Feeling the pressure of several jobs to complete this week, I have a drumbeat of “deadline, deadline, deadline” in my head. Does deadline really have something to do with death?
Deadline definition 2 of Free Dictionary Online states, “A boundary line in a prison that prisoners can cross only at the risk of being shot…”
Deadline does have ominous origins.
Who holds the figurative guns? For some tasks I do, setting the deadline when accepting the tasks. How can I avoid this trapped, ominous feeling? I need to re-imagine deadlines as lifelines, challenges that, when met, will bring me closer to God.
This message is adapted from a Women of the ELCA blog, “Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines,” written by Phyllis Rude. Please pray for safe travels of Women of the ELCA’s executive board and staff who wind up their meeting this morning with worship. Today is Reformation Sunday and the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost.
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