now.

[00:34:29] Keep your pencil moving right down everything that's in your head. I'm going to go through some and help you along and just keep thinking who do you need to call? Who do you need to text? Call Sarah tell her to pick up the dog.

[00:34:43] Call my husband tell him this. Be specific. Who do you need to text? Who do you need to write a thank you note for? Oh, I need to buy a birthday present. Put that item on the list. Remember to cancel that bill.

[00:35:05] Remember to move somebody told you about that you want to watch right down to the book that you want to read. Get that linen closet that needs to be cleaned out in the hallway. The junk drawer and the kitchen.

[00:35:19] Oh, and that commitment that you'll agree to last week don't forget to put that on there. The errands that you committed to or maybe it's just the ones us on your regular rotation and that appointment. The one that you need to make put that one on there.

[00:35:36] Probably the three ladies you know those health appointments you need to do yearly. That you haven't done since COVID put those on the list. That project that's been on hold put that on there may not get done to nine months from now, but it's still in your head.

[00:35:53] Get it on the list. Because remember we're not judging this list right now. We're just putting it all on there. No thoughts about it. Just put it on there. Okay, we're going to move on, but that list is going to continue growing.

[00:36:09] So as I'm talking of something else coming to your head go ahead and add it. It's okay. That's called processing. So now we're going to jump into processing. We're going to process this list.

[00:36:21] First was be color the cluttering just getting everything out of our mind because when it's out of our mind. Then with in a safe place. So our brain just takes a deep breath. Right? But now comes time to do something with it.

[00:36:38] We need to tell it what's going to happen. So this those of you who have an iPhone raised raise your iPhone up or your hand up. Yes, okay my Android use or losers. Let me see you out there. Okay, so this is I do it digitally.

[00:37:03] I love notes in the iPhone. If you're an Android user or if you're an iPhone user you could also use Google key. Okay, but in notes I love it because in Google key you can do the same thing.

[00:37:19] But I can share notes with my husband part of my little system here is a shared note. So when I delegate things to my husband or I need to follow up with him.

[00:37:32] I gave him something that hey, can you check on this and then I need to get back to him and see if he got an answer for me or something.

[00:37:39] I can share a note and he can see what I need him to do and everything just works smoothly. It even works with my adult kids. So in processing I suggest do it digitally because we always have our phone with us ladies, right?

[00:37:58] If maybe I shouldn't say always 95% of the time. But if you do it in a notebook or something you just don't always have it. It's not always convenient. So I suggest that you do it digitally. And so we're going to process into four different categories.

[00:38:17] It's going to be calendar, next steps projects and someday maybe. I love the someday maybe. I'll tell you about that one. But calendar it used to be back in the day back well that can a day I'll leave it at that.

[00:38:36] Back in the day they would tell you, you know, right, right everything on your calendar on the day that you want to do it or choose the 10 things you want to do that day and or three top three things. These are my three priorities for today.

[00:38:49] Scrap that whole system. Okay, we're going to learn something here. Calendar on your calendar only put things on your calendar that have to be done must be done on a specific data at a specific time. For instance, you have a doctor's appointment on the 24th at 2 p.m.

[00:39:09] On October 24 of 2 p.m., you put doctors appointment with whatever doctor it is, right? Or kid soccer game on the 29th at 3 p.m. So very specific. That's the only thing that's on your calendar. Your calendar is not to do this.

[00:39:30] Once again, your calendar is not to do list. Next step. Next step is going to be very specific. So instead of some of you put on your declutter, go to target, go to the grocery store.

[00:39:46] That's fine, but you're working harder now because when you get to the grocery store then you're burning like, okay what did I need? So go to the grocery store, get mail, bread, soup, whatever it is. Actually, that's what your next step is going to look like.

[00:40:07] Instead of just go to the cleaners, I have to take bills to the cleaners. So I don't have to think about it. Write a thank you note. Okay, who is the thank you note too? Write a thank you note too Susie.

[00:40:21] That's what I have on my next step. So your next step you're going to be specific. So your brain when it comes to look at it, you don't have to think about, okay what did I mean here? Who is this for?

[00:40:33] No, it's already there in front of you. Also next steps are tasks that are three steps or less. That's my limit. I have a 330 limit on my next steps. 330 means three steps and no more than 30 minutes. If it takes me more than 30 minutes, it is a project.

[00:40:56] And projects going on a different list. So getting the projects, projects mean they are more than three steps and they take more than 30 minutes. Okay, so projects may be cleaning out the linen closet. That's a project. Project may be organizing my bookshelf. That's a project.

[00:41:18] That's not a next step. Some day maybe, some day maybe you can dream a little bit. My someday maybe has a bunch of restaurants I want to go to. And it's like okay go to. Hmm, let me tell you exactly what it is.

[00:41:41] Go to California, Cocina and Los Alamedos. That's on my list because see when my husband says where do you want to go eat? I don't know. But now I can say hey, I want to go to this place never been there before. Someday maybe. Someday maybe maybe.

[00:42:01] I want the charger. Where how the you have the charger pad in your car, you don't have to have the plug anymore, you could just set your phone. That's what I want. I want to change out my center counts what I have one of those.

