By Sunday evening I had accumulated a number of meetings that needed to be debriefed. That is, I had returned from them with assorted notes and lists of things to do and follow up that needed to be assimilated into my list of jobs and allocated some kind of priority. I had not had enough spare time to debrief the local preachers meeting, the school governors personnel committee, the circuit meeting, the wedding enquiry, the house fellowship leaders conversations, the fresh expressions day or the church stewards meeting. Sunday was also the deadline for writing my contribution to the church's monthly magazine.
So on Monday I had lots to do and a large part of the day to do it. I was even looking forward to clearing as much of this backlog as possible. A visit to a colleague and heavy traffic (three miles in one hour) took most of the morning, but there was still all the afternoon, right?
Wrong. My propensity for sloth took over. I napped in the sun. I toyed around with facebook. I listened to music and played trivial games. I went for a walk to try and energise myself. I had a clear four hours to accomplish all kinds of useful tasks and I did none of them. By the evening all I had done was add another meeting (the family worship planning group) to be debriefed.
Tuesday is my day off. Morning and evening are already accounted for, but this afternoon I really need to do that four hours work I missed yesterday. I know exactly how Paul felt when he said "For what I want to do I do not do" (Romans 7:15)
- The outcome: Plans changed as the day progressed and I was only able to manage two hours work, mostly spent on writing a magazine article. Nevertheless I felt I had been gainfully employed (on ministerial, community, family or personal activities) all day except for two three-quarter hour patches where I frittered away my time pointlessly.
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