I initially penned this post when I first started my blog seven years ago. My eldest was just starting high school and now he’s about to graduate from college. It’s amazing to see how the heart of this message is just as relevant today as it was then, especially this time of year.
As you read about our choice to scale back our December schedule, that has continued and it was one of the best choices we have ever made. Since then, I’ve shared lots of our simple holiday traditions that have built so many memories of the years. I hope this encourages you as you think through your calendar. (Grammar, functional errors and the rest kept for history sake. ;))
I have been doing a lot of pondering about my upcoming schedule.
What is truly important this time of year. Does it enhance our family time, build the Kingdom or does it distract from the most important choices?
My typical year falls into a few categories. A few months ago, the true essence of “lazy days of summer” and living life to its fullest, while celebrating the simple moments was in full force, yet from Sept. – Dec. 1, I am crazy busy.
Savoring our Decembers came through much prayer, and pinpointed examination of balance issues that needed to be dealt with, and wow…what a new delight it has been.
But the problem lies here…. the lady pictured above portrays how I live the rest of the time,
and I am brainstorming ways to avoid the trap.
ShockingStatistics
- 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related.
- 90% of the population claims there is never enough time.
- Stress impairs our ability to think clearly and make good decisions.
- 375,542 books have been published on stress management.
What is happening with in our society to get us to this point?
I have a lot of ‘opinions’ about this from some of my research, but here are just a few little bullet points to wet your whistle. More posts on this topic will be coming. I know you are marking your calendar. 🙂
I know that Satan uses the bondage of busyness to keep us from the truly important things in life.
There are SO many “good things,” but not all of them are necessary.
When Jesus announced to his disciples that it was time for Him to go and be with His Father, do you think they were very happy about that little announcement that He shared?
No way!
If I had been there, I can just envision the lively debate I would have with Him.
“Lord, Seriously, you can’t mean this. I mean, come on….there are sick people to heal, blind to see, hospitality issues to be carried out. Do you think I can turn that water into wine without you? I have fabulous feasts that need to be prepared for our time together, and the people are coming to see you…you’re the drawing card.
(Now, quite honestly, there would be definite relief over the fact I wouldn’t have to clean for that fabulous feast, but that’s beside the point. :))
Let’s take a closer look into the scripture, Jesus responded in John 17:4,
“I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work which THOU gave me to do.”
Excuse me? But what about me? What about my “to do” list?
Ponder that verse, my over committed friends, and yes, even those of you who are about to stop reading since I mentioned Jesus. You don’t have to be a bible reader to receive freedom in that revelation.
Jesus’ secret was He was concerned about one thing.
What His father called Him to do?
Ladies – dismiss the lie that “we can do it all.” We can’t, and it’s OK.
The “big guy”, the man of the hour, our Lord and Savior didn’t get the disciples “to do” list done, did He?
Yes, you type A ladies, take a DEEP breath…it’s OK, we’re all in this together
(belting a little high school musical here).
The disciples “TO DO” list was left UNFINISHED!! GASP!
He didn’t finish everything the multitudes wanted him to do. BUT He did finish the work that God had given Him to do.
So, I look at the picture below and deliberately assess what is keeping me from having margin in my life?
What activities are consistently standing in the way of having a shared family meal around the dinner table?
How am I engaging my teens’ hearts, and not just passing time with a check list?
What “good” thing is tipping my balancing act, so that it’s inhibiting the family life that God is calling me to have all fall long?
Do I really need to fill the calendar with kid’s activities to the detriment of God’s to do list?
These are hard questions for me.
I challenge you to ponder this with me.
As you’re planning your calendar, what can you do right now that will give you margin, and allow you to be the cat, instead of the mouse, in this rat race of life?
What initiative can you take to balance the beauty and bedlam that arise in your life?
I can’t wait to hear. Iron sharpens iron, and I invite you to sharpen me.
One of the things that I passionately pursue is a legacy of living life to its fullest with purpose and intentionality. In order to do that, I must have margin, and prioritize His checklist in my life.
I commit to remembering it’s the little things that are the big things.
Visit me often on my journey of “balancing it all.”
We can encourage each other together…the good, bad, and ugly. 🙂
Jen,
I so echo your thoughts here! As a matter of fact, I have a “first things first” post coming… I don’t think we can hear this kind of thing too much!
Time… precious and yes, limited.
Blessings and congrats on being a cool blogger so quickly!
I am so that woman covered in sticky notes. I have all sorts and colors. I use them for everything. My kids fuss and say, “Mom, if you use them for everything then none of them stand out which kind of defeats the purpose.” Oh well.
