I love funky, colorful dishes displayed on shelves. I like eating supper on my mismatched colored Fiestaware plates. I like drinking hot tea out of my collection of thrift store mugs. Occasionally, I peek at the set of my great-grandmother's mixing bowls. But as much as I love fun dishes, it just isn't possible to use them all at the same time. Sometimes my mixing bowls stay in the cupboard while I sip hot mint tea from my fun mugs. Other times, the mixing bowls come out while my plates remain a rainbow on the shelf. Each item has its own purpose. But each also has their times and seasons to be used.
Just like my cupboards full of dishes, I have been getting a hard lesson in "What needs to be taken off the shelf of my life right now and what needs to be put on it?" In other words, "What do I need to take off and keep using and doing, and what do I need to put up and away and let it alone?"
After several weeks of consistent burnout, restless nights of sleep, what feels like endless tears everywhere (and ya'll, I hate to cry), and the weight of significant stress on my shoulders and physical body - I came to a conclusion. Either I learn to say "no" and keep things on the shelf (like talents, ideas, and well-meaning intentions or I live a miserable, stressed out, exhausted life.
After several weeks of this nonsense of a stressed-out life and continually asking "What is wrong with me?! Why do I feel like this?!" I have firmly had enough!
I am intentionally choosing the first option - saying "no" to some things.
There is a quote by author James C. Collins that says, "Good is the enemy of great."
I am finding this to be quite true. If I am so busy trying to be "good" by completing things (a trap I often find myself falling into), I miss out on things that might be great. I end up spreading my time, energy, money, and resources too thinly.
When I say "no" to good things, I have created space to say "yes" to great things.
I say "YES!" to martial arts classes and non-fiction books. I say "YES!" to hiking and hugging trees - breathing deeply the scent of leaves after a hard rain, and the carpet of pine needles, and the smell of dirt. I say "YES!" to raw conversations over glasses of hot tea and feeding people with new recipes. I say "YES!" to quiet meditation on my living room floor.
But most of all, I say "YES!" to quiet ways of blessing people - handwriting notes to friends, care packages and small presents as the Holy Spirit prompts me, and giving meals to friends.
And in saying "YES!" to these things, I say a resounding "NO" to the feeling that I have to prove my worth to myself, or other people, or to God.
As I take time to rearrange the shelf of my life, I keep in mind that just because dreams and ideas are on the shelf now does not mean that they will remain there forever. Just like things I am committing to in this season may come to an end and be put back on the shelf. And I remind myself that sometimes, I have to get rid of old dishes in order to make room for found treasures.
In his book, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," Mark Batterson states, "When I am not in prayer mode, I have good ideas. When I am in prayer mode, I have God ideas. And I'd rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas."
Busyness kills prayer and worship time.
I sat down tonight with my planner and a notebook to reevaluate my life and priorities. I had to ask myself some hard questions.
Just like my cupboards full of dishes, I have been getting a hard lesson in "What needs to be taken off the shelf of my life right now and what needs to be put on it?" In other words, "What do I need to take off and keep using and doing, and what do I need to put up and away and let it alone?"
After several weeks of consistent burnout, restless nights of sleep, what feels like endless tears everywhere (and ya'll, I hate to cry), and the weight of significant stress on my shoulders and physical body - I came to a conclusion. Either I learn to say "no" and keep things on the shelf (like talents, ideas, and well-meaning intentions or I live a miserable, stressed out, exhausted life.
After several weeks of this nonsense of a stressed-out life and continually asking "What is wrong with me?! Why do I feel like this?!" I have firmly had enough!
I am intentionally choosing the first option - saying "no" to some things.
There is a quote by author James C. Collins that says, "Good is the enemy of great."
I am finding this to be quite true. If I am so busy trying to be "good" by completing things (a trap I often find myself falling into), I miss out on things that might be great. I end up spreading my time, energy, money, and resources too thinly.
When I say "no" to good things, I have created space to say "yes" to great things.
I say "YES!" to martial arts classes and non-fiction books. I say "YES!" to hiking and hugging trees - breathing deeply the scent of leaves after a hard rain, and the carpet of pine needles, and the smell of dirt. I say "YES!" to raw conversations over glasses of hot tea and feeding people with new recipes. I say "YES!" to quiet meditation on my living room floor.
But most of all, I say "YES!" to quiet ways of blessing people - handwriting notes to friends, care packages and small presents as the Holy Spirit prompts me, and giving meals to friends.
And in saying "YES!" to these things, I say a resounding "NO" to the feeling that I have to prove my worth to myself, or other people, or to God.
As I take time to rearrange the shelf of my life, I keep in mind that just because dreams and ideas are on the shelf now does not mean that they will remain there forever. Just like things I am committing to in this season may come to an end and be put back on the shelf. And I remind myself that sometimes, I have to get rid of old dishes in order to make room for found treasures.
In his book, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," Mark Batterson states, "When I am not in prayer mode, I have good ideas. When I am in prayer mode, I have God ideas. And I'd rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas."
Busyness kills prayer and worship time.
I sat down tonight with my planner and a notebook to reevaluate my life and priorities. I had to ask myself some hard questions.
- Am I doing ________ because I am passionate about it or because I feel like I'm being pressured into it?
- Will I stick with my "no" at the risk of hurting feelings and misunderstandings?
- Am I committed to creating space in my life to rest and meditate on the Word of God?
- What are priorities I have been overlooking due to busyness?
- How can I work on being more open and vulnerable with people?
In my notebook, I wrote categories - Things I am keeping off the shelf, Things I am putting on the shelf; Things I am willing to do 1-2x a month; Things I need to say no to in the coming year; Things that bring me joy. Looking over my planner, I started dividing my life into these categories. Seeing it on paper helped to solidify things for me. It brought order to my life, but also freedom.
Shauna Niequist's words from "Present over Perfect" come back to haunt me in the best possible way, "One part of this journey, of course, was learning to say no. I couldn't have remade my life without that very important word. But it's not the word that I want to be my knee jerk response to all of life. My response to pressure and expectations: no. But the word I want to say to beauty freedom and soulfulness and life and play and creativity and challenge and God's wild expansive love? Yes, Yes, Yes. Always yes."
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