I suppose that I have always had energy for starting new projects. But these days, I seem to be a bit short of energy for finishing them. Yesterday, I was thinking of all of the partially finished projects I have going. It is a long list. I identified one project that I am capable of finishing today. I’ll make that a priority. One less project on the list. The trick, however, is to avoid starting another new project before I complete a few more projects. After all, I am retired. Theoretically I have time for projects.

Part of my story, as is true with many others, is that there are many tasks that simply take me more time these days than once was the case. It is part of growing older. I sometimes forget where I am in the process. I am more aware of potential mistakes and slow down to avoid them. I feel less pressure to meet arbitrary deadlines.

When I was working, caring for children and later for aging parents, involved in many community activities, serving on volunteer boards, and more, I used to occasionally comment to colleagues or family members about how some people seem to have capacity for only one meeting or activity in a day. I would speak with someone lingering for conversation after a meeting and realize that the meeting was that person’s only activity for the day. I didn’t have days like that. I rarely had a day in which there was only one meeting. An appointment was just part of my responsibility for the day.

Now, somehow, I’ve become a person who often has only one major commitment in a day. Nonetheless, my days seem to be filled.

I have frequently recalled a conversation I had with a church member years ago. I was speaking of my work as pastor of an exciting and mission-oriented congregation. I said that part of adjusting to the work in this position was learning the art of going home for the day with work undone on my desk. There were plenty of times when putting in more hours resulted in less work efficiency and the way to accomplish the most was to walk away from my work even though there were undone tasks. The person with whom I was speaking looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, “I never did that in my entire career. I never left work with undone tasks. I finished up each day’s work before I left the office.”

I didn’t respond much at the time, but I have always felt that that person and I have such different lives. She apparently couldn’t imagine leaving work with undone tasks. I couldn’t imagine a job so simple that each day’s tasks could be completed before day’s end. In the first place, there are so many things in the work of a pastor where the results don’t appear for years - even generations. There are ministry jobs that are never done. The work I did as pastor was following in the footsteps of those who went before and leaving a legacy to those who followed. Some things require more than a lifetime to accomplish. Part of the joy of the work I did was that I as often engaged in work that was too big for any individual.

I guess I have carried that way of looking at work into retirement with me. I am, frankly, not afraid of going to bed with undone tasks. More threatening to me would be running out of things to do. I am not, however, likely to ever find myself in that position.

Sometimes I will take a little walk around our house, garage, and yard. I’ll make a mental list of undone tasks. There are shelves in the garage in need of sorting and organization. There are planters under construction in the back yard. We have emptied and disconnected the hot tub that we purchased with this house, but I have not yet hauled it away. I have beeswax from this year’s honey harvest that needs to be melted and poured into a mold. A couple of honey harvesting tools need to be cleaned and stored for next year. There is a set of plans for making some new bee hives for next year on my desk. I have a few invoices to file. I need to sort, scan, and organize a lot of collected photographs. My bookshelves could use a bit of dusting and organizing. The front porch should be swept. The list goes on and on.

Some people, I am sure, might be frustrated by the length of the list. They might conclude that I have too many projects going. I suppose they are right. On the other hand, Taking a journey around the house and looking at all of the tasks to be accomplished will almost always yield at least one task that I can complete. After taking inventory, I usually recognize one thing that is nearly finished and get it done.

When I was working, I would occasionally tackle the stack of paper on my desk. As I worked my way down the piles, I found more and more items that could be easily recycled because they had become obsolete while awaiting my attention in stacks on my desk. The more recent papers demanded my attention and required action. Those that had shifted down in the piles might not have ever been a priority for me. Some involved decisions that were no longer necessary because deadlines had passed. Others represented decisions that were made and options that were intentionally eliminated.

I’m willing to accept that I may leave undone tasks when I come to the end of my life. I have completed my share of projects that were started by others. I have a few things in my possession that my mother intended to deal with in her life, but didn’t ever get them done. I hope to deal with them soon. And I suppose that my children will discover a few things that I started that they will attempt to complete.

I wonder about that person who so long ago claimed to have never left work undone. Does she now have a very boring life because she no longer has tasks to accomplish? I hope she is happy. I don’t think I would be were our situations and attitudes reversed.

Along with that mental list of tasks to accomplish, I’ve got a mental list of new things to try and new projects to initiate. Boredom won’t be a problem.