1. I’ve been home three weeks and just finished unpacking my suitcases yesterday. Ugg!
2. I walk by my computer every day and feel a huge load of guilt because I’ve vowed not to pick it up until I unpacked and made some sort of peace in my home. But that’s senseless guilt, because as hard as it is to choose, I’ve been trying to spend my time on what is best right now, rather than all of the good things I’d like to be doing. Make sense? Easy concept to say, really really hard to do!
3. I have the most patient man in the world who, for three weeks now, has stumped his foot on the roller wheel of the largest suitcase {laid open by the bedroom door, no less} and never complained. When we were preparing for the marriage class we teach on Sunday nights I asked him if there was anything in our marriage that I could do to love him better. He didn’t say a word… he just looked at the suitcase and the piles I’ve been trying to deal with that have overtaken our peaceful resting place. I promised to finish it pronto! And PTL, I did!
4. Unpacking after a long trip during this time of year has more to it than simply putting things back into drawers. See, it’s that time of year when closets need to be switched to the fall/winter wardrobe and I couldn’t simply put things back knowing that I’d be taking them out again. In my “logical” way of thought, I should switch out the closet AS I unpacked. And I just haven’t had/made time for that until yesterday.
5. I’m having a really hard time getting my body clock to adjust back to our times. Originally I thought it would take just a few days. Then was told to give it a week. But it’s just been over the last several days that I’m finally sleeping through the night and not wanting to sleep all day long. ***The trip was totally worth every moment of it in preparation, presence, and recovery! I would do it again in a heartbeat… (Well… maybe in a few heartbeats from now.) 😉
6. It’s October 8 and my summer decor is still up in my house. I LOVE decorating for fall and the smell of pumpkin spice everything… but that comes third in line behind unpacking/getting house in order, and attacking things on the computer that I’ve avoided/put off. I did make Pumpkin Muffins last week and am looking forward to whipping up a batch or two of Amy’s Fall Mix asap.
7. To my across the world sisters – If you sent something with me to be mailed… I’m sorry. It’s still in my bag of things to deal with today. I promise, promise, promise that I will not go to sleep tonight until those letters are stamped and in my mailbox.
8. I’m sharing about my trip tonight at FBC Cleveland, MS. 6:00 pm. Fellowship Hall. Anyone is welcomed to come. I’ll be able to be specific and show some pictures since it won’t be internet-public. I am excited and nervous at the same time. Since this is true confessions, I’ll admit that as tech-wise as I’d like to think I am, I’ve still NEVER made my own power point or Prezi. I’ll be working on that today. (Yes… I know… last minute…)
9. This is my real hair right after I blow it dry. I can’t believe I’m sharing this online, but it’s true. The M-ladies wanted to see what it looked like before the application of the many products and heating implements and hair-prayer. I took this to show them, and felt led to show you too. Why? Because of the next point.
10. Obviously, I don’t have it all together. Not one bit! One of the local ladies at the retreat asked through an interperter how I “did it all” – and my first thought was how I’d love to give her a formula for getting everything done and done well as a Christian woman in ministry… but then I almost laughed out loud when I realized that the best answer answer to give her was the freeing truth of “I don’t. I can’t. And no one really can.”
These ladies saw me at my best, for a few short days, after months of preparation and planning and hair products galore. What they didn’t see was the prioritizing that had to be done and the {sometimes difficult} choices that had to be made between neglecting dust and “home cooked meals” or neglecting attention to my husband and children, or temporarialy stepping away from ministry responsibilites in order to carve out time for the more pressing ministry of the moments… just in order to be ready for the trip.
This is what I’ve noticed lately: When making a choice between the BEST and the GOOD, I’ve realized the BEST will most likely have some sort of eternal significance. Have you noticed this? It really helps in making those tough choices and choosing the things that matter most in the long run.
That discussion with my precious Sister made me think of you… and me… Aren’t we all guilty of looking at one another and wondering how she does it all, or how she keeps it all together? And then feeling like a lightweight or a failure when we can’t seem to unpack a three week old suitcase? 😉
Anybody?
The bottom line is that this one we admire actually can’t do it all … at least not all at one time. Someone or soemthing’s got to give. I praise the Lord that He understands this and doesn’t demand perfection! We are not judged by the percentage of our “to do” lists that we’ve checked off in the day. He knew that prioritizing our time, weeding through the good in order to nourish the best would be hard. This is why the Psalmist pleaded with God for help.
“Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (AMP)
The CEV puts it this way:
“Teach us to use wisely
all the time we have.”
Psalm 90:12
When it comes to looking at the impossibly long lists and wondering what to do next, we aren’t expected to make the choices on our own. We are, however, expected to obey the Lord when He tells us to:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
I love the CEV’s wording:
“But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.” Matthew 6:33
In order for me to seek God first, I’ve learned that most days must begin with an organized-sit-down-with-my-Bible-and-notebook-and-prayer-kind of seeking first thing in the morning, no matter how busy the day will be. But at other times when things are too crazy to sit for too long, it means simply opening my Bible and reading God’s Word when I’m feeling the day’s pressure upon me. Or quickly studying one Name of Jesus for the day and clinging to it with all my might. Just putting God’s Word in front of my eyes and getting it tucked away in my heart and listening to what HE would have to say to me is SO important. It’s the only way we will have the wisdom to pick and choose what to do next.
No one has it all together all of the time. No one!
Even if we have a hard time beliving this, if we could glimpse inside of an admired one’s home or head or heart, we’d realize it to be true. And that’s totally ok! Because it’s in our areas of weaknesses that the power or Christ can be seen and made strong in our lives (2 Cor. 12:9-10). That’s actually why we can look at our sisters who serve the Lord and think they’ve got it together. We don’t. They don’t… we are all simply living through the power of Christ in the midst of our many individual weaknesses. We’ve learned that the secret is seeking God first, then all of the other things will fall into place, even if it might take weeks and loads of hair paraphernalia to finish the tasks at hand! 🙂
So…
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! 1 Peter 2:3-4 (MSG)
