“I have a feeling God wishes a few things would occur to us…Don’t you know God looks at us running ourselves into a frenzy and says,
‘You’re sure not doing all that for me. I didn’t get you into this mess…’
I have learned volumes about finding a schedule you can live with…I was no different than a lot of Christian women. I knew enough to put priority on God’s approval, but what would be the harm in having everybody else’s too? After all, ‘everybody else’ tended to be a lot less understanding than God…
I’d like to suggest two myths that keep us trapped on a treadmill going nowhere:
Myth #1: We can do everything well.
No, we can’t. Not only that, God never told us to do everything well. He said that whatever we do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)…
Not only is it impossible to do a thousand things well, we certainly can’t do a thousand things to the glory of God. But we can..
– seek Him each season of our lives,
– discern His present priorities for us,
– pour our priority energies into those things, and thereby,
– do them to the glory of God.
Paul knew what God prioritized for him. He didn’t try to do Peter’s job or Barnabas’s job. He did not go everywhere he received an invitation. When the Spirit compelled him to go, he did not remain with a group of people no matter how much he loved them or how they begged him not to leave. No telling how he disappointed his parents and associates, yet when his life was nearing its end, he was able to say,
‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Tim 4:7).
Plenty of people had not yet heard the Word, but Paul understood the whole world was not his responsibility. It was God’s. No matter what was left undone or how others rated his success, Paul knew he had finished his race to the satisfaction of the One who summoned him to the track…
Myth #2: We can make everyone like us and approve of us.
A great and profound word comes to mind on this one: Baloney…
I’ll warn you in advance. You will get untold flak for prioritizing God’s revealed and present will for your life over man’s but, boy, is it worth it!
Galatians 1:10 asks a critical question: ‘Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.’
Simply said, we become a bondslave to whomever we try to please. I’ll stick with Christ…His yoke is indeed easy and His burden light…
I take considerable criticism at times and it still hurts…but would you like to know something? I’m content and at peace. Keith has had a wife. The kids have had a mom. Exhaustion and stress come and go, but they do no rule my life. For now, I have made it my goal to please Christ…
God has a present will for your life. It is neither chaotic nor utterly exhausting. In the midst of many good choices vying for your time, He will give you the discernment to recognize what is best…
Incidentally, my children tease me pretty unmercifully at times about that old treadmill [I never used much] that still gathers dust in the guest room. I just smile and bear it because I know something they don’t: that silly monument to all I didn’t become and couldn’t pull together was a monumental choice in their favor…”
Beth Moore, Feathers From My Nest, pgs. 143 – 151
Can you tell I’ve been mulling over priorities and scheduling?
My husband talked through a few things with me yesterday. I overbooked the weekend and need to work on not spreading myself or my family too thin.
While we are doing okay schedule-wise for the most part, the area in which I feel most pulled in different directions is emotional. I have a deep desire to help and love…well…lots of people. But that is not my job. Things like Facebook and several different churches’ sermons and multiple blogs and all the people I follow on Pinterest start to add up for someone with my temperament.
So we are narrowing down. We know we are called to this family unit. This neighborhood. This church. These relationships. These jobs. These ministries. He couldn’t have made any of those things more clear. Not that He can’t change – or add to – any of that, but He is not asking us to make anything else our priority right now.
So I’m not breaking up with Facebook or anything, but I may not read the whole home page feed more than once a week. I don’t intend to give up Pinterest, but I may be more strategic in what I use it for. I plan to only listen to our pastor’s sermons right now and not follow multiple different churches’ paths that He has laid out for them.
I just thought I would share. To encourage you if you’re drowning in any area. And plus, typing it makes it more real for me. I know what He wants, so obedience is crucial.
He makes whatever path He calls us to joyful and worth it.