It’s so important to put the big rocks in our life and make sure they are in place and then try to fit in the lesser things. And we can’t always fit it all in, but at least the big stuff gets done. Still working on this, but getting better!
Your post is so true. I think for me it is guarding the distractions. So much stress is caused not by today but what we forgot to plan out and do yesterday ahead of time. I could keep writing but will stop there!
🙂
Okay…now it’s my turn…I used to give credit to a blog of the week..I’m so starting that again right now and your IT
Excellent post! I so needed to read this today. I’m going to spend some time pondering your words.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’ll definitely be coming back to yours!
Jennifer- I couldn’t agree with you more and too myself try to find that balance with God in the center of course. Talking about being BUSY (Being Under Satan’s Yoke) check out this wonderful clip on that very thing…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnO1jjGyZTs
Jen,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Yes, I am extremely content, and I owe that all to my faith. I wasn’t always a content person, but then again I wasn’t always a Godly woman. My life still continues to be somewhat crazy . . . working a full-time, stressful job; being a single mom; raising a 16-year-old daughter; being a dog owner; keeping up with a house and yard . . . but living a God-focused life helps me keep it all in perspective, hence the contentment.
Your post here has a lot in it to think about. Thank you for that. I need every little reminder that I can get to keep me balanced and focused on what is important. And I love the scripture. I printed it out and stuck it on my computer.
Thanks again, Jen.
Dawn
I was just discussing this with my daughter before I visited you. This was timely. I have found help running my “big item” to do list by someone who loves me and knows me, especially in regards to my business. They give me perspective I might not have achieved alone.
I have thought of this many times in the last three years. The Lord showed me that busyness is not always the best. Time spent at home with my family is never something I will regret. We choose not to go over and beyond with “extra” things and are still crazy busy. I agree that all extra things are not necessarily bad, but do we have to do them all? NO. I have learned that my sanity and my family time is something I “fight” for and will never apologize for that. I hate the rat race and face it enough since I teach, but I won’t give up my family time. Loved your post.
I soooo needed that! thanks
sing it sista!
No need to worry about me, it usually means I’m out of town……again. 🙂
Amen sister! I truly believe that Satan’s biggest weapon to draw us away from the Lord is busying our lives. I long to keep our lives simple and hold onto that dream every day. The days of recitals and homework and practices and ANOTHER birthday party and, and, and…are just a few years away for us…and that’s just what the KIDS will be tempted with!!!! I look forward to learning from fellow pioneers, like YOU. 🙂
It all goes back to living on purpose, doesn’t it? I NEED to keep my eyes fixed on my relationship with the Lord and my family, or I am sunk. Ironically, staying home and home schooling with little going here and there, I still get busy. I have thought on this for a day now … why am I so busy? The Lord is using this time to shine some light into hidden areas of my own heart. Thank you for posting about this topic, it is being used as a tool in the hands of our Master.
I do have to comment about my husband on the issue of keeping me grounded…he has always been my voice of reasoning. I will serve and serve until there is nothing left to give and he has been my 5 senses, and now tells me where I need to scrape off and where I need to heap on.
Sincerely ~ Tricia Anne
EXCELLANT post! You have no idea how much I needed this today! And sorry about the “B.S.” post, it did look kind of bad – I changed it a bit by putting the full blog title!
I have to say, I love how you completely clear your calendar for December – I’m going to do that from now on.
Jen, what a wonderful post! I think you have hit the nail on the head with this one. So many are struggling with a stressed out life & that is not how God intends us to live. Our pastor has been challenging us to live everyday in an eternal light…that should change our perspective!
On the silverware thing, that aluminum foil method did work great for it, so if you come across more, you may want to grab it!
Thanks for stopping by!
Rhoda
Amen sister!!! Why do we do this to ourselves??
Thanks for jusmping over and visiting our site. Your comments are precious and we do strive to put God first!!
Love your style of writing and we will be back often!
Amy & Rachel
thanks for the comment on my blog…i AM lucky to have my grandparents around and they love being GREAT-grandparents. i've often thought how i will react when they finally pass away…possibly not good.
i think that you are right about too much "noise" in our lives that makes it hard for the Lord to speak to our hearts and lead us in the path that the Lord has laid out for us (IF we will listen) i've taken to not having the radio on in the car. between trying to find music (between all the commercials) and the noise of the boys in the back…it is just sersiously so much NOISE!!! (my husband doesn't understand that yet). so if there is music on it is quiet classical or uplifiting church music that the boys can sing along too. for me, that is just one way to quiet the noise of this world and make ours a little more peaceful.
keep trying to balance it out. also, i took a sociology class in college where we watched a dateline or 20/20 all about overscheduled kids. and this is a serious epidemic in our society. parents think that to make their children well-rounded (& smarter, i guess), they have to put them in every and any sport, theater group, music, dance….you name it. (there was even one dad that put the piano pieces his kids were learning on during the night so that they could learn them through osmosis…hmmmm) we've got to try and remember than our kids need to be kids and let them just PLAY. use their imaginations in a natural way and they will grow up to be well-developed smart people.
one more thing(i realize this is long) i am facsinated by your homestead idea. my dad is really into that as well; and hey, with the way the economy is giongm it really isn't a bad idea. my dad has been talking our ears off about it for a couple of years now. how does it work?
