“We are all just now getting over the stomach bug.  The kids have something to do every night this week. Bob is out of town for work and my house looks like a bomb went off in it,” says one parent.  

“Girl, I know! I have Jack’s birthday party on Friday, I am volunteering for the church picnic on Saturday, and we fly out on Monday and will be gone for a week!  I don’t know how I am going to get everything ready,” says the other.  

The infamous  “To Do List” run down always drives me crazy.  And, for the record, I am guilty of it too.  It is like vomit, it just spews out before you know it is coming.  What is that?  What is the goal?

It is so common that I can count on ONE hand the number of people I have met in my life that are consistently the opposite of this stereotype.  And, I can name each of them by name because their calm presence in a world of chaos resonates with you.   Their very presence challenges everything about what we have come to accept as normal in this life.  It is now normal to try to multitask and juggle insane schedules all in an effort to accumulate more things we cannot possibly maintain in a way the world makes us feel we should.

Surely these calm, non-to-do-list spouting people are just as busy as the rest of us.  And, unquestionably, life throws them curve balls just like it does for the rest of the world, so what is their secret?  I don’t know.  I am not going to pretend that I do because I believe it is their own personal anchor and that anchor may possibly change from time to time.  It is the fact that they are clearly aligned with their anchor that earns my respect.

I am continuously working on finding my anchor and allowing it to trump all of my emotions as the chaotic tides of the day begin to roll in.  Because one thing is an absolute certainty, the waves are going to come crashing in today.  

So, when I wake up I envision my anchor in the center of the mighty ocean and I try to find it, hold onto it, and I pray.  I pray that God helps me hold it tight.  I pray that my faith is stronger than my fears.  I pray that I can be one of God’s beacons of light to all that I encounter that day.  I pray that I refrain from throwing up my to-do-list on every person that will listen.  I pray that I am able to keep site of the things that align with my anchor and let go of the rest.   And, when I find myself being swept away and drowning in the crazy, I pray that I have the sense and strength to swim like hell back to my anchor.