day 2664: Check For Your Checklist

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

I read a great piece in Quartz about the power of a checklist.  I would have thought checklists had been around forever and they might have been, but it wasn’t until 1935 that the research shows that checklists became a thing.  Sorry Boeing, you tend to have been getting the brunt lately, but you also were the catalyst for checklist creation and following. From Quartz: “In 1935, a much-touted new Boeing bomber crashed during a demonstration in Dayton, Ohio, killing two crew members. The problem, in the words of one newspaper, was that the addition of new technologies meant that Boeing had created “too much airplane for one man to fly.” Test pilots wisely developed a standardized checklist of steps to follow during takeoff, flight, landing, and taxiing, and what became known as the B-17 proved crucial in World War II.” It makes me think that the power of a checklist is underrated and should be instituted more often.  Of course there are those who think they can remember everything, but with one slip up, that idea should be soon forgotten.

I can’t think of a better checklist than what Jesus gave us in teaching us how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer converted to a daily checklist could make quite a difference in our daily lives:

  1. Go to God in Prayer identifying what are our needs for the day
  2. Consume His Word
  3. Ask for forgiveness
  4. Forgive others who we need to forgive
  5. Identify temptations that might occur for the day
  6. Pray throughout the day for strength to not have those temptations turn into our sin

We can make our checklist, His checklist.

Reference:  Matthew 6: 9-13 (King James Version)