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Will iCal and Things be the death of my memory?

After just putting the finishing touches on Mother’s Day arrangements, I took time for the requisite back-patting and self-gloating. The sad truth is that there are many special days that I’m not prepared for nearly this far in advance, and it’s only two days before Mother’s Day!

Why was I super-husband today? Because my nifty task manager, Things, reminded me that today I had to do something about it. 

But I’m scared that my calender + task manager will diminish my ability to remember things naturally, creatively holding them in tension with the rest of life because I find value in them and because they’re part of the rhythm of what it means for me to be alive. 

I’m not trying to be over-dramatic about this, people. I’m really not. A few minutes ago I thought — “What if I went ahead and made tasks in Things that would remind me to shop for a present and a card for my wife’s birthday?”

Why is that a bad thing? It’s in September.

Is it okay for me to have it on my calendar already? I suppose. Is it okay for me to have to orchestrate the buying of gifts all the way back in May? ummmm… No.

It’s not okay.

And it’s not really about buying gifts. 

We’re just so reliant on calendars and to-do lists that nothing is sacred. Everything from celebrating the birth of our wife to buying donuts for breakfast Bible study next Wednesday is held in equal value, one item on iCal or Things. 

It’s because we’re not creative. And we don’t really celebrate life. And we sure as heck don’t hold those things in the kind of rhythm that makes our life about anything bigger than ourselves.

Rather than celebrating life through events (birthdays, or Mother’s day), we just manage them. 

I’m not saying that we should party like it’s 1999 for every single event or American holiday that comes along—I’m saying that we have to start being people that value certain things over others.

And we don’t even really have to change our practices. We just have to start being critical about how we use our “tools” and the danger of what they can mean. It’s ok for me to use a calendar to remember a specific day or a task manager to remind me to buy a gift, but not at the expense of my life’s connection with those events.

Think critically, tread lightly.