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I’m writing this post on a Friday. It’s been a frantic week, with a higher-than-usual number of meetings to attend, decisions to make, content to create, and people needing a response.

When I leave my office this afternoon, I will be leaving behind an inbox full of emails awaiting response.

There are editorial tasks I hoped to cross off my list this week. Unfortunately, they have risen in defiance of my careful agenda and have chosen to stubbornly persist into next week’s to-do list.

When I leave, I’ll have my laptop bag strapped on my shoulders, but it’s all the stuff I carry around in my mind that will weigh me down. The blogs to write, curriculum to edit, writers to enlist, the teams I lead, the contacts I need to make…

And like I do every week, I will whisper to myself as I walk out the door: And God saw that it was good.

Tomorrow’s Demands and Today’s Delight

It’s easy to get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent, the whirlwind of activity that keeps you from accomplishing all the tasks you’ve been assigned.

Pastors know what it is like to never be “off the clock.” Sunday’s sermon is always coming. Someone’s always in the hospital. There’s always at least one family in crisis mode. You fight the fires all week and when your head hits the pillow, the next day’s work is standing over your bed and staring at you.

Here’s where we have a choice to make. We must not let tomorrow’s demands diminish our delight in today’s accomplishments.

And God Saw That It Was Good

God didn’t have this problem. When He created the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, He didn’t respond at the end of the fifth day by saying, “So much more to do tomorrow! I’ve got so much left on the agenda.” No. God looked back before He looked forward. He saw that it was good.

I love how Sally Lloyd-Jones imagines the scene of God looking at all He made and saying, “You’re good!”

God delights in His work, one day at a time. As those who reflect His image, shouldn’t we also delight in what we’ve accomplished?

I’ve found that simply pausing and telling myself, “It is good” is one of the best ways I recalibrate my heart, celebrate the work I’ve accomplished, and entrust the results to God’s hands.

“It is good” doesn’t mean “it was all perfect” or “there’s nothing more to do.” It means I rest in the affirmation of a heavenly Father who has given me gifts and talents and commissioned me for His purposes. Because of His grace, I want to do all I can for King Jesus – to lay it all on the field, to die “spent” – with all my gifts and talents exploited to the uttermost for the kingdom of Christ.

I encourage you too, at the end of this week, when you look back and start thinking about all the things you wanted to do but didn’t have time for, when you ponder the improvements you hope to make, and the tasks that await you in the future, stop your list-making for a moment and celebrate the work you’ve done. And God saw that it was good. Try it.

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