Have you ever noticed there are times when it seems that everything avalanches on you, and your "to do" list suddenly explodes? I think it happens to us all. And the funny thing is, it seems to always happen when there are other things that we really want or need to get done. As some of my former licensee candidates used to say "life happens," and when it does, it tends to destroy the best laid plans.
I could get into a slew of spiritual explanations for this. Maybe it's the Lord trying to direct your steps in a better direction. Or maybe you're heading in the right direction and it's the devil trying to distract you. It can be a real trick to figure out which it is. My best advice on this side of the debate is to pray about it. If you feel that you need to fight through and plug on, it's probably satanic distraction. If the barriars are too big and you can't get around them, or you are uncomfortable/unable to bully your way through, it might be redirection. Issues like these (where it could be one or the other) can be really confusing. But I do believe we can all agree on two things: First, that such trials usually do sharpen our senses and bring us clairity. We learn and grow from it. And second, experience with such trials usually sharpens our senses so when we come this way again, we're usually more acutely aware of which scenario we're dealing with and take appropriate action quicker, thereby shortening the duration of the trial. That's called wisdom, and in time you come to see why the Book of Proverbs extols it. Using wisdom really does make life easier.
I believe my busyness epidemic of late has been a combination of both. On the one hand, it's not hard to notice that my schedule exploded right when I got another book contract and was close enough to see the end in sight for the novel I was writing. In fact, my first reaction to four calls requesting my presence at the same time was "here comes the resistance - goodness, I'm pissing Satan off. I'd better write faster." I dealt with those, but the confirmation came when I was planning to write the last chapter and lo and behold, I get a call from Rick saying they found another bird outside his school and could we please Please PLEASE help with the little bugger for a couple of days while a better home is set up for it.
Yep, that confirmed it. We kept the bird for a couple of days. And that bird had the honor of helping me finish that draft because dang it, I wrote the final chapters that day regardless of the chaos that was trying to hold me back.
On the other hand, I can't fairly say "it's all the devil's fault!" either. The Lord allows things to happen, and I did learn an important lesson from having that bird in our home (besides the fact that I can't handle 4 pets very well). I learned that you don't have an obligation to hold on to everything that comes into your life. In fact, sometimes things are just passing through, and it's your duty to help it along the way. I didn't realize until the guy came to pick up the bird Thursday evening that this was even an issue in my own spirit. Frankly, I've had a lot of things come and a lot of things go in my life over the past couple of years, and it seems that some things have come and stuck that I didn't plan on keeping at all. They've worked out, but I was getting a bit frantic because I wondered if I wasn't getting "blessed beyond my capacity." Of course that's silly, and nobody in their right mind would turn away blessings - but at the same time, we can only handle so much. I think the experience with this bird showed me that I had an idea in my mind that I had to hold on to everything that came into my life, and that's not always what the Lord wants. Sometimes, He wants me to be the blessing by helping it along the way. In this case, I was able to help somebody that wanted a bird to have it, and to give them information and starter supplies they needed to give it a right, permanant home.
I suppose the point I'm getting at is that times like this teach us the importance of balance in life. Many of us have busy lifestyles: Home, family, jobs, friends, hobbies, church, etc. It's alright to have many things in your life. In fact, I think it's good to have diversity, and responsibility is always a good thing. But we also need to be mindful of our limits. We only have so much time and energy, and we all need to have some time to ourselves. If you have so many demands on your life that you can fill a 48 hour day, then it's time to consider cutting some things so you can get it back within the natural confines of the 24 hours the Lord gave you. The world is full of things screaming for our attention, and there's absolutely no way one person can meet every need. That's why there are 7 billion of us on the planet. I've heard it said that if everybody that were able would do one thing to help in a way where they felt led, then all the needs would be fulfilled. I believe it. I think the Lord creates balance, but we take it out of balance by shifting our focus on things and places where it doesn't need to be. We should first be true to ourselves, and then admit that truth to others. Because there will always be voices telling you what you should do, but you alone are responsible for establishing balance in your life. You just have to learn how to say "no" (which Rick and I have become EXTREMELY proficient at, especially in the past week). They may be mad - until they realize that they've been provided with somebody else that can meet their need better than you can. Of course, they have to choose to accept letting somebody else fill their want/need, but that's their problem and a whole other story ...