[00:42:14] That's a someday maybe. It's not something that I have to do even need to do. It's just a desire and if it happens, it happens if it doesn't know they do. Dream a little someday maybe.

[00:42:30] So now what we're going to do is we're going to take the left side of your paper that's at less declutter. And we're actually going to process it into these different categories, okay so.

[00:42:45] Left side of your paper open your paper that's also why your paper is this big and it's just not stapled with a couple sheets of paper together. So you could actually see the whole thing I know you're not at a table or desk but it's okay.

[00:42:58] So anything that you have on your declutter list that has a date or specific time, you are now going to put it on the calendar. So rather you're using your digital calendar, your Google calendar or you're using paper go ahead and put it right there.

[00:43:14] If you know that you have to a meeting next Tuesday, put it right there on calendar meet with Janah at three o'clock on Tuesday or whatever your meeting is. Same thing for projects those projects those from your declutter list. What are the projects that you have at hand?

[00:43:38] I ask that you don't do next steps just yet because next step is going to be a little different. Some of you may have some DIY stuff on your next project list may have a gardening project.

[00:43:56] Ballying system in your home, what is your projects that in projects are within the year let's say. Within the year you know some projects will be completed next week some six months from now.

[00:44:13] So if you're doing it digitally or you plan to do it digitally you just start a note and the title of note will be projects. I don't know to be someday maybe but it won't be calendar because the calendar is actually in your calendar on your calendar act.

[00:44:30] Okay let's look at the next steps.

[00:44:34] Next steps this is going to be divided according to your lifestyle so if you're doing it digitally it will say next steps just like it does on your paper, but also on your paper or digitally you're going to have sub categories under that depending on your lifestyle.

[00:44:52] For me for example and I think one a few that we will all have in common would be a label for home meaning where are you going to do this where do you need to be to do this specific task.

[00:45:04] Some tasks can only be done at home if you need to scrub your bathtub that can only be done when you're at home so it will go under home. So I have divisions home church because that's where the other part of my life is home church errands.

[00:45:24] I have a waiting for because I have things that I delegate out and I'm waiting for responses so I need to keep up with those things right.

[00:45:38] So think about if there's some area that I didn't cover that is a major part of your life another two that I have is at the computer because there's some things I can only do when I'm at my computer. And then phones slash text messages.

[00:46:00] So that should be a good start for you to be able to now fill in the rest of your declutter items. Under next step. So for instance on my.

[00:46:16] Next steps I have people I need to make phone calls or send text messages to so all of those people go under that part. But not just their name, not just call Mike it's call Mike about security alarm notify this person about this situation.

[00:46:38] So when I'm looking at that and I'm about to make that phone call or send that text message. I don't have to wonder about what I need to call Mike about. So you're being specific under that next step that's actually what it is.

[00:46:52] What do I need to do next to accomplish this task? At the computer maybe what do I need to do when I'm sitting at my computer create this down low that whatever the situations are that I need to be at my computer for.

[00:47:13] I mean, Karen says one of my favorite ones and it really helps me to get a lot done because airlines that's all your store runs your drop this off your return that.

[00:47:23] And you'll find that you're out sometimes and if you actually look at your Aaron's list before you leave that location that you're about to leave. You'll see that there's three other steps that you can make before you get to your destination that you could check off your list.

[00:47:38] And it did not require you, you know, getting up and getting dressed an extra time. And it really didn't take that much time out of your day to do it because it was already on your route. So all of those errands now put under your errands tab

[00:48:00] and just keep going down your list. When I'm at work, what is it? What's some specific task that I need to remember to do at work? What are some of the things that you're waiting for that somebody was supposed to get back to you for?

[00:48:14] That's under your waiting. If you choose to have a waiting one. Okay, and once you have all of that down and I do understand, and you're gonna have to take this home and sit with it a bit and really get it

[00:48:32] in the order that you can work with it whether it's on paper or digitally, but I tell you it will work if you work it. So now that you had let's say you have this all done, right? And we can have some beautiful planners

[00:48:47] and everything digitally laid out. But if we don't do it, it doesn't matter, right? So get it done. How in the world do you choose what to do? Most people say, oh, you choose according to priority. No, you choose according to location, time, and energy.

[00:49:10] Location, time, and energy. As I said before, if you're not in the right location, you can't do the task. You can't clean your bathtub if you're at church, right? So you have to be in the right location. You cannot organize your linen closet

[00:49:36] if you're waiting at your child's school to pick them up. But you can make that phone call or send that text message, right? So if you had three phone calls on your list and you're waiting in that line for another 15 minutes because school is not out yet.

[00:49:54] Don't spend that time minus least scrolling on your phone. Get that task done, so when your child gets in the car, you could have that whole conversation about their day and when you get home. Now you don't have to spend time on the phone

[00:50:08] because you already accomplished that. We have to learn how to maximize that in-between time. As the pastor's wife, I tend to have quite a bit of that. Sometimes you feel like there's not enough time to really do anything useful. It's 10 minutes.

