agenda

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I Got Hijacked And Now My Day Is Not Mine

I just had my whole day hijacked by my wife. Now I have to figure out how to reorganize my day so that I get done some of what I had planned to do.

I got hijacked and now my day is not mine

Having your day highjacked happens out of the blue when you least expect it. 

Sometimes it can be an emergency, where you just have to drop everything and fully immerse yourself in what’s before you. When that kind of highjacking happens you don’t really think twice about what you’d planned. The emergency obviously takes precedence and you just go with it. 

But when there’s no real emergency, rather just someone else’s agenda that highjacks you, that’s frustrating.

Most mornings I go for a walk when I first get up. If I’m at the cottage, I will walk along the beach. If I’m at home, I will walk around my basement. And while I’m walking I plan my day. I identify things I need to do and things I want to do, and slot them into portions of the day that fits best. 

For instance, if I want to write a blog, I’ll do that after my time with God and before I eat breakfast. I never write in the afternoon or evening. 

Well, this morning I had already figured out what I planned to tackle for the day. I was just finishing my time with God when Lily, my wife, appeared with a plan for me.

Highjacked!

She was on a kick to get her garden in order after two years of not being well enough to care for it. Did you notice I said “her” garden? Not “my” garden or “our” garden. I have nothing to do with it. The garden is all hers. 

She wanted me to put some wood against the fence so she could build up the soil in her garden. 

I had to go outside and figure out what kind of wood and how much wood she needed, and then go to the hardware store to purchase this said wood. Then I had to dig down a little and attach the wood to the fence.

It was not an all-day highjacking but it meant I had to cut a few things off my list for the day – things that I had thought about and made decisions concerning them. 

The interesting thing was that Lily didn’t seem to care. She wanted to get going on this garden and the boards needed to be put in place first. 

It was like she felt she could highjack my day because somehow my day was just part of her day, that our days just melt together into one. 

This is how she thinks so there’s no point me thinking that this was a one-off highjacking!

In the end, Lily got what she wanted: my time and energy spent on her project. 

… Well I guess now it’s my garden too.

Here’s the thing: There are always attempts made to highjack our day. Well-meaning people need or want what we can provide. Sometimes we can refuse to be highjacked and focus on what we had planned. Other times it’s to our advantage to get highjacked. There are also times when God will attempt to highjack your day. When He does, it’s best to go with God’s agenda because, when your faith is in Him, your day is a part of His day. The end result is for your own good. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time your day got highjacked by someone? By whom? Leave your comments and questions below.

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When Your Agenda Is Not Your Agenda

Sometimes you don’t have control over your agenda. Circumstances can take precedence, or a boss may place demands on you, but whatever the case, you know when you are not in control of your day.

your agenda

This weekend I did a lot of hanging around – it was Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. We do it earlier than the States, probably because it gets cold earlier. We’re still harvesting in mid October, but by the time the end of November comes around, places like Saskatchewan and Alberta can be deep in snow.

This Thanksgiving we had our family around and that meant just hanging out and carving each other up as we reminisced of years gone by.

I discovered that with all the family here my agenda was not my own. I didn’t get to do what I wanted when I wanted.  

Even writing this blog didn’t happen early in the morning when I like to write. I was out to the stores three times and each time the purpose was primarily for someone else.

It was interesting because it reminded me of about a twenty year stretch of my life.

When Lily and I were married, we waited about four years before we had kids. In that time our agenda was our own. We did what we wanted when we wanted and for how long we wanted to do it.

But from the moment our first child, Karlie, was born things changed. Our agenda each day was not really our own.

It was high-jacked everyday after that, in some form or fashion, by our kids … until our second child, Mike, moved into his own place.

Then, as quickly and miraculously as we had lost control of our daily agenda, we got it back. 

In fact, we’ve had our agenda back for so long that it’s difficult to remember what life was like when we had a couple of pirates controlling the ship for so many years.

Well “matey”, I guess I just rediscovered what it’s like to have Captains Blackbeard and Jack Sparrow battling for control of the details of our day.  

It’s always interesting – never a dull moment – and there is lots of comedy.

But I’m not doing what I might have planned if I was in control of my agenda.

For one thing I would have had my blog post written long ago. I also would have felt free to do the things that were on my list of things to do. 

… But when I think of what is on my to-do list, there are a whole lot of things I don’t really want to do. 

So the high-jacking of my agenda might not have been a bad thing after all. 

Maybe what’s really at stake for me is the feeling of freedom. Freedom is not a real thing because I’m either tied to my list or someone else’s agenda. 

… For some reason, I just feel more free with my list. 

It’s all moot because everything went back to normal on Monday night. I got my agenda back. 

Here’s the thing: We like our freedom so much that we don’t like to give our agenda up for anyone, even God. But your freedom is really an illusion because there is always someone or something in control of your agenda. It comes down to whether you choose to feel free with God’s agenda or someone else’s. Bob Dylan was right when he sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Choose God and choose His freedom.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who has control of your agenda? Leave you comments and questions below.