Pressure seems to lurk around every corner.
Overwhelming weight of responsibilities.
Work and Daily Tasks of dishes, mopping, laundry and errands.
Playing with the kids. Cooking for the kids. Disciplining the kids. Loving the kids.
Loving your spouse. Caring and tending for your spouse’s needs. Communicating with your spouse.
Keeping up with friends. Caring for their needs. Carving out time.
Exercise – Nutrition – Sleep. Caring for yourself. Tending to your own needs.
Reading your Bible. Communicating in your relationship with God.
Do you ever find yourself going to bed just feeling like you didn’t meet your checklist?
Another day passed by with your to-do list from today running over to add to your to-do list for tomorrow.
I find it seems to never end.
But amidst our daily “to-do’s,” what if we found peace and contentment in just doing our very best in everything we do?
The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Matthew 6:34 tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
My Aunt Paula taught me one of the greatest lessons in life. She said, “Don’t go to bed with dirty dishes in your sink. You’ve got enough to do tomorrow without adding today’s responsibilities to tomorrow.” Now, I can’t say that this has always held true in my house – by a long stretch. However, as an overall rule, my husband and I have chosen to adopt this principle. I absolutely love waking up to a clean kitchen! It just starts my day off so much better. If I wake up early enough, I get time to pray and read my Bible instead of spending my first 10-15 minutes scrubbing pans from the day before. It’s amazing how something so small makes such a huge impact. It affects my attitude with my husband and my kids, and it’s such a simple principle to adopt just a few minutes before I go to bed. I should seriously re-read this myself the next time I give myself an excuse to crawl in bed with a dirty kitchen!
Where can you remove a little bit of pressure in your life? Adopt the clean sink before bed principle. Make your bed when you wake up. Take a walk. But most importantly, read your Bible and pray.
I once read a very powerful statement about time. It went something like this:
“I have too much on my plate today, so I don’t have time to stop to pray and read my Bible– which is why it is paramount that I stop to pray and read my Bible in order to accomplish the tasks on my plate today.” In other words, if you’re too busy for God, you need him even more. When we choose to spend a few minutes with Jesus, and communicate with him all throughout the day, we can experience serenity in our daily to-do lists. There are days I’m overcome by the pressure and weight of it all. Then I stop and remember everything I do is to be done for the Lord, not for man. I don’t have to own up to man’s expectations – but solely to work for the glory of God. It is in his strength I can move forward. It is in his strength alone that I can continue to write. It is in his strength alone that I can have patience and endurance to finish the dishes before bed, to teach and discipline the kids well, to endure the race that is marked out for us in every task, in every season.
I challenge you on this journey in life, amidst the weight of pressures you are experiencing, to remove the pressures in the small but significant ways that you can, and to lean into your relationship with your Heavenly Father. You’ll find joy in what once felt like weight. You’ll find strength in what you once felt weak.
You’ll find serenity in what once felt like pressure.
Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
God bless you my sweet friends! You are so dearly loved! I wish I could hug every one of you in person, look into your eyes, and tell you, “YOU are exactly perfect in Christ, just the way he made you. You matter. You have a voice. You are cherished, and you are incandescently loved by your Father in Heaven, our one true King!”
Your beloved sister in Christ,
~Mandy