PEOPLE WANT TO DO MORE WITH THEIR LIVES. They want to experience more, give more, expand in all directions. And yet with jobs, kids, and household demands, most are already drowning in the many-faceted details of their daily lives. How can we do more until we get better control over all the minutiae that threaten to make stress outweigh fulfillment?
Doing less may not always be the answer. Sometimes what's most needed is a change of viewpoint. Not a gloss-over or mere surface calm, but an actual shift away from the limits of negative thinking to a more expansive spiritual basis. Learning this awhile back kept me from ultimately succumbing to frustration and stress when I added yet another commitment to my already full daily schedule.
As demands from all directions mushroomed, clamoring in unison for my attention, I found myself buried in exasperation as much as in the tasks themselves. How could I accomplish anything this way?
However, no matter how busy I am, I always take time to pray. In this situation, while I felt my prayers initially helped me stay afloat, they hadn't brought the breakthrough I needed to actually solve the problem. Continuing my prayer, I sought further inspiration from the Bible.
Familiar verses advised against serving two masters, admonishing, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). I applied this radically to prioritize the work at hand. Important work, I reasoned, would serve God; minor details and lesser jobs wouldn't—they were "mammon," unworthy of my attention. Instead of helping, though, this attitude actually increased my sense of burden (not to mention my "to do" list!) and made my life feel too compartmentalized. All these pieces seemed to be pulling me apart at a time when I really needed to get it together!
I wondered if it was realistic to think you can actually have a single, focused purpose and still have a rich, multifaceted life. I considered the life of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of this magazine. Her life was unquestionably multifaceted yet very focused. She simply gave her all to God and to benefit humanity. The details that went with her commitments must have been daunting, but she shared this simple solution to that problem, grounded in her deep spirituality: "The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it" (Science and Health, p. 426).
A major breakthrough came for me as I prayerfully affirmed the Bible verse that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28). At last I understood that condemning myself for time spent on mundane duties, whether for the household or office, labeling them as "mammon," only invited discouragement and depression, and actually perpetuated my being unable to fulfill other demands. Instead of my compartmentalizing my life into worthy and unworthy parts, I now saw my life as knitted together, every detail designed to fulfill only one purpose—to show forth the actual presence of God.
Continuing study brought other lessons that showed me how getting mesmerized by the details can paralyze progress, such as Naaman's experience in the Bible shows (see II Kings 5:1–14). An army officer afflicted with leprosy, Naaman went to the prophet Elisha seeking healing. But when the details didn't occur as Naaman expected —instead of coming out to greet Naaman with fanfare, Elisha simply sent a messenger to tell Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan seven times—he became resentful and nearly abandoned his objective and opportunity to be healed. Fortunately, Naaman's faithful servants helped him regain his focus of humbly seeking God's blessing, not merely fulfilling his own will. His resistance dissolved. Saved from his own undoing, Naaman found his harmony and health restored.
These ideas helped me begin to handle myriad daily duties in a more orderly way. Details no longer threatened to eclipse the big picture. In fact, this new viewpoint gave me a greater sense of dominion. Instead of feeling swamped, I saw more clearly which items could be eliminated. I found I could prioritize, streamline action, and maximize efficiency, getting everything done that needed to be done each day. I went from feeling overburdened and discouraged to feeling buoyant and confident, ready for the next opportuity.
From this experience I guess I could say that I did find God in the details, and as the hymn says, "I drop my burden at His feet,/And bear a song away" (Philip Doddridge, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 124).
