THE WRITING DESK

One of the biggest reasons for feeling depressed and discouraged is that we don't feel we are accomplishing anything of value, or we're disappointed in ourselves for not attaining the fine goals we'd set.

A friend quoted to me recently that when we have more to do than we can manage, we're doing some things that God has not assigned to us.

Ouch! How do we find out what to get rid of?

There's a no-cost remedy to try on your to-do lists and goals. It may very well cure your particular depression! You've got a lot to lose if you don't try it.

First all, we have to admit that some of the things on our lists are unrealistic. They shouldn't be there. Some of them are not stated correctly and so we aren't tackling them the right way. For others, we need the correct motivation, and some are someone else's duty.

Here's a simple 3D test to help you review your goals, and turn the good ones into Achievable Goals.

1. DON'T DO the ones that are not your responsibility. If something on your list is really someone else's job then stop doing it. Cross it off. Give it back.

2. DELEGATE the easy jobs or parts of one that another person could be doing. Look around for a responsible party, or someone who needs the experience, and give that work to him or her. You can check on their work once in a while, but entrust it to them, and let them take ownership of the work.

This will free you up, and expand your influence and ideas. Won't that be a whole lot better?

3. DO just those jobs that God has given you a great desire and longing to do, and that no one else can really do the way you will. He knows how much we can handle and will not give us more than we are able. In fact, you'll find the load quite manageable, and you will feel so much better about yourself. You'll feel like you're finally getting somewhere!

There's our 3 Ds. In a nutshell;

Don't do someone else's responsibility,

Delegate what someone could do as well as you,

Do that which only you can do.

Another thought about the last D - if you're not clear on whether God wants you to do a certain work, lay it out before Him, and ask His counsel. It may turn out that you've been treating it like a duty when it is meant to be a glad ministry. Or you will get some other astonishing insights.

Personally, I find that once I get the correct and fresh grasp of the bigger picture of my goals, and why I'm doing them in the first place, a lot of other factors fall into place. Suddenly I'm quite glad to drop the periphery details, or pass them on to others, and I have a brand new enthusiasm and vision for the ones I ought to be doing.

That feels so good, I wonder why I let myself slip into multiple ruts of dogged and dog-tired duties.

© Ruth Marlene Friesen

Ruth Marlene Friesen makes friends wherever she goes! Just like her heroine, Ruthe, in Ruthe's Secret Roses, http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RSR.html Her friends become her rare roses. Subscribe to RoseBouquet, her biweekly blog/ezine

"Let my words drop as the rain,my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as showers on the herbs" Deuteronomy 32:2,3 "I proclaim the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to our God!"