Time to Breathe

Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
    on a firm footing.
Psalm 143:10 (NLT)

I look at the balls I juggle and sometimes step back and wonder "What is it I could not be doing?" Actually, a better question would be "Lord, what is it that isn't important to you?"

In the circle of people I talk to regularly, we all have too many things on our plate. And the thoughts about managing it all go round and round. Am I ready for the meeting I have today? What should we have for dinner? When was the last time I cleaned the Living Room? What are my duties at church this weekend? Did I remember to pay that bill? When was the last time my husband and I had date night? Did the kids get their homework done? Did they turn it in? I need to schedule time to ______________.

There are so many more. In the buzzing and whirling of what seems to be our lives, it's really hard to lose focus on what God is asking us to do. How do you do that? How do you sort through the million thoughts to find that one that is the most important? How do you identify it and then put it at the top of the priority list so it gets done?

I am seriously asking. I want to know how to do this. I want to make sure that what God is asking of me is not getting drowned out in a list too long of things that are not so important.

The only place I know to start is on my knees. When I stop and pray, sometimes the chaos stops long enough for me to hear Him (this is directly proportional to how long I linger). Sometimes if I wait, I calm down enough to relax and focus.

I know I don't have the answer to everything but I know who does.  All I have to do is slow down, talk to him and take some time to breathe.

When I Am Weak, Who Is Strong?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Ever think about what this text means? We don't like to be weak. I can even make it more personal. I don't like to be weak. I am super independent and stubborn (and all my family said 'Amen'!) I've always had this mentality that I can do whatever I want. And I try. But the problem with that is life gets in the way of our "I can handle it" attitude and eventually, we are faced with things we can't handle.

When I was talking to God about this text, I made a list of things I cannot do. Let me be really honest here, right now there is a lot of things on that list. I worded it like this:

I don't have what it takes to _____________________.

I would encourage you to do this. Some things on your list might be:

I don't have what it takes to fix my health.
I don't have what it takes to get my finances in line.
I don't have what it takes to save my children.
I don't have what it takes to answer Your call.

Take some time, make your list. I know at first it may seem depressing but here is what I found. At the end of my list I realized I don't have what it takes to do anything that is really important to me. And then I realized I was empty. Empty of the feeling that I could work hard enough to fix this. Empty of the feeling that I alone had to try to make it work. Empty of the feeling that I was a failure because I couldn't make everything come together the way I wanted it to. And then, I let it go.

I gave the "Don't have what it takes" list to God and I told him I couldn't but I knew he could. And I was OK with being weak because I wasn't weak alone. My weakness allowed me to get out of the way so my True Strength could step in.

How about you?  Make your list and then let it go. Embrace weakness for then you will find your Strength.