I haven't written in a full week, and that is pretty unusual for me. The reason for my silence is that I have been pretty sick. I started out feeling a little sluggish about six days ago but I couldn't slow down. I had too much to do. I work full time. I volunteer two nights a week. I am in three Bible studies. I am work with the Historical Society here in town. I am in a discipleship training class. I am pursing my teaching certification... and the test is rapidly approaching (October 21st!) and I am really nervous.
I am busy.
So when my body started to say "HEY SLOW DOWN!" I chose to ignore it because I don't have time to slow down. I have all this stuff to do. I can't possibly miss a meeting of the Historical Society, then I won't know what is going on! How could I not attend my Bible study? They might think less of me. I can't miss a night of volunteering, I am needed there.
Saturday morning a friend called me and said she really needed to talk, she asked if we could meet for coffee. Of course I said yes. Saturday night I had a baby shower an hour and a half away from my home. Sunday I went to church and then to a bridal shower then to a Bible study. I was feeling pretty rough but I couldn't let anyone down.
Sunday night my body crashed. I was in the middle of making dinner and I just shut down. I sat on the kitchen floor until the room stopped spinning and I worked up the courage to call my roommate for help.Between being sick and exhausted I didn't have anything left.
I went to the doctor and guess what she told me to do? Drink plenty of fluids and REST. My thought was somewhere along the lines of "yeah right". I listened politely and then went home with the intention of getting all the things on my to-do list done. I sat down to do my quiet time and Exodus 14:14 was my verse for the day. It says, "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still". Being involved in all the activities in the world doesn't mean anything if my body is falling apart. How can I be of help to other people if I can't take care of myself? Sometimes it is ok for us to say no, to say I can't. Sometimes it is ok to be still. When we are at our weakest the Lord will fight for us, we just have to be still and let Him.
I completely agree, even moreso, saying that you only watched your children or only went to school or only went to bible study, seems to be an insufficient and inefficient use of time. Since, we as women, can multitask, it seems that we have been made to "do it all" all of the time. It's just not feasible. I recently became a Stay at Home Mom just because I couldn't do it all... there were way too many things fighting me.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I need to take to heart. Thanks for sharing this reminder with the Thrive @ Home link up. Hope you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteNot too long ago I wrote a post on saying "no". I was feeling so overwhelmed and tired which means all of the things I was involved in were not getting the best I could give because I was not feeling my best. What a good reminder to say "no" and its okay. Thank you for sharing this at WJIM this week. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteSuch a hard lesson for us to learn isn't it; that we don't have to do all the right things? Sometimes our expectations are much higher than His and we just need to be quiet so that the activity cannot steal the joy. Hope you are on the mend!
ReplyDelete(Found you through the No Ordinary Blog Hop)
You are still glorifying busyness in your post. You had to list all of the activities you are busy with. Why? You sound like you are bragging. "I am sooo busy that I broke down." Glorification of busy. Stop it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the story of almost every humans in these modern days. There is so much to do or so many places to visit, you don't have time for yourself. I learnt to I avoid almost all my friends and relatives to have time for me. I am always making excuses not to see or meet people that live far, I give time to people who live close to me.
ReplyDeleteBusyness is dreadful.
Sometimes, I go with the flow and let myself get busy without any effort. I just accept all the offers to do and visit for 1 week. Then I look at the house, it's a chaos. There are heaps of changed clothes and shoes and bags scattered everywhere.
So, I take a deep breath and not answer any phones, only text occasionally.
We, seriously need to "Stop and a smell the flowers" bcoz that's what our ancestors did and lived a long happy life.
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