Under the Pile

As you see from the date on my previous post, it's been nine months since my last post. Kevin has been gently but persistently encouraging me to resume blogging. So here I go again...

First off I want to say how grateful I am to have Kay starting here in the church office. Six weeks without an office manager has been challenging. But with Kay next door doing her thing, I've been free to do mine. Today "my thing" included tackling several piles of paper which had accumulated these past weeks. Though I didn't find anything buried on my desk that was grievously overdue, rifling through these things was sort of like a mini-archaeological dig. The deeper I dug into a pile, the further back in time I moved.

I came on several pieces of work I was glad to get back to. I also came upon several things which could simply be tossed out. They were just no longer relevant.

Though I would in no way recommend "piling up" as a way to manage office work, I was thinking how, at least metaphorically, there's a lot to be said for setting some things aside for a later day.

Take a minor irritation for instance. How many times have I been grateful I waited a day or so before confronting someone who I thought had wronged me? By "parking my anger" to one side for a while, I gained some distance and perspective. When I went to pick up the issue again, I was better able to treat my "offender" with humanity and grace. Often, I discovered I'd simply misunderstood and had no reason to be upset in the first place.

Sure, some things ought not to be buried. I did find a Cokesbury bill I needed to jump on or I'd wind up in collections (took care of it; don't worry!). Again, metaphorically speaking, there are issues and situations which are best dealt with quickly and directly.

But some times its okay to put a minor irritation on the "bottom of the pile" to look at later. When you find it again, you might just discover you're free to chuck it and move on.