Do you ever feel like life is just too much?
Not only the suffering and injustice and conflict and hurt but simply
the demands of daily life.
Sometimes….it all just feels like too much.
It can be heavy and oftentimes terribly overwhelming.
…life that is.
And I want less….
Less being overwhelmed and less striving.
Less busy and less chaos.
Less pretend and less robotic.
Less of the “task master” mindset.
Typically, I just love the end of one year and the beginning of the other. I love the prospect and lure of newness and fresh starts. I love new mercies and the feeling of beginning again, unscathed.
You may have heard me talk of this before. (Fresh starts are my favorite!)
I love new journals and new goals.
I love the possibility that if I make a plan, I may actually be better at everything I stink at.
For example,
- I will be healthier.
- I will be more organized.
- I will be a better wife, mom, teacher, photographer, friend, giver.
- I will cook more and whole foods.
- I will have plans and routines.
- I will write love letters and serve others.
- I will actually put the lash boost on at least every other night. 😉
- I will exercise more.
- I will complain less.
- I will contact friends and family more.
- I will….I will…I will…
Except, in reality, I actually won’t.
I really just won’t when it comes down to the action part.
I will be that same girl who has wonderful intentions and who makes lost of lists and plans and never accomplishes them.
So, this time of year – preparing for a new year – becomes this amazing time of reflection, purpose filled thinking, purposed driven planning, prayer, new inspirations and motivation…
along with the illusion of becoming Wonder Woman.
Yet for me, the results are always the same. I am the same me with the same flaws and the same things I want to better at/with each year.
We all strive for something. For me – my unattainable striving tends to be directed at planning or budgeting my time so that I can accomplish all of these things God has called me to accomplish ~ mixed with all of these things I feel like I should be accomplishing. The list is long and mostly impossible to accomplish in a 24 hour period. I agree with Lysa TerKeurst when she says
Unrealistic demands lead to undercurrents of failure.
In the resources of life, time is one that is nonrenewable. It is a currency that I can never get more of. On the day of my birth, I was budgeted with a fixed number of minutes in life that I cannot possible add to. This number continues to be depleted day after day. Each day we live, we are gifted 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. At the end of that day, our allotment of time has now decreased by that same amount. How I spend those moments can only happen one time – no do-overs. Therefore how I spend that time is precious – a deposit/investment that we will never get back.
In parenting, this is coming alive to me more than ever! I have three summers left with our oldest before she is an adult and flies the coop. How am I spending those moments I have with her?
In Psalms we read,
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
This year – I am reading through lots of my old notes. (Powersheets, Words I have chosen, goals brainstormed)
I am not planning to set myself up for the inevitable failure of goals and plans unaccomplished. My expectations are pretty realistic now-a-days. However, the word that I keep hearing whispered in my head is LESS. I don’t know exactly how or what that looks like – but I need it. Sure there are things I need to do more of – but to be able to do more (Serving others as a family for example) I need to do less of something else.
I don’t know what your unattainable is.
I don’t know what makes you feel overwhelmed or like a failure.
But I pray that you (like me) will learn to rest in less….to be content…to budget time on the most important things in life whatever that looks like…to
cease striving and free yourself
to be the one person only you can be…the one person no one else on the planet can be.
I have included a simple and free three minute brainstorming download. Make Room for More 2018 Feel free to use it…What if you set your timer for 3 minutes and literally jotted down everything that popped into your head that was something you wanted MORE of in your life and things you want or could do with less of? Sometimes just the process of thinking through simple things like that is healing and insightful.
Much love to you and yours and a Happy New Year! (from part of my crazy crew right before the stomach bug visited)
A few New Year’s resources I have loved in the past…
- One Word: Focus on one word and let go of the long lists and goals. Simple and insightful and the process of brainstorming is very practical. Examples of words others have chosen: intentional, joy, grace, consistency, contentment, stillness, perseverance, forgive, surrender, present, thankfulness.
- POWERSHEETS: Have you heard of Power Sheets? They are really amazing – Check them out if you like tools to help you plan. I have spent a great deal of time in the past on these. I have filled them out beautifully, with all of my favorite pens (which I have researched in great detail). Except I haven’t actually followed the plans or completed the goals.
- The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst
