Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Sufficient to the Day


the past several weeks have been filled with tons of work.  i serve as our local symphony's librarian, which means that, in addition to maintaining our library of music, i must see that music is ready for rehearsals for each performance.  this entails ordering any music not already in our library and distributing the music for the upcoming concert to the principal string players to have bowing marked in it.  once that is done, i must then get copies of the music to all the string players so they have time to prepare before the first rehearsal.  parts have to be distributed to all the wind and percussion players, and folders made up for every stand before the first rehearsal.  because we are a regional orchestra, players come from a wide geographic area, so lots of music must be mailed which requires many envelopes being addressed and many trips to the post office.  once a concert is completed, all the music must be collected, sorted, and filed away or returned to the company from which it was rented, since some music is not available for purchase to add to our library.   because we've expanded our season, doubling the number of concerts from past seasons, this work has increased exponentially.

in addition to my job as the symphony librarian, i am serving as the interim music director in my church.  this means i am responsible for playing for all services, preparing the choir for each service, planning the music for all services, and working with other staff members to coordinate the church's ministries.  i find myself at the church most every day for several hours practicing and planning.

i often tell people that i'm ready to "retire from retirement."  the work load has been daunting at times, though it is all work i love and believe is important.  one of the things i try to guard against is trying to cram too much into each day.  as i begin each day, i remind myself that there are only so many hours in the day and that i must focus on each task as it comes to me without worrying about those things that are going undone.  i must set priorities and do what is most necessary first without worrying about the work that can come later, and, perhaps most importantly, i must not fill every waking hour with work; i must reserve some time that is relaxation time, like the time i'm spending now.

when i'm able to order my work in this way, i find that the time available is sufficient.  it is only when i allow the volume of work ahead to overwhelm me that i moan and fret about how much there is to be done that i want to throw up my hands and walk away from it all.  as i look ahead, i see that many of the responsibilities that i have in addition to the work i've discussed above (like serving on our church board, chairing committees, and the like) will soon come to an end as my term expires, and that will ease my work load enormously.  i try to recall that there will be ample time to accomplish those things that are important and that everything can't be done at once.

my prayer for myself and for you is that we each rejoice in the work we're given, learning to appreciate the joy that we find in doing work that is important and fulfilling.  may we each relish each moment we spend in tasks that contribute to the well-being and happiness of others and make our work a joyful offering of service.  shalom.

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