As I slowly cruised the lakeshore, a tradition I do before heading to my favorite fishing spot on the lake, this past week, I was startled to see the lone hardwood tree, already dappled in orange and yellow leaves.

Just the one tree. There wasn’t another tree around the entire lake that was changing into its autumnal formalwear.

But it was enough to set off a bit of a panic in me.

Trees changing color! Wait, what? … But summer has only begun!

No, I guess not. We are already into late August, and some kids are back in school. … And, oh my, was that just a couple of geese flying south overhead?

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)

This moment that unmoored me was of my own making, of course. I’ve allowed work to consume me in the past months, as the fleeting days of a Minnesota summer zoomed by. I’m sure many can relate.

But this past week, spent with just my spouse, in my favorite hideaway spot in the world, reminded me of one of the priorities I try to preach to my own congregation and to my colleagues: We are created to be human beings, not human doers.

Oh, this world is tricky. It convinces us that a great many things we do are important. We all have our checklists that drive us through the day. And, of course,there are real concerns, like family, bills, chores, etc.

But a great majority of the things we “need” to do are made up. And what we are really partaking in is an exchange of sorts. We’re giving up our time in order to accomplish a list of tasks.

And a great majority of the time, that exchange leaves us feeling empty. Because at the end of the day, if it’s just task-completing that we’ve accomplished, well it’s no wonder we feel so hollow so often.

Friends, as that one, lone color-changing tree reminded me this week, we don’t get to be here long. Summer is finite. Each season in our life is finite. And mindlessly checking off items on a list is not what our Creator has called us to do.

Convince yourself there’s still time for that summer outing. Enjoy your fishing hole. Make that visit with friends. Tend to those things that enrich your life, not only fill it.

Let this be your lone color-changing tree warning that time is slipping by fast while you make today’s to-do list.

So … are you going to fill today with tasks? Or set out to “be” in this creation like we’re called to? Amen.

— Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.