Getting Obedience Done

Yesterday I wrote about liking the idea of GTD, but not being able to settle on How to do it. Finally (after chasing down who knows how many rabbit holes), I actually prayed about it. I asked God which system He wanted me to use. I always get frustrated with myself when I take on an issue or project that seems very important, and try to take on godly attitudes and biblical ideas in the process, but don't actually ASK God what He wants me to do in that particular situation. Often the answer to such direct questioning takes me in a direction I wouldn't have ever thought of.

In this case, upon turning my mind towards praying about it, turning my mind towards God, I was reminded of a metaphor I arrived at a number of years ago. I likened God to a secretary. Or, better, an administrative assistant, like the assistant to a high-powered executive. Someone who is keenly in tune with what the executive is doing, and can make appointments for the executive, who knows the executive's schedule better than the executive does.

So, the thought went, what if God was willing to bring the things to mind that you needed to do, as you needed to do them, just like an executive's assistant would? If He was willing to do that, and we were willing to be continually aware of His presence, always turning to Him, listening for His guidance, etc., wouldn't that accomplish the same purpose as GTD?

So the important thing to do in this scenario would be to listen, then to immediately act on what we receive from God. In short, we would need to obey. Just as surely as we would need to obey the guidance of our Next Action list in GTD within every context for GTD to work properly, so we would need to obey God's voice promptly, completely, and throughout the day for us to be faithful to the commitment we've made to Him, and thus to the commitments we have made to everyone else.

Thus the ever-so-clever acronym for this approach (I dislike the idea of calling it a "system") is Getting Obedience Done.

As you may have noticed, there were a number of if's a few paragraphs back. And it's those if's that were the subject of fiery debate in my mind today. Does God even care about all the little details, projects, and "next actions" that GTD is meant to herd and organize? And if He does, how am I to know that He'll remind me as well as a good GTD system would? What if I drop the ball and stop listening like I should? (That was possibly the most powerful question for me.) And what does it mean to listen to God in the first place?

On the flip side were other questions: Couldn't it be a lack of trust in God's guidance that pushes us to account for every last thing ourselves, that drives us to bring all things under our own personal control? What about "serendipity" or "providence" having a say? What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit living within us? Does He just sit in a back room of our heart playing solitaire all day, or is He involved in what's happening within and to us? Doesn't it make sense that an all-powerful God who has sacrificed dearly in order to live out His vast love for us, the most wise being who knows us better than anyone else in the universe even could--doesn't it make sense that He'd want to offer His wisdom and guidance to help us live out the full potential of His calling for us, what He has created us for? And isn't it said that what He longs for more than anything is an intimate, ongoing relationship with us? Wouldn't that entail as much or more attention to detail than anything David Allen and GTD could cook up?

So there are a few questions. I hope to come back in a day or two with some potential answers. FWIW, I'm still not completely sure what I want to do, or what God wants me to do, in relation to helping me fulfill my commitments in a more responsible manner. I'm not completely convinced that either GTD or my little scenario here are the complete answer. I hope to explore that more in the days ahead.