The Best Laid Plans

A week ago Sunday I made a to-do list with five significant items on it. The next Sunday the same list sat there in front of me; I had not done one thing on this important list. How does one explain this? Perhaps it was due to laziness but am usually energetic and compulsive enough to knock a few things off of the weekly list. Was it procrastination since I often hesitate and delay on important things out of some latent form of perfectionism? Actually it was neither of these. What happened was that my older brother died suddenly on that Monday. The important things on that list took a back seat to even more critical family matters. Two things occur to me. First, the most critical things in life are never tasks; the relational things are always bigger. Second, if only I had known my brother would be taken so soon, the lists of the last several weeks would have looked vastly different in my life. I would have called and travelled to visit him as well. In the midst of all of our important tasks it is good to remember our important relationships also.
DMac