Planning the day

The lists grow -

sometimes on lengthy strips of paper.

How easily my life becomes a list -

a long scroll of duties.

Sometimes the lists break down

into separate memos -

A batch of yellow memory scraps

each with an injunction.

Do this! Do that!

I can't get rid of my lists.

Perhaps there is some primitive magic here,

that if i name my duties I must perform them.

But then I almost always rebel.

These lists when they aren't burdening me,

give me an oppositional determination

to disobey and to do whatever I please.

Why do I put this "have to do it" burden

on myself? It only makes me righteous,

artificially safe, and soul tired.

Help me to sit here quietly.

help me not so much to plan as to listen.

help me to be informed, as in

"shaped from within," by Your will.

My burden is so heavy,

Yours is always light.

(Gunilla Norris : Being Home)

I no longer make lists on paper. These days they are stored in my mind - and thankfully, the lists are shorter....because my memory is not as good. So, shorter lists, and appointments spread out comfortably, opportunities to enjoy kairos moments.......with companions on the journey.

The trip to DBKL proved not quite necessary. There are two departments involved and we were told to "wait" for the first to give the outcome before proceeding to make the amendments asked for by the second department. The draughtsman gave a rueful smile as he said "waiting is the name of the game". A (spirituality - dare I say) of waiting for the bureaucratic processes to take their course!! And more so, a lesson in patient endurance.