I am writing this for the benefit of all of my friends who have had to listen to me complain lately about my schedule and how I can possibly make it better. Rod and I have explored every option from me changing jobs (not an option - I love my job) to moving to town (not an option - we love our acreage). None of them have seemed like the right answer. I have been praying like crazy asking God what I'm supposed to do and I'm sure he was quietly answering but in typical Cris style I couldn't hear him until he used a bullhorn.
I have an almost nightly tradition of taking 30 minutes in the tub to read some sort of inspirational book. It seems the bathroom with a locked door is about the only place I can find any privacy! Lately I've been reading "breathe - creating space for God in a hectic life". This is an excellent book for us busy moms. Anyway, often each chapter speaks to me on a different level. Wed was an especially trying day for me and I climbed into the tub feeling like the chance of slowing down was hopeless. I started reading the chapter "Reassurance - For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I reached a part of the chapter that said . . .
Many people want to slow down, so they make dramatic, sometimes costly, changes in their lifestyles. But hurry, at its root, is not about lifestyle or where you live. It's about how you think and how you perceive the world. You can rearrange the externals of your life in a radically different way, but you always take your thinking with you. If you are a hurried, rushed person in the city you'll also be a hurried, rushed person in the country. This is good news. That's because many people can't make huge lifestyle changes. YOU LIVE WHERE YOU DO AND SOMETIMES CIRCUMSTANCES PREVENT YOU FROM MAKING A RADICAL MOVE. If you are the parent of a baby and a toddler that's who you are; you can't change this fact (although circumstances will change as the children grow). But if you're a hurried, rushed parent with a baby you'll eventually be a hurried, rushed parent of a teenager. THE TRICK IS TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK. That's where the good news comes in. It is possible to change the way you think.
This may seem like a "well, duh" way of thinking to many of you, but for me it was an epiphany. I have a tendency to run around full of stress and think about how much more relaxed I'd be if I changed externals in my life. The truth is, I have to start by changing how I view my day to day life. The only thing that's rushing my day is me, and the only one who can slow it down is me. Hope you learned something from my "lesson of the day" and I'll keep praying for all of you if you'll keep 'em comin' for me!!
10 years ago
3 comments:
I'm so glad to hear changing your job is not an option! You do so much for Joey I don't know where he would be without you! Thank you for the inspirational words. We always try to take things a day at a time, hour by hour, minute by minute. The household chores, laundry, etc. take a backseat most of the time around here. I've learned that you never know what a day will bring so we try to enjoy the kids and their activities as much as we can. And if they wear the same pair of socks for 3 days straight ~ well that's just the way it goes sometimes. We will send our prayers your way ~ hang in there!
I think you are an amazing mother, wife, and friend. You always keep God at the center and this is oh so important! We will keep you in our prayers. Glad you are feeling better about the craziness of life. Miss you, Sha
Cris,
I think you are right that we all have to often stop and look at what it is that we can control. That is often us. Ourselves. This is hard for me. You probably knew that. But when I take some time to really reflect I often come up with the fact that if I'm happy things are good. If I choose to be rushed/stressed etc. no one is happy. Not my family, friends, or co-workers. I'm the one choosing to think that everything must be so so. That's where most of my stress/"rushness" comes in. Once in a while there is legitimate reason but I often find that if I attack it instead of just worrying and stressing I feel better. We'll just have to keep trying that's what makes us human:).
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