"Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that really don't matter". Francis Chan
Can I get an "amen"?! Amen. Amen! So further to what I've been blogging about lately, I stumble upon this quote on Facebook today. Really, this kind of encompasses all I've been rattling on about here in one single sentence! I LOVE it. If this quote had it's own "like" button, I'd click it.
I am SO wrapped up in worrying about failing as a mom. I worry that I'll fail my kids by not giving them enough experiences... like sports, vacations, dance classes, and hour upon hour of endless driving in the car to get to some random destination. I worry that I'll fail them with their diet because I don't cook everything from scratch... like KD as a regular side dish, Lipton Sidekicks, Bisquick, and Cool Whip, just to name a few. I worry that I'll fail them when I react poorly to situations in life... like scraping their knee, getting dirty, and telling me that they aren't sure if they want to love Jesus or Satan (that actually happened, but was quickly taken back). I worry that I'll fail them in showing them how to follow Christ. That I'll fail them when they are teens and I'll need to be strong, wise, firm, and show unconditional love. I am like the Queen of Worrying about Failure.
However, I love the idea of rather fearing that I'd succeed in things that don't matter. Basically like all of the above. So what if I succeed at always cooking every single meal from scratch? What would be sacrificed to attain that goal would be less time spent with my kids, and mental illness on top of that. Actually, that would pretty much be the sacrifice for all of those things mentioned above. What DO I want to succeed at that MATTERS?
Well, ya, I want to succeed as a mother - but ahead of that. I want to succeed as a lover of Jesus. Throw my life into Him, and succeed in His eyes. If I do THAT every single day, I will succeed in all other areas of my life without question.
This quote might just be the next thing I'll be putting up on a wall in my house. I need to read this daily.
Tuesday, April 24
Monday, April 16
It's Not a Breeze on the Narrow Road
Admittedly I have had a fairly long stretch of things going quite smoothly in life. As a believer in Jesus it should really come as no surprise that I suddenly feel anything but that things are going smoothly. These times of "suffering" are part of our life as Christians, but it's often what non-believers view as our weakness."If you'd just let loose and be free from the bondage of religion, you'd be happy".
And you know what, I bet they are right.
I would be happy - on earth. I would do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and be accountable to nothing and no one. Not that as a non-believer a person lives a life of debauchery and disregard the law. That's not what I'm saying at all. There are a lot of people who don't believe in God who are great people. However, the only thing they are living for is the present. What I am living for is for the life I will have after this one.
The Bible never says that life on earth will be a cake walk. It says 100% opposite of that. Life on earth will be tough. Why? Because for one, this is not the home we were meant to live in forever. Here there are hurts, pains, sadness, sorrows, and above all, sin. We were built to live in a place like the garden of Eden. A place of perfect life. When life feels hard, painful, sad and difficult, it's because our bodies, minds and souls are longing for the permanent home of Heaven.
And it's tough living here on earth because as Christians we can and will be attacked by Satan. Why would he spend much time attacking those who already don't believe, or believe in something that isn't true? He won't. He will only try to win the souls of those who matter... the Christians. So we can expect trials and tribulations, and pain, sorrow, sadness, and all these things to come at us a lot stronger and moreso than others. I totally believe that. And that's why we are slowly seeing the decay of man's acceptance of Christianity in the world. In time, we will no longer be able to have the freedom we have now. Day after day I already see how people want us to keep quiet, keep our thoughts and beliefs to ourselves, and accept their ideas. I even have people posting things to me on Facebook - Scientists trying to disprove the theory of Creation, and "funny" little anecdotes about how Atheists have all the fun.
So I just had a nice long little break - guess Satan was busy elsewhere. I got content, and got into a groove that was working nicely for me and my family. I was feeling good about myself, and even survived a bit of a blow from someone who wanted to take me down a few notches. And now I've been attacked, pushed around, and I'm upset. I'm trying to "count it all joy", look at my blessings, and work my way out of this battle. But it's just that - a battle. It's not easy, and that "Easy Button" ad campaign gets me a little annoyed. I mean, where is that button when I need it? Why wasn't I assigned one upon accepting Christ as my Saviour?
The truth is that when I accepted Jesus, I wasn't accepting an easy-out route. It wasn't saying, "Yay! Now I get to travel in style on the wide open road!". No, accepting Jesus is accepting a hard life. A life on the long and narrow road. A road less travelled. But where that road leads to is where I desire to be.
Thursday, April 12
It's Been Awhile
I know it's been a while since I blogged. It probably will be a long time until I blog again! But I had some things on my mind, and in my heart today - and I needed a place to put them down.
I've been so challenged over the last number of months to tone down my life. I've probably felt this way for years, and it all started with me logging off of Blogger. At the time it was about survival. I had two kids, and hormones were causing my anxiety to sky-rocket. I was a mess. Along came Facebook, and I felt like I could now be a little more in touch with the world again - and yet not need to put aside hours of my day for blogging about every little cute nose twitch, or funny saying, or potty trained kid, or five word sentences. Facebook covered all that in, like, fifteen minutes of my day!
But I still feel anxious, discouraged, depressed, unworthy, ugly, and lazy. Skip forward to yesterday afternoon. Someone posted the following article as a link on Facebook (go there now and read it): http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/
I LOVED this article. Thanks to social media, TV, and various other things, we as moms today are bombarded by opinions, ideas, and abilities to compare ourselves to. This is so unfair! What happened to the days of learning from our own mothers? Do you love your mom, and how she raised you? Maybe not. But I know one thing, my mom didn't keep tabs on her friends via Facebook, or get ideas from Pinterest, or search the web for ideas on "chicken". She just did her best with what she had, and what she knew. I don't want to get caught up in the comparing game - it only brings me down. I need to focus on doing things the way they work for ME and MY family.
