Ironically, I began this post two weeks ago…I should’ve known! Every day is full of busyness and guess what…every day for the rest of your life will be filled with busyness! It just cannot be an excuse any longer. We will always be busy with something ~ even if that “something” is doing nothing.
I know that I make plenty of excuses as to why things don’t get done. I also realize that there are times when I really need to get things done and accomplish specific tasks, but I can’t do them in a timely manner because I’m still dealing with something that should have been taken care days (or months) beforehand. Time just gets away from me and I’m sure you have experienced this too.
The times I feel the worst about being “too busy” is when I have not scheduled things in my day appropriately and the consequences are usually ones that my family has to pay. Dinner is not ready at a decent hour. Dishes are piled high in the sink for the third day in a row. I’m late picking someone up, or dropping them off. And the consequence I deal with the most is staying up far too late to finish up a bunch of little tasks that I could have done during the day so that I could go to bed early and stay healthy.
But this blog isn’t about all the “shoulda woulda coulda’s” in our life; and it certainly isn’t intended to bring on guilt. We all do that to ourselves far too easily anyway!
My hearts desire is to encourage you to take a step back, breathe in deep, and know that through all the busyness of life there are ways to create space. The Lord has been giving me great ideas on how to do this and I want to share them with you.
Now, if you have little ones and you’re reading this…trust me, I remember those days and sometimes your day (or your week!) just buzzes by in a blur and you realize you’ve been wearing the same clothes for a few days and can’t remember the last time you washed your hair. But it’s all worth it when you look back and see all that you did for your kiddos. You being present with them, reading a book or playing a game, just being WITH them is way more important that what you have on or what your hair looks like. There are still ways to find those “spaces” in your day, so hang in there. They look completely different than that of someone who doesn’t have little ones at home, and it’s supposed to.
Sometimes that “breathing space” is all in our head…and in a great way! Romans 8:5-6 (NLT) says, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”
Simply by filling our mind with the Word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our thought processes (ie…how we manage our time and daily tasks), then we will have peace. Notice that this doesn’t say we will have perfection. It means that we will be able to deal with all the craziness of life in a peaceful way. It means that when we need to speak into a situation, we can speak life instead of death. What I mean by this is that we can be encouraging instead of nagging to our children when they need to pick up their toys, or their disaster zone rooms. We can peacefully find ways to let them know how important it is to pay attention to what you are asking of them instead of knee-jerk reactions of hollering at them to just get it done.
So if we are too fill our minds with scripture to draw from when we need, how are we to accomplish this? Life is just so busy!
Here’s the best answer ~ our God is an incredibly creative God and He created you perfectly so He has the exact answer for YOU! Ask Him to give you ideas that will blend in with your family activities and with your particular daily tasks.
Let’s face it though, it’s super easy to find time to scroll through social media or even sit and read a few blogs (thank you by the way!). I’m right there with ya!
I want to encourage you to find what works for YOU! One of the greatest benefits you will recieve is that the more time you spend with the Lord, the more time you will WANT to spend with Him. The more you are filled up, the more you can pour out to others and then run back to the arms of your loving Father who will gladly fill you up again and again and again!
HE WILL NEVER EVER RUN OUT OF WHAT YOU NEED TO BE FILLED!! EVER!!
Acts 2:25-28 (ESV) remind us what King David penned in the Old Testament, “For David says concerning him,“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’”
So…ideas…here’s a few that I will be implementing into my new schedule. Take a peek and see what might work for you, or how you can tweak it to work in your schedule.
* After dropping off the kiddos at school, make a quick pit stop at a local coffee shop or park with the express intention of reading through your devotional…and NOT to meet up with a girlfriend, at least until after you have had your time with the Lord.
* Put your devotional time in your calendar to make sure you don’t over-schedule your day.
* If you have to sit in car-line (not gonna lie…super glad that part of my day is over!) go EARLY! Take your Bible, devotional, or whatever study you are going through with you and work on it in the car for a bit without any distractions.
* Wake up earlier ~ I don’t like this one, but I know for me that God is asking me to give Him more of day and for me it means to wake up an hour early. It’s gonna be a struggle for the first few days, but I’m committed to getting back to this. {As I write this, my last daughter is a Senior in high school and drives herself to school, so my “early” is probably a regular time for y’all}.
* While you are driving in the car instead of listening to the radio, take that time to pray to the Lord ~ share your day with Him…what you are doing, where you are going, how you would like direction for the tasks ahead. Or listen to some praise music and allow the Holy Spirit to flood your soul with uplifting songs.
* As you sit down to the computer or to watch your favorite DVR’d TV show, ask yourself if you have spent time with the Lord yet. If you haven’t, take that moment to read some scripture and pray. And if you don’t know what to pray, pray aloud the scripture you were going to read. And if you’re really stuck, look at the date on the calendar and find the chapter in Proverbs that has the same number and pray the verses you read. I promise that even if you physically don’t feel refreshed, the Holy Spirit will refresh and renew your mind. Scripture NEVER leaves you empty ~ it will always fill you up!
* While you wash dishes, do the laundry, finish up housework ~ you can spend time with the Lord too! Thank Him that you have a home to care for and a family to fill it up. And when you’re done, thank Him that you had the energy to accomplish all that you did.
Cheesy or not, there’s just a few to get started with and I bet the Lord is giving you great ideas already how to combat the busyness of life with the calmness of His Word. I’d love to hear from you to see how God is working in your life to bring you peace and life.
I will always be busy. You will always be busy. That busyness will look different in everyone’s life ~ stop comparing yourself to others. Allowing the Holy Spirit to sway your life in the direction of spending time with the Father will always result in the same thing ~ a life of peace and calm that will help you in your time of need as well as in the moments when you are needed by others.
When you hold the empty cup of your day to be filled with the everlasting joy and strength of the Lord, you will be filled to overflowing…and that’s a promise!
Blessings,
René
Broken & Blessed~Adventures in Gratutide! 