Time to slow down...

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

This was the verse I focused on yesterday morning, and it comes at such a good time. I have, of course, NEVER been stressed and tried to take on too much and I have REALLY never complained about being tired or overwhelmed with my responsibilities. Whoo...now that most of you have fallen out of your seats laughing at that or are checking the news to hear the latest report of a 30-something woman being struck by lightning on a clear day...I will move on to my sincere thoughts on the topic.

Psalm 46:10 says to "be still and know that I am God." Maybe God should have talked to Mary about taking care of His human children because "still" is not in my natural vocabulary. (I don't think it ever was, but it certainly isn't with three kids.)

But I am convicted that I don't have to "do it all," and that I should have some time to "be still." This has been a slow recognition over the past five-and-a-half years. I have always been overly involved from grade school through high school through college and graduate school, and I always excelled in that "role" of crazy busy. It wasn't until my supervisor called me into her office to discuss my taking on a leadership role with a Southern regional conference that I waddled in (8 months pregnant with my third child) and she suggested that I might take this "season" to be more of a mom than a professional recognized for her contributions to a large organization. Luckily, she's been here before (first child starting kindergarten) and reminded me of PTA and school meetings (the first is tonight), and I have made my first real conscious decision to be a "mom" over a successful professional. eeeeeeeee...sigh... I'm ok, it feels alright.

But there are still so MANY options. There's Bible Study...Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Sunday night...ooh, I want to go to them all, and there's choir...ooh, I LOVE choir (We have a new music minister, and we are worshiping Wed night AND Sun morning.) I want to do Girl Scouts with Porter. I want to paint. I want to be crafty. I want to do my job well. Oh yeah...I want to cook for my family. I want to keep a clean home. I want to make time for Jamie. I want to find time to play with my kids. I WANT GROWN-UP GIRL TIME. Here comes the whine...but there isn't enough time, and I'm tiiiiiiiired! So, what goes and what stays? I'm an overachiever...shouldn't it all stay? No...because the things that give me the affirmation of worldly success I crave are the ones that will go, and the ones that lead to my spiritual growth and the investment into raising my little ones (You know, the ones who don't typically tell you you've done a good job...though Betsy has a knack of busting out a "You're a good mommy," at the most needed times) are the ones that will stay.

So...I'll work on picking and choosing what needs to stay and what needs to go during this season of life. Meanwhile, I ask you to hold me accountable to NOT be a whining mom. Circumstances do NOT make us what we are, they reveal what we are. So, if my being overwhelmed reduces me to a whining pile of stress, that's who I was before the responsibilities arrived. I think that Satan likes to make us feel we are victims, but that takes away the responsibility. We are not responsible for others' actions (the ones who MAKE us crazy) but we are responsible for our response to others' actions and our circumstances.

I'm not one to wish away my current circumstances. I usually find that wherever I have landed is surely the best place to be and just wish that everyone would join me. But I could be caught whining when I get overwhelmed. So...please remind me to be still...and give over my burdens to Christ...for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Through all my rambling...that is the truth I will hold to.