Is your life BUSY?
Yes?
Good!
Proverbs 6: 6-8
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her meet in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Ants are hard and diligent workers.
Proverbs 31: 10-31 Describes the virtuous woman.
She is feeding, gathering, buying, selling, making, helping, loving and teaching.
That sounds a lot like my life.
I bet it sounds like yours too!
God desires that of us. He wants us to be working here on earth, being productive, serving him by serving our husbands/children/family/friends. As godly women, we don't want to be lazy.
But like everything.......There is the OPPOSITE extreme to lazy, and it is, in my opinion, JUST AS WRONG.
Is your life TOO busy? Has it gone from busy to HECTIC?
Let's look at a few definitions.
Idle- (1) not active or in use (2) without purpose or effect; pointless
Busy- having a great deal to do
Hectic- full of incessant or frantic activity
Incessant means "without pause or interuption."
Obviously as christians, our lives should not be IDLE.
Busy? Yes! I do believe the Proverbs 31 woman is BUSY. She has a great deal to do!
Hectic ? I have come to believe that when you let hectic take up too much of your life?
The quality of your life goes DOWN.
Your relationships go DOWN.
Your performance goes DOWN.
Your spirit goes DOWN.
Your peace goes DOWN.
You are running constantly. When your feet can't run, your brain still is. Always always always running. You cry easy, you are impatient, you are filled with guilt over what is not getting done. You see the many areas of your life that are SO out of control and you feel you need to work harder, run some more, do BETTER.
But you are so tired.
That's where I have been far too many times.
My oldest child turned 18 this year.
E.I.G.H.T.E.E.N. ?????????
Just a few moments ago, I was looking down at the newborn baby in my arms. A new Mamma. Thrilled to finally have a tiny little person of my own to love and teach.
Today he is bigger than me and even though I can still teach him a thing or two, (smile) and I love him more than ever, this was the first year his name was not in my homeschooling planner.
His face is usually missing during the day, when all of my little birds are fluttering around me.
He is leaving the nest. And it has been a bittersweet transition.
My life is flying by.
Not like a blue bird.
Like a JET.
I feel a desperate need in my heart to SLOW DOWN.
I want to soak life in.
The baby who thinks she needs to nurse every time she hears my voice.
The little boy who takes five full minutes to tell me how he felt like he was soaring through the air, when jumping off of the chicken house with his ninja suit on.
Folding hundreds of little shirts, socks, pants and skirts.
Seeing a baby in my husbands arms. OUR baby.
Loud teens that want to talk to us long into the night.
The hundreds of sweet little foot steps and also the gigantic, loud BOY footsteps.
Feeding hungry mouths with healthy appetites constantly.
Hearing "Is there anything what I can eat?" every 5 minutes! (My 5yo)
Yes, all of those things will be gone in the blink of an eye. I want to soak them up.
I know how it feels. I have the type of personality that seems to always take WAY too much on. I feel like I can do it. But realistically, I almost always CAN'T do it, and it leaves me feeling constantly overwhelmed and defeated.
If you try to do too much, you won't do ANY of it well.
Prioritizing is a must. I am not superwoman. I do not have any more hours in the day than the next person. I do not have 7 arms or 12 brains. I only have ONE heart.
And unfortunately, I DO need SLEEP. (grin)
I do NOT want to end my life feeling like I did *OK* at everything.
I was an ok christian.
I was an ok wife.
I was an ok mother.
I was an ok friend.
I was an ok writer.
I was an ok housekeeper.
I was stretched SO thin and was so overwhelmed that I was always tired, stressed, near tears, impatient, serious........Always making HUGE mountains out of every little problem.
And well, when you are in such a stressed state of mind? Little problems ARE huge mountains.
When your bucket is full, a single DROP can make it overflow.
Colossians 3:23 " And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"
As unto the LORD. That means to give our BEST in all that we do.
Not to live life in such a hectic state that we are constantly wound up , having no energy to give anyone or anything our BEST.
Don't let the world suck you into it's rat race. FIGHT.
Work hard to keep hectic out. Realize that usually, our biggest problem is .....ourselves. Yes, sometimes life DOES get hectic, and we can't control it. Work to make those moments as few as possible.
Ecclesiastes 3: 13 " And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God."
Enjoy God's gift of life.
Pour yourself into the things that are most important to you.
The PEOPLE. The RELATIONSHIPS. The SOULS.
That's where I am at. I am letting peace IN and kicking hectic OUT.
How? I will talk about that in my next post.
"How I Am Kicking Hectic Out"
