What will you accomplish today?
Yesterday I didn’t check anything off of my “to-do” list. In fact, I didn’t even have a “to-do” list. 
I didn’t have the satisfying feeling from getting anything done, because I didn’t. I didn’t meet with a student, wash and fold any clothes, or run any errands. I wasn’t busy at all. I didn’t cook one meal—no worries, though, I did eat. I didn’t even read a chapter from the book that I was supposed to finish before May.
Actually, yesterday I worked hard at “doing nothing”, or more specifically, “doing nothing with Dad”. Instead of “doing” anything, I tried to just “be”. At the end of the day, I wondered why I feel like this is described as “nothing”.
Somewhere along the way our culture disqualified “being present for people” from a place on the “to-do” list. “Being” just doesn’t weigh as much as “doing”—you can tell by the way we measure the success of a day. “Doing” is overrated. “Being” needs to get more credit in the rhythm of our lives.
I felt like this fifteen years ago when our four kids were little and home all day. I often told Gary, “I didn’t get a thing done today.”
It’s not that I sat on the couch watching soap operas all day. But I did sit on the couch to read “The Hungry Caterpillar” with my kids instead of folding the clothes on the other end of the couch. Or I called “balls and strikes” for the neighborhood baseball game instead of calling the visitor that I met at church on Sunday. Sometimes I prepared a batch of cookies with Jessica instead of preparing the class I was teaching on Saturday. Or I ran to hide while one of them counted instead of running to the bank, pharmacy and grocery store. No wonder I hardly accomplished anything. My “to-do” list only grew longer, and I had to convince myself that my value didn’t depend on how much I checked off the list.
Wisteria at the Hilltop Nursery, Baton Rouge, LA
Lately I’ve been in the same rhythm of “getting nothing done”. I can’t remember the last time I’ve spent so many days successfully being so “unproductive”. This time, though, instead of playing in the streets and backyard with my kids, I’ve been sitting in the hospital—or house– with my Dad as he perseveres through a long and complicated recovery.
Yes, the stack of bills is accumulating. I need to go grocery shopping as soon as I return to Abilene. And I’ve missed quite a few meetings. But I’m thankful for the privilege of just “being” with my Dad and for the reminder that “doing” is overrated.
Today I’m going back to Texas for a few days and I’ll probably start a “to-do” list while I wait in the airport. But the most important thing I’ll do this weekend won’t be checked off the list—unless I make a new “to-be” column.
So take it easy on yourself when you feel like the “to-do” list is screaming for attention. Maybe the greatest accomplishment waiting for you is in the “to-be” column.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Henri Nouwen for you to contemplate while you go get something done today.
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” Henri Nouwen
