I\u2019m trying to work hard today, I really am, but the thing is, I keep getting distracted. You see, I got this new desk calendar, and it\u2019s gorgeous\u2014robin\u2019s egg blue, with gilt edges and a silver ribbon. It\u2019s got thick, creamy pages with plenty of space to write in activities for each day, and tucked into the front, it\u2019s got all kinds of useful information: maps from around the world, telephone prefixes from every country, charts of weather patterns in different continents. It has a place to record phone numbers and a place to record my expenses. It\u2019s got a listing of the locations of foreign embassies, good hotels in different countries, and a table of weights and measurement conversions.<\/p>\n
Okay, most of those features are not actually all that useful to me, if I\u2019m honest. I\u2019m not planning any trips abroad this year, and it\u2019s incredibly unlikely I\u2019m going to need to know where the embassy to Yemen is in the next twelve months. Even if I did need to know, I would most likely turn to my computer to look it up. If I needed to convert grams to ounces, I would no doubt use the internet. I store phone numbers in my cell phone and track expenses on my bank\u2019s website. Actually, if I wanted to check my schedule for the day, I would have to check my work calendar, which is linked to my email, and my online calendar, which is linked to my husband\u2019s online calendar too.<\/p>\n
So in reality, my new desk calendar isn\u2019t incredibly useful, because there\u2019s nothing in it that I can\u2019t find faster and more easily on the computer, but this is precisely why I love it. There\u2019s something so soothing about having all the information I need\u2014and much of what I don\u2019t need\u2014in one physical place. With everything in my life being online these days, it\u2019s really comforting to have a tangible reminder that there is more to the world than virtual reality.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the joy of simply flipping though the blank calendar pages, dreaming about the different activities that will fill my time this year. By December, this calendar will be filled with notes and appointments and records of my days, but for now, the pages and pages of blank space represent endless possibilities. It\u2019s nice to start off the year with the reminder that every day I make choices about how I spend the time God has given me. I can only hope I spend it well. And that I can put my calendar down long enough to get back to work!<\/p>\n