For us that means that we will eat a lot of pasta. Yup, carbs. (insert fear-filled screams) Can you imagine what might happen to my kids if they eat pasta regularly? Or that they have real sugar sprinkled onto their cereal in the mornings? Or that I let them drink juice... UNDILUTED sometimes? I know. I should be stressed. But get this, there's more! I don't monitor the number of hours they watch TV. Some days it's zero, somedays its... lots. I don't run marathons, exercise (on purpose) every day, watch every single thing that I eat, or watch Dr. Oz. We have bad habits, and we're working on them. I've banned myself from a scale. I don't really care what number or letter appears on my clothes, as long as they fit and look nice on me. Some days I don't shower. James forgets to brush his teeth sometimes, and I only notice two days later. I gave my babies medication, in a proper dosage, when they had colds. I let Rayya sleep on her side from the day she was born. I often don't floss.
My to-do list for the day is going to come from God. He will let me know what I need to do, and how to do it, and I will have enough energy and ambition to accomplish ONLY that in my day. And right now that to-do list is this: be a mommy, be a wife, be a friend. That's it. It doesn't say: be a waitress, a cook, a cleaning lady, a saint, a missionary, a lawn care maintenance person, a model, a military sargeant, a plumber, a TV critic, a Kindergarten teacher, a craft maven, a seamstress, a doctor and a punching bag. All those things that are sometimes my self-appointed roles are not necessary. My kids just want me. That doesn't mean I'm on the floor playing Disney Cars and super heros all day. But I CAN, if I WANT to, even if that means I don't sweep up the crumbs from lunch under the table first. My kids will remember me, and not a ring around the tub. They will remember me, and not what I made them for lunch, but how I chatted with them while I made it. They will remember me, and not how much I exercised, but that I played tag with them. They will remember me, and not the dust bunnies that collected under the couch.
What IS important? What is my GOD-GIVEN to-do list? His yolk is easy, His burden is light. He will not give me so much to do that I can't do it. Now I just have to turn off, or tune out of all the other influences that make me think I have to be more. That I need to be cooking organic vegetables, doing yoga, fitting into a size 6, wearing jewellery even though I'm at home, and creating paper-maché forts for my kids. What I love about God's to-do list is that it doesn't say any of that. It just says, "be you".
I've been so challenged over the last number of months to tone down my life. I've probably felt this way for years, and it all started with me logging off of Blogger. At the time it was about survival. I had two kids, and hormones were causing my anxiety to sky-rocket. I was a mess. Along came Facebook, and I felt like I could now be a little more in touch with the world again - and yet not need to put aside hours of my day for blogging about every little cute nose twitch, or funny saying, or potty trained kid, or five word sentences. Facebook covered all that in, like, fifteen minutes of my day!
But I still feel anxious, discouraged, depressed, unworthy, ugly, and lazy. Skip forward to yesterday afternoon. Someone posted the following article as a link on Facebook (go there now and read it): http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/
I LOVED this article. Thanks to social media, TV, and various other things, we as moms today are bombarded by opinions, ideas, and abilities to compare ourselves to. This is so unfair! What happened to the days of learning from our own mothers? Do you love your mom, and how she raised you? Maybe not. But I know one thing, my mom didn't keep tabs on her friends via Facebook, or get ideas from Pinterest, or search the web for ideas on "chicken". She just did her best with what she had, and what she knew. I don't want to get caught up in the comparing game - it only brings me down. I need to focus on doing things the way they work for ME and MY family.
For us that means that we will eat a lot of pasta. Yup, carbs. (insert fear-filled screams) Can you imagine what might happen to my kids if they eat pasta regularly? Or that they have real sugar sprinkled onto their cereal in the mornings? Or that I let them drink juice... UNDILUTED sometimes? I know. I should be stressed. But get this, there's more! I don't monitor the number of hours they watch TV. Some days it's zero, somedays its... lots. I don't run marathons, exercise (on purpose) every day, watch every single thing that I eat, or watch Dr. Oz. We have bad habits, and we're working on them. I've banned myself from a scale. I don't really care what number or letter appears on my clothes, as long as they fit and look nice on me. Some days I don't shower. James forgets to brush his teeth sometimes, and I only notice two days later. I gave my babies medication, in a proper dosage, when they had colds. I let Rayya sleep on her side from the day she was born. I often don't floss.
My to-do list for the day is going to come from God. He will let me know what I need to do, and how to do it, and I will have enough energy and ambition to accomplish ONLY that in my day. And right now that to-do list is this: be a mommy, be a wife, be a friend. That's it. It doesn't say: be a waitress, a cook, a cleaning lady, a saint, a missionary, a lawn care maintenance person, a model, a military sargeant, a plumber, a TV critic, a Kindergarten teacher, a craft maven, a seamstress, a doctor and a punching bag. All those things that are sometimes my self-appointed roles are not necessary. My kids just want me. That doesn't mean I'm on the floor playing Disney Cars and super heros all day. But I CAN, if I WANT to, even if that means I don't sweep up the crumbs from lunch under the table first. My kids will remember me, and not a ring around the tub. They will remember me, and not what I made them for lunch, but how I chatted with them while I made it. They will remember me, and not how much I exercised, but that I played tag with them. They will remember me, and not the dust bunnies that collected under the couch.
What IS important? What is my GOD-GIVEN to-do list? His yolk is easy, His burden is light. He will not give me so much to do that I can't do it. Now I just have to turn off, or tune out of all the other influences that make me think I have to be more. That I need to be cooking organic vegetables, doing yoga, fitting into a size 6, wearing jewellery even though I'm at home, and creating paper-maché forts for my kids. What I love about God's to-do list is that it doesn't say any of that. It just says, "be you".
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