[00:50:27] I'm sitting here waiting for him to finish talking or maybe it's 30 minutes and I'm sitting here waiting for him to finish talking to the people at church. But in 30 minutes, there's a whole lot that I can accomplish if I know what it is. That's why I say digitally

[00:50:47] and not on paper. And you may think, I'm not that type of techy person. It does not take a lot to keep this list. OK? If it's 9.30 at night in your tire but you still have 15 minutes before the washer finish

[00:51:05] so you can put those clothes in the dryer because you don't want to sit in the washer overnight because then you have to re-wash them. So it's like 15 minutes. What do I don't want to wait 15 minutes? But it's like OK, Lord.

[00:51:22] If I could use this 15 minutes, what do I do? Because if I read, I'm going to follow sleeping. Those clothes are going to be in the dryer. I mean, I'm going to be in the washer for too long. So in 15 minutes, I can write a thank you note.

[00:51:35] I can write a note of encouragement to someone in 15 minutes. Because my energy is low. I have to consider that. My energy is low. So I'm not going to go in my application floor. That's why we consider what we're going to do according to location, time and energy.

[00:51:59] And you will be surprised. Sometimes you just don't want to do the task. Even if the energy is right, it could be first thing in the morning. You have the energy in the time to clean out that linen closet and your end of the right location

[00:52:14] and you just don't want to do it. I feel you. You have two options at that point. You could go ahead and eat that for all. Mean, do the job. Or you could delete it from your list and decide it's just not that important. Two options.

[00:52:34] And I'll tell you, it's OK to drop it from your list. Because what happened is OK, I don't have to consider that anymore. It'll get back on the list one day when it started to bother you enough. It's OK to drop it from the list sometimes.

[00:52:53] Also, work within your limitations. We all have limitations. We talked about that at the last session. Our bodies need rest. One of our limitations is energy. The other limitation that we have is time. We only have 24 hours. Each of us have been given the same amount of time.

[00:53:17] And we are not God. We can only be in one place at a time, although technology tells us that we could be in Europe right now. We have to do as jump on zoom and where they're. But that's not true, ladies.

[00:53:32] Physically, you could only be in one place at a time. So with all the things that we have to do, there are some things that we can do. We can't defy our limitations. But we can work within them. We have access to so many personal servants or maids.

[00:53:55] And I don't know, y'all probably think, and I don't got that much money. I really don't have that many. Or maybe I don't have any at all. What is she talking about? How many of you have a washing machine at home? I didn't always have one at home.

[00:54:09] How many of you have one at home? I do now. OK, that washing machine is a maid. You are not taking your basket of clothes to the river to wash them. OK, it is doing the work for you.

[00:54:28] When we got married in lunchtime, so I will go quickly. When we got married, I received a bunch of crock pots for three or four of them. I'm 23, maybe 24, and I didn't care about a crock pot. I don't know the value of it.

[00:54:44] And so I either returned them all or gave them away. But when I reached about 40, and learned how to cook something in a crock pot, I learned how amazing this thing was. And I think maybe a year or two later,

[00:54:58] I upgraded to get one that instead of turning the knob that I could push the little buttons. I thought of a real fancy. And then I upgraded again to one that has the delay so to cook itself.

[00:55:11] And it started itself to cook while I'm at work or whatever. So work within your limitation, use your servants. Think about it. You have a dishwasher. That dishwasher could be washing those dishes while you write that thing. Why you make that phone call?

[00:55:27] That I, Robocon Run, when you're at work. Use resources if you don't have them. If you don't have all servants, consider which ones you need to invest in. One last thing. You've heard it already. You're going to hear it again and before I tell you that.

[00:55:46] Remember, you want to declutter. declutter. Get everything out of your head. Often. declutter often. Often means for me multiple times a day. I don't let it sit in my head. I just made that a practice. When somebody told me something,

[00:56:05] I either write it down or put it in my phone, I'll organize it later, which where it needs to go. Organize regularly. Decide what regularly is for you. For some people, that's once a week. They set a time, a day and time,

[00:56:20] and that's when they organize what they need to do. And then, but do you need to be doing daily? There should not be a day that you don't do unless you're sick. And when you're sick, you should be doing something and that's resting.

[00:56:35] Remember, even Jesus took time to rest. That is your last thing. Even Jesus took time to rest. Rest is essential for the body. It's essential for the brain. May we remember, in model, our time management after Jesus is an example,

[00:56:59] that we would be faithful, faithful women, not fragile, let's pray. Father, we do thank you. Thank you for your example that you've given us in Jesus. He is perfect in every way. May we be women who glorify you, who serve you well.

[00:57:21] We would love to say we always do those things that please the Father, but we do know that we fall short, but that's our heart, Lord. Continue to mold us and shape us to be more like you. We know that you've called us into ministry

[00:57:38] and you've given us a great purpose. So as you equip us, as you're so faithful to do, Lord, may we be faithful to do our part and sit before you, to pour our heart to you and be led by you in Jesus' name, amen.

[00:57:58] Well, thanks for joining us today. We hope you find this content helpful. Hey, stay connected with us on Instagram and Facebook for all that is going on with when she leaves. We'll see you next time.