Making a list to check, revise, edit more than twice

I once found a “to-do” list left abandoned in an empty Marsh grocery cart.

I am sure you would agree that it was my civic duty as a journalist and logophile to unfold it and read it.

The carefully penned squared paper left no clues to how I could return it to its rightful list-maker, but I did find out there is a fellow Johnson Countian who likes bananas, needed snacks for the kids’ game and made a note to call his/her dad.

I deduce the writer may have been a woman — maybe someone working in finance, as her list was written on graphing paper and her handwritten cursive letters were perfect and spatially aligned.

Last week I was privy to a young man’s vision for the next six months. This young man lives more than 8,000 miles from Johnson County, so I was intrigued about what I might find on his list. How would it be different from my six-month vision, or even my current to-do list?

For comparison, my most current to-do lists looks likes this:

Finish Daily Journal column

Get groceries so we can eat this month

Sign up for kettlebell class (since I haven’t worked out in three months!)

Finish moving mother-in-law’s extra items from garage (change of address notices)

Send Chloe’s birthday card and present

Prepare Sunday School lesson

Finish article for Indiana Gardening Magazine

Finish writing three book chapters

Plant everything that is still in pots

Artcraft movie with mom and dad

Monthly goal: make bed at least four times per week.

By comparison, this was his list with Habakkuk 2:3 written at the top:

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end — it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Six-month vision for August 2017 to January 2018.

25 committed leaders to obtain the following results:

125 house churches

5,000 people to come to faith in Christ/Baptisms

Meeting at the end of each month and recording their progress

His Aug. 31 report included 20 baptisms and 12 house churches and listed the following needs: 10 bicycles and 10 motorbikes.

After reading his vision and seeing his arduous list, Matthew 17:20 came to my mind when Jesus said to his disciples: “… He said to them, because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (NLT)

I believe I shall revise my six-month to-do list.