Re-Aligning When My Arms Start to Flail

I feel very paralyzed when there are too many things on my to do list. When I'd like to be decorating the mantel and planning meals for Thanksgiving guests but really need to be painting baseboards and doors and ordering blinds but haven't yet finished my lesson planning or laundry or blog posts or photo edits and we're still eating bagels and cereal because mom hasn't been cooking or baking lately. I DID, however, get groceries yesterday. So there is a bit of food in the house. #smallvictories

It's hard to press on and move forward when there is just. too. much. It takes great will-power. I've been exercising my just-do-the-next-thing muscle a lot lately. And things are slowly getting done. Slowly. I'm nowhere near the point of +empty paper, +nothing on my list, +let's just daydream about a new project. Oh that would be lovely.



You may wonder why writing moves to the top of my list sometimes, when there are hundreds of other things I should be doing. Easy. Writing is clarifying. Writing reminds me of who I am and of what I want out of life. Writing centers me, helps me focus, brings me back to basics, calms me down, refreshes me, gets me back on track. I move writing to the top of my list when I feel my insides flailing and skittering about. I know I'll be more effective in my work once I take some time to exhale and re-align my priorities.

We each reset, rest, and re-align differently. But it's important to find the thing that works for you and practice doing it. If I don't calm down and get back on track, I end up frustrated and angry and often hurt the people I love most. God says -- listen for and embrace what I'm doing for you. Let me take your ordinary life and make it something special. Let me mature you into someone with priorities like mine, with a heart like mine. #whatiwant

I really love Romans 12 in the Message Bible -- here are some excerpts on this subject:

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Romans 12:1-2 The Message

"Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality." Romans 12:9-13 The Message