Compartments

My desk is usually organized using the highly technical "stack method": there's a stack for scrap paper, a stack for my to-do list, a stack for long-term concerns, a stack for things to keep track of until Sunday . . . just a lot of stacks of paper, folders, books, and other things. (Right now I even have a stack of plaques and pamphlets.) At any moment, I can lay my hands on exactly what I need because I know it's somewhere in that stack. Of course, the filing cabinet and trays help for other things, but they operate on basically the same principle: everything in its place, and a place for every thing. Everything I need to do my job is sorted into its proper compartment, so to speak.

It would be much easier if life itself would let us do that. Some people try it, but it never seems to work. They try to have a compartment for family, a compartment for job, a compartment for hobbies, a compartment for church, a compartment for friends. These compartments never open to any of the others; they're kept totally separate. The problem, though, is that each one impacts each of the others. More time spent on the job, for example, means less time at home for family, friends, and hobbies, and working a weekend means dipping into the church compartment. No matter how hard we try to keep it all discrete, all separate, it all inevitably flows together.

I think that's because God didn't give us compartmentalized souls. We have one soul, one spirit, and it has to work in every sphere we inhabit. There's no dividing it up. As you look at your life this week, look for the connections. See if you have a paper covering multiple stacks. And then see how every compartment works together and offers praise and glory to God.