There is a particular moment, usually late in the afternoon, when one looks at the day’s to-do list… and realizes that it has not so much been completed as creatively reinterpreted.
Several things have been accomplished.
A few unexpected things have been added.
And at least one item — often written with great optimism in the morning — remains quietly untouched, staring back with gentle but undeniable judgment.
It is at this moment that one is tempted to sigh.
Or, if one is feeling especially theological, to reflect on the limits of human capacity.
Now, the to-do list does not immediately strike us as a place where Easter joy naturally resides.
It is, after all, a record of what remains undone.
And yet…
Easter has never been about what we manage to complete.
It is about what Christ has already finished.
“It is finished,” he says from the cross.
And then — just when we think the story has reached its conclusion — God begins something entirely new.
Resurrection does not arise out of completed lists and perfectly managed lives.
It breaks into the unfinished.
Into the not-yet.
Into the things we meant to do but did not quite get to.
Which is, if we are honest, most of life.
The disciples themselves were not models of completion.
They misunderstood.
They hesitated.
They scattered at precisely the wrong moment.
And yet the risen Christ comes to them — not with a checklist — but with peace.
“Peace be with you.”
Not “Have you finished everything?”
Not “Have you achieved the necessary level of readiness?”
Just… peace.
Which may be the most liberating word we hear all day.
Because it reminds us that our lives are not measured by what we manage to accomplish.
They are held in what God has already done.
Now, this does not mean that the to-do list disappears.
(If anything, it has a remarkable ability to regenerate overnight.)
But it does mean that we are free to approach it differently.
With less anxiety.
With more grace.
With the quiet confidence that even the unfinished parts of our lives are not beyond God’s reach.
In fact, that is often where God does his best work.
In the margins.
In the interruptions.
In the things we did not plan.
So if, at the end of this day, your list still contains items that remain stubbornly unaccomplished…
Take a breath.
Give thanks for what has been done.
Offer the rest to God.
And remember:
Christ is risen.
And He is not waiting for you to finish everything before He begins something new.
Alleluia.
Companion Prayer
Risen Lord,
You meet us not only in what is complete,
but in all that remains unfinished.
Give us peace in our striving,
grace in our limits,
and trust in your work beyond our efforts.
Help us to rest in what you have done,
and to offer you all that we have not.
And in every part of our day —
finished or unfinished —
fill us with your resurrection life.
Amen.