Elizabeth Lovell

How to Fill Your Calendar This Year

BY ELIZABETH MILFORD

A blank calendar is full of potential. Whether it’s the crisp pages of a new planner, turning the page for a new year or wiping down a reusable surface on the wall, I find joy in seeing how my family’s plans come together. As I enter appointments, basketball games, birthday celebrations and other special events, my anticipation grows for what is coming.

The start of another year gives us the opportunity to reset and consider how we approach planning. More than just logistics, though, a new year also reminds us that we have the opportunity to set a rhythm and pace for ourselves. One of my favorite Hebrew Scriptures is Ecclesiastes 3, which reminds us “there’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on earth” (Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of verse 1 in “The Message”).

Take an intentional approach to how you structure your time — in ways that promote health and well-being — and allow what is most important, your core values, to be what shapes your lives. One of my favorite folk artists, David LaMotte, said “There’s no time like the present; no present like time.” Thanks be to God for the gift of time and the ability to choose how we spend it!

Is your calendar already over-full? Take Ecclesiastes to heart, and let it give you permission to say no to some of the things that are not life-giving to you. Create space for Sabbath and rest, and trust that there will be other times that come.

Does filling out your calendar remind you of the things on your to-do list that you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t gotten around to yet — a doctor or therapist appointment, car maintenance or a phone call you’ve put off? Take Ecclesiastes to heart: Now is the opportune time to get it done!

Is your calendar full of spaces? Take Ecclesiastes to heart, and let it inspire you to think and pray about what you might be led to do. Perhaps that’s taking up a new hobby, volunteering with a community service organization or spending more intentional time connecting with yourself or your loved ones.

However you choose to fill (or not fill) your calendars this year, may they attend to not only the rhythms of your life, but also the rhythms of your heart and soul.

The Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Acworth (www.heritagepres.com). She lives in Woodstock with her family.

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