Today, I went to wor
k. Well, I went to my office, early, before I went to my second job (I don’t usually go into the office on Thursdays). I went into my boss’s office and she looked at me and said, “you seem busy.” Now, I was confused by her comment because, well, Iwas busy. I was WORKING! I had bills to pay and stuff to mail. Well, that’s not what she meant. She then said, “where else do you work? What all do you do?” It then dawned on me ALL THE STUFF I actually do (not including writing). I gave her a rundown of my “jobs” and I had a moment, myself, as I realized all the responsibilities that are assigned to my life (assignments that Jesus passed out to me).
The thing about it is, I don’t “feel” busy. And by that, I mean that with ALL THE STUFF THAT I DO (if I listed everything off, you’d ask me if I had or needed an assistant or two, or twelve), I’m never exhausted, I ENJOY what I do, and most times, I feel like I have plenty of time in my day to get it all done. Now, of course I have tired days and spaces where I get crunched for time, but I’m not overwhelmed or frazzled. It hasn’t always been this way. And I’m not negating the fact that sometimes it feels like more hours in the day are needed. But what I am saying is that the things that I spend my time on now, are things that I am supposed to be doing in this season.
There was a time when I’d feel so exhausted, drained, and so unhappy that I FELT BUSY ALL THE TIME. I felt like the day was missing at least 16 hours and that I would never complete any task at any time; I felt so unorganized. The reason was because many of the things that I was doing, I decided to do on my own. The people asked and I delivered, but God hadn’t instructed me to do them. I’d let my schedule get filled up with other people’s everything and that was the problem; I was operating out of position. God had placed me in a position that I had stepped out of because others “needed” me. Others wanted me to do things because they knew that “I could get the job done”, or they didn’t trust anyone else to do it (you’ll learn that that’s their issue). And that was affecting the way I functioned. I was being a “busy body.” A busy body is defined as “a meddling or prying person.” And I was meddling in stuff that God had not given me permission to be a part of. I was VERY BUSY but not at all PRODUCTIVE. I’d rather be productive over busy, any day.
What I’m saying to you is, sometimes, we put ourselves in positions where we have too much on our plates because we keep allowing people to pile it on. It’s like those Thanksgiving plates that everyone posts on their social media pages; you know, the ones where everything is piled on top of the next thing (I HATE my food touching, btw). You can’t get through the entire plate because everything is meshing together. And then what happens??? You get full before you finish. Why??? Because you didn’t need to get that much food all at once. Pace yourself (remember that in a month…LOL). Anyhoo….
some of us do that in life; we pile it all on and can’t complete what NEEDS to be done before the sun goes down. We then complain about being tired and not being able to handle anymore.
The fix is easy….. STOP DOING STUFF THAT GOD DIDN’T GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO DO! Easier said than done, huh? Well, it’s gonna seem difficult at first, believe me, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be glad you did. And when you do, God can put you back in position. God is very strategic in what He wants done, by whom, and how. The key for me was to just be still long enough to hear God tell me to quit running myself into the ground. You see, even though people kept giving me stuff to do, I kept agreeing to it. IT WAS MY FAULT! NOT THEIRS! And I had to learn to stop blaming folk for what I allowed them to expect of me. They were used to me being there and DOING! But I had to learn that EVERYTHING WAS NOT FOR ME TO DO! That was a tough one for me.
Believe it or not, sometimes, your helpfulness can cause more harm than good. It can cause you to be disobedient to God and His will for your life. Your helpfulness can also stand in the way of others learning how to do some things for themselves. It can make them too dependent on your working things out all the time. Let them exercise their own faith and ability sometimes. It’s one thing to see it through someone else, but step back and let them experience it on their own.
God wants us to rest. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) He also wants us to allow Him to lead us. “I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.” (Proverbs 4:11) And when we rest in Him and allow Him to lead us, He gives us peace…. Perfect peace! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3)
So, rest in God’s perfect peace and make a vow to give up some “jobs” that shouldn’t have been yours in the first place.
Okay….Okay….I gotta get some sleep.
Love y’all,
Ms. A.M.White
Comments