I thought that today’s reading of “Virtue in the Unseen Warfare” by St. Theophan had a real applicability to the first workday of the new year, so I pass along some excerpts:

1. Don’t procrastinate — Big surprise, right? What else would you expect St. Theophan to say. But as always, he follows up the exhortation with a spiritual diagnosis: “Let us never delay in undertaking work we have to do, for the first, even brief, delay will lead to a second, more prolonged, the second to a third, still longer, and so on. The consequences are far-reaching … In satisfying this desire, we will, little by little, form a habit of idleness and laziness, in which the passion for doing nothing will possess us … Though scarcely perceptible at first, this negligence permeates everything. It infiltrates our will, planting in it an aversion to effort of all kinds, including all forms of spiritual activity and obedience.” That’s exactly it! The problem with procrastinating on stupid little things that don’t matter is that it begins affects my ability to do big important things that do matter. And eventually it even affects my ability to do things that are pleasant and used to be fun, creative and interesting to me.
2. Do each thing well — “In addition, it is not enough to perform our work quickly. Each thing has to done in its proper time, as required by its importance, and each needs to be done with full attention and care — to make is as perfect as possible.” That can sound like a terrible, terrible curse to the women I know that are perfectionists. But I think the kind of consideration to each work that St. Theophan is talking about is worlds apart from the obsessive paralysis that makes all the Marthas think that they can’t relax for a minute until they’ve vacuumed the glove compartment. I think that there’s a tremendous power in what Theophan says. I’m reminded of the documentary I saw back in December of ‘04 about the Shakers. This sect (now nearly obsolete) believed in doing every chore, no matter how humble, as if it were your offering to God. The result has been Shaker innovations and furniture that are so elegantly conceived and perfectly executed that they are a legacy that has increased in value over time. All the same, thinking of some of the people I know, I guess I’d have to add that if you tend towards being overly obsessive-compulsive, skip this point.
3. Know what to believe — Some resolutions are just too ambitious. That’s the problem with starting these lists; you always pile on things that verge on impossible. Pie-crust promises, as Mary Poppins said — easily made and easily broken. But there are also things that only seem impossible. If you haven’t set an unrealistic goal, then don’t let anything deter you. “If an evil thought comes along … suggesting that the work necessary to acquire the virtues we desire is extremely long and hard; that our enemies are strong and numerous, while we are weak and alone; that we must do too much, even perform great deeds, to attain our aim — if this thought of laziness and carelessness makes such suggestions to us, there is just one word of advice necessary: don’t listen to it.”
4. Do the next thing — We get intimidated by the immensity of tasks at hand, and our good intentions fail us. “Don’t think about the whole thing. Force yourself to take up the most immediate task and do it diligently as though the others didn’t exist. You’ll find it goes easily and without difficulty. Then take the others one at a time, thinking only of the one you have to do just now. In the end, you will probably finish them all calmly without becoming upset.” This is incredibly hard to do, but like the others, it has a great power whenever I can do it.

These are the things that stood out to me. I begin to think as I type this of the people I know whose lives are so mercilessly and relentlessly busy — would they find this as relevant as I did or would it just seem like lunacy and a recipe for disaster? I can’t tell. But anyway, I thought it was worth redeeming a few moments to write it down.