Great post and oh, so, true.
Blessings~~
Such amazing thoughts to ponder on this Tuesday morning. I have often felt the same—especially when I see people walking around, constantly plugged into their phones or their ipods or their portable games and dvd players. I think: where has the quiet time to ponder and think gone? How can anyone ever hear the still, small voice if they’ve always got something occupying their mind and time? I know God can use all these things to His advantage as well, but Satan seems to know how to take every good thing and make a counterfeit of it.
I will keep all your thoughts in mind as my fall calendar approaches too. I’m a rat for sure :)!
Thank you so much for the sweet comment on my blog. I take a lot of comfort in the prayers and well wishes of others. More than I can say!
Wishing you all the best!
Wow Jen, this was a really compelling post. And sometimes I think contentment and peace comes from knowing God holds us in his right hand… not from having free time or being less-busy than normal. Sometimes I feel my most peaceful amidst a storm of chaos, b/c it’s in those times I’m most conscience of Him and leaning fully on things I cant see.
We clear our calendar for the month of December too and enjoy it SO much. That’s one of the reasons why we start school so early on.
Great post!
Oh, and that other blog, I don’t know what I am gonna do. I think I have decided just to keep my homeschool stuff on my other blog.
Oh, well, we’ll see!
What a great post. I was just sitting here starting to get stressed about the up-coming school year. Our calendar gets fuller and fuller, and a post like this is just what someone needs to take a step back and re-evaluate!
Wow, you’re amazing! Browsing through some of your recent blogs. Funny stuff, and so true.
THANK you for the kind comment on my blog!! I appreciate it. :o)
I scrolled down a bit in your blog and saw a post about a toy snake! I have a post just like that on my blog… I think from March? How funny!! My son does the same thing to me!
Jen,
I am SO passinate about this very topic. I think everything we do needs to be questioned and evaluated in a conversation with our God and then we need to sit and listen while He tells us what He wants us doing with the time He gave us.
Thanks so much for this blog!
Well, Jen. I wandered over here from Piedmont Homeschoolers and I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit!
You are hilarious and lots of fun!
I’m with you on debt free living and Goodwill shopping! Yee Haw!!!
I have found many many treasures that way. Thrift stores are our friends. I have to hit at least one every day.
I’ll visit often now that I have found your blog. I would like to put a link to it on mine if that is ok with you.
Blessings,
Starr LaPradd
Thanks for stopping by over at BellaDella today. I am delighted to “meet” you. I have spent a little time on your amazing blog tonight and plan to visit again very soon. In fact, I am heading back to mine right now to add you to my favorites.
Thank you for the message today. We all need to be reminded to slow down a bit. I am definitely in the middle of the rat race right now!
Have a great night!
Kim
Preach it sister! This is so spot on it’s scarey. I live in an area of the country where something’s wrong with you if your kids aren’t in fifteen activities and going 100 mph every day. I don’t want to live like that, and I don’t want my kids to live like that. Being intentional is key. Really making the effort to do things as a family is so important. And unfortunately that does require planning! And I am a last minute person…thus MY stress when things need to get done. Thanks for a great post.
WOW! I fell like this SOOOOO much right now. Half of the time I cant even sleep because I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things “done” that my creativity peaks when Im trying to sleep! There is no room for it durring the day!
Great post. I think our culture is so concerned with “right now” rather than things of eternal nature… which are the really important things. Yes, Satan is smart and he’ll use whatever he can to keep us distracted. You gave us alot to think about. Thank you so much for visiting my blog.
Hello there! You are right on in what you say. Have you read “satan’s meeting” on utube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnO1jjGyZTs This is my first time here and really enjoyed seeing all your garage sale goodies etc. I love a good bargain myself. We have a black lab that we love…labs love to have fun! cherry
i can relate to this so much that it’s a little scary……
“I commit to remembering it’s the little things that are the big things.”
That is so good! And something I need to commit to remembering myself!
Blessings. Thanks for coming by my blog.
And I love the picture of you and your beautiful family! Have a terrific weekend!
K 🙂