Sometimes these blog posts are unintentionally prophetic. The last post, The Myth of Balance, is an example.
The reason I was not able to blog last week was because it ended up being an unexpectedly busy week.
We had a 30 page brief due on Friday. So, I planned on spending a lot of time working on it during the week.
I was scheduled to be out of town in a deposition on Tuesday in a case where one of the opposing parties was represented by two former judges. So, I made sure I was extra-well prepared, which took a lot of my time on Monday. I was out of town Tuesday in the deposition.
I hoped to spend Wednesday working on the brief that was due Friday, but I was unexpectedly drawn into a Temporary Restraining Order proceeding when two of my clients were sued on Wednesday. That killed most of the day.
As it turned out, I had to work until between 7 and 9 PM every evening, and until 10 PM Thursday night to make sure we finished the brief by Friday. Such is life. The trick is to be where you are.
In the past, I would get incredibly stressed out thinking about everything that had to be finished instead of focusing in the moment on completing what was immediately in front of me. What has really helped me is realizing the power of the Holy Spirit does not reside in the future or in the past but in the present.
It sounds obvious and simple, but it’s worth saying because we tend to spend so much time worrying about the past or what is to come that it can frustrate our time in the present. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) is present tense. His power manifests, not in the past or in the future, but in the present. Consequently, worrying about what needs to be done in the future does not draw on the power of Jesus in you, only doing what is before you in the present.
It was still a stressful week but not as bad as it would have been for me, say ten years ago, which tells me I’m making progress. GS