4:30 AM. I was wide awake at 4:30 AM on Thanksgiving day. Why? It wasn’t because I needed to put a turkey in the oven or put finishing touches on a homemade apple pie. (My responsibilities for dinner that day were store bought rolls, a pan of sweet potatoes that might take a whole five minutes to pull together, and a bowl of broccoli salad that might take six.) No, it wasn’t meal preparation that caused me to rise so early. It . . . was me. It was me and the realization I had early that morning that another Christmas season is upon us.
Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I have so many wonderful memories from my childhood that include: putting up a real tree, making homemade ornaments, digging though my stocking as we waited for my dad to finish up chores, and getting together with family. I loved it all, and now, as an adult, I am desperately trying to recreate my childhood Christmases for my own kids. I want them to have that one special gift under the tree. I want them to have memories of us decorating the entire house. I want them to remember the time spent with family. I want them to cherish the Christmas season as much as I do. Yet, in my desire to create the “perfect” Christmas, I find myself adding extra tasks to my already full to-do-list. I take more on than I realistically can handle, and it turns my “perfect” Christmas into one that is full of rushing and stress . . . the exact opposite of what I was hoping for. Can you relate?
We do that sometimes. We take on more than we can realistically handle. We fill our schedules so full, leaving little room for rest and little room for those Best Yes assignments that God has for us. How do we balance it all?
Take a moment and check out Kristina Kuzmic’s video entitled “Screw Balance” at http://kristinakuzmic.com/tv-and-videos/. What can we learn from what she shares?
Simply put, many of us are carrying too many plates.
Finding balance in our lives is not about us figuring out how to efficiently carry all of the plates we have chosen to carry. Friend, we can’t do it all. We weren’t created to do it all. Remember what Ephesians 2:10 tells us? It says, “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.” God prepared things just for us: things that would be our way of life. We were not created to do it all. Give yourself a break. Have the courage to let go of those things that aren’t yours to do. Let go of those things that don’t have to be done. Have the courage to . . . drop some plates.
Called to Motherhood 