Pressed, but not Starched

What a month January has turned out to be! Gone, I guess, is the January "down time," the post-Christmas respite, the short break between the two grand celebrations of the church year.

As is so often true, at some significant level, I have only myself to blame.

• Reluctant to hibernate, I keep up a cycling routine through the winter, with a coached indoor workout twice a week. That's one night out, and one morning, through mid-March.
• Eager to finally take a course that I have heard so much about, this semester I am auditing "Biblical Theology of Worship" with Dr. Daniel Block at Wheaton College. That's another night out each week, through April.
• These two nights out are "lifeline" commitments, one physical the other spiritual and professional. But they are 2 nights out each week.

It's instructive how two voluntary, self-inflicted commitments can press the season. I generally keep a pretty open calendar, with plenty of margin in it. Maybe more margin than I should, but at least I am not normally stressed in January! So, I am pressed right now, but not starched - I still am easily wrinkled. So my tight schedule forces me to rely on God's grace for graciousness.

The days fly by with 3 nights committed weekly - I haven't even mentioned directing a choir rehearsal, which of course has occupied one night of my week for almost 24 years now. (And the singing commitment a full decade before that!) The days fly by, the nights are short, and the weekends precious. Well, um, except this weekend, with its "command appearance" at the men's retreat. I love men's retreat, so it is one of those commands which make the heart glad. But it does mean that - oh, let's see, the next night I will stay home is 7 days away. Yikes!

Well, it serves as a reminder to guard time while redeeming it. And to trust the Eternal for grace and resources in the Now. And to be thankful that I have all these options and opportunities, and leisure to enjoy them, and a vocation to which I can apply them.