Less is More
I’m sure most could tell that from my post on Monday that I have been having a bit of a hard time lately. From hearing about a precious babies’ passing, a miscarriage from a friend, and the passing of a beautiful Godly woman. I have been in the dumps and just not feeling like myself. I was so disgusted and aggravated at how one day I can be on fire for the Lord and the next day feel like I’ve fallen so short. Through this small brief period in my life I have realized that I will always fall short, He never will. I succeed when I get back up and grab God’s hand.
Me and my husbands new motto is, “Less is more and I don’t care!” I’m sure that sounds funny, but over the past couple weeks we have realized that we are doing too much and holding on to too much. I heard an awesome saying in Bible study the other day. BUSY stand for Being Under Satan’s Yolk. How true is this? I’m so thankful for a time of revaluation. The I don’t care part of the motto is not only about not caring what others think, but about taking the pressure off ourselves. Ever since the beginning of the summer my husband and I have had numerous serious talks that stemmed from the time we put our house on the market, but not near enough laughs. Don’t get me wrong, we have sill being enjoying life, but we have had burdens on our back making sure every step we take is the right one and over analyzing everything. We made an agreement last night that we will make no more plans. If we want to build our kids a tree house we aren’t going to ponder about…well how long will we be in the this house to make it worth our efforts. Heck no! The kids would love it, we will have fun building, so daggonit we are gonna do it!
I think as Christians, rather we want to believe it or not we can be legalistic in our thinking. Our burdens become heavy, when in fact the burdens of the Lord are light with freedom attached. For instance there is nowhere in the Bible that says I have to make fresh bread every week, my kids can’t watch cartoons, I have to wake up at the crack of dawn, or even that my blog post have to be posted by 8:00am. These are pressures we put on ourselves for no good reason. Today I decided to slowly retrain myself to let go of the expectations and legalistic thoughts. He has already bought me at a very high price, no matter what awesome things I do today I can’t make Him love me any more or less.
As part of my training I slept in. I pulled every baby in bed with me and snuggled. I didn’t worry about my precious coffee, homeschooling, or the fact that my blog post was not yet written. When we ventured downstairs I made pancakes for My Zoe Bell without feeling the need to make double batches to save for later… nope just made them for breakfast right here and right now:)
While I made breakfast the cartoons came on! They even had my husband intrigued:)
I’m thinking that school today will consist of books and Candyland. These simple changes have already made a world of difference in me, my husband, the kids, and our home. God gives what you need just when you need it, even if it is to just ENJOY. Has God been revealing anything to you lately?
One Response to Less is More
Hey Y'all! My name is Brittany Styron. Sweet Country Roots is a place I hope to encourage, inspire, and bring a chuckle. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and join conversations about marriage, babies, homeschooling, frugal living, good food, and an old fashioned way of thinking.
Brittany, as we have discussed, we have both had interesting weeks and in different ways, we have been through situations that have caused us both to question life. We world’s have been shaken and it left us in a weird mood. Hearing the sad news about all of those who have gone on to Heaven breaks my heart, but honestly, if they had the opportunity to return to earth, I am not sure that they would do so. I left for church today in total rebellion. I did not want to go!! My husband encouraged me to go and I was a little frustrated because of his insistent attitude. I sat in church and sobbed because of situations that I am not at liberty to discuss.The praise music hit me hard. Loran’s message was that we have to live by faith and by faith means that we usually don’t see what God is doing. Faith means that we have to trust Him when things are crumbling around us. I left feeling a little uplifted, but I am burdened with life issues and still hurting when I left church. Then, I saw my precious grand children for a few minutes. I want you to know what a blessing they are to me. They also helped begin to bring me out of my mood. Then we met some dear friends for lunch. The guy just had bypass surgery and he is already out and about. They are very sweet people and they have had terrible life issues with one of their sons. They are still positive and love the Lord with all of their hearts. They also inspired me! Now I am sitting on my porch. It is a beautiful fall day. The sun is shining and the sky is Carolina blue. What do I have to be down about? Well…in reality, a lot, but it is a choice to get out of the pit and get on with life. Yes, I agree, less is more. We get so bogged down with stuff and life issues that we can’t see the good things that the Lord is doing in our lives. Do me a favor, ok? Remind me of this when I get back into my mood again.