Yes, busyness is an issue in all of our lives at one point or another, and we're feeling it now. But we're getting through and learning valuable lessons along the way, as do most people, I suppose.
That's all for today. I hope you have a great start to the
I could get into a slew of spiritual explanations for this. Maybe it's the Lord trying to direct your steps in a better direction. Or maybe you're heading in the right direction and it's the devil trying to distract you. It can be a real trick to figure out which it is. My best advice on this side of the debate is to pray about it. If you feel that you need to fight through and plug on, it's probably satanic distraction. If the barriars are too big and you can't get around them, or you are uncomfortable/unable to bully your way through, it might be redirection. Issues like these (where it could be one or the other) can be really confusing. But I do believe we can all agree on two things: First, that such trials usually do sharpen our senses and bring us clairity. We learn and grow from it. And second, experience with such trials usually sharpens our senses so when we come this way again, we're usually more acutely aware of which scenario we're dealing with and take appropriate action quicker, thereby shortening the duration of the trial. That's called wisdom, and in time you come to see why the Book of Proverbs extols it. Using wisdom really does make life easier.
I believe my busyness epidemic of late has been a combination of both. On the one hand, it's not hard to notice that my schedule exploded right when I got another book contract and was close enough to see the end in sight for the novel I was writing. In fact, my first reaction to four calls requesting my presence at the same time was "here comes the resistance - goodness, I'm pissing Satan off. I'd better write faster." I dealt with those, but the confirmation came when I was planning to write the last chapter and lo and behold, I get a call from Rick saying they found another bird outside his school and could we please Please PLEASE help with the little bugger for a couple of days while a better home is set up for it.
Yep, that confirmed it. We kept the bird for a couple of days. And that bird had the honor of helping me finish that draft because dang it, I wrote the final chapters that day regardless of the chaos that was trying to hold me back.
On the other hand, I can't fairly say "it's all the devil's fault!" either. The Lord allows things to happen, and I did learn an important lesson from having that bird in our home (besides the fact that I can't handle 4 pets very well). I learned that you don't have an obligation to hold on to everything that comes into your life. In fact, sometimes things are just passing through, and it's your duty to help it along the way. I didn't realize until the guy came to pick up the bird Thursday evening that this was even an issue in my own spirit. Frankly, I've had a lot of things come and a lot of things go in my life over the past couple of years, and it seems that some things have come and stuck that I didn't plan on keeping at all. They've worked out, but I was getting a bit frantic because I wondered if I wasn't getting "blessed beyond my capacity." Of course that's silly, and nobody in their right mind would turn away blessings - but at the same time, we can only handle so much. I think the experience with this bird showed me that I had an idea in my mind that I had to hold on to everything that came into my life, and that's not always what the Lord wants. Sometimes, He wants me to be the blessing by helping it along the way. In this case, I was able to help somebody that wanted a bird to have it, and to give them information and starter supplies they needed to give it a right, permanant home.
I suppose the point I'm getting at is that times like this teach us the importance of balance in life. Many of us have busy lifestyles: Home, family, jobs, friends, hobbies, church, etc. It's alright to have many things in your life. In fact, I think it's good to have diversity, and responsibility is always a good thing. But we also need to be mindful of our limits. We only have so much time and energy, and we all need to have some time to ourselves. If you have so many demands on your life that you can fill a 48 hour day, then it's time to consider cutting some things so you can get it back within the natural confines of the 24 hours the Lord gave you. The world is full of things screaming for our attention, and there's absolutely no way one person can meet every need. That's why there are 7 billion of us on the planet. I've heard it said that if everybody that were able would do one thing to help in a way where they felt led, then all the needs would be fulfilled. I believe it. I think the Lord creates balance, but we take it out of balance by shifting our focus on things and places where it doesn't need to be. We should first be true to ourselves, and then admit that truth to others. Because there will always be voices telling you what you should do, but you alone are responsible for establishing balance in your life. You just have to learn how to say "no" (which Rick and I have become EXTREMELY proficient at, especially in the past week). They may be mad - until they realize that they've been provided with somebody else that can meet their need better than you can. Of course, they have to choose to accept letting somebody else fill their want/need, but that's their problem and a whole other story ...
Yes, busyness is an issue in all of our lives at one point or another, and we're feeling it now. But we're getting through and learning valuable lessons along the way, as do most people, I suppose.
That's all for today. I hope you have a great start to the
RSS Feed