REMEMBER DOLLY PARTON’S
TITLE-TRACK SONG FROM THE 80S MOVIE “WORKING 9 TO 5”?
Sometimes when I hear these lyrics in my head, I sarcastically retort, “I wish! This concept died back in the 1900s.” In fact, now that laptops and cell phones have allowed the office to go wherever we go, there is very little sacred space where we become unreachable.
It’s the atmosphere where business downsizing has shifted responsibilities to increase—and we champion to meet these increased demands that are coming from a million different directions at once.
Sometimes the unrealistic expectations to “keep on my game” as a wife and mother of three girls, working a day job, night job and all the in between jobs secretly leaves me screaming, “Stop the Insanity!”
If my life were represented in a book a majority of the chapters would be written without any punctuation, more than likely without any spaces. To any reviewer, it would simply be described as a “hot mess.”
Sound familiar? You see sometimes I struggle with finding of definition of myself beyond what I do... I’m a humandoing. What I DO to help makes me feel better about myself.
But its not just me, this mentality is rewriting the DNA of our generation–from a society of humanbeings to
humandoings. And although hard work is a great thing we have been deceived into thinking what we do
defines us—and the more we do for Jesus, the more we prove we love Him—as champions for His Cause.
But the problem is evident—
1. We want to do everything.
2. We want to do everything right.
3. We want to do everything right now.
I know I struggle between feeling this way and feeling worn out and not wanting to move—because mentally and physically I know I wasn’t designed to keep up with the pace my brain is telling me to operate.
This “thought process” pressed by impulse defies both logic and reason. But somehow we, as sisters in this struggle, find our self worth is subconsciously tied to how much we can take on and fulfill successfully—this is not necessarily just busy work, it is in successfully carrying all the roles that we signed up for.
Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like for Martha if she had been teched-out. She wouldn’t have just been making dinner for Jesus, she would have been updating her Instagram with her perfectly plated meals. And all the while Jesus is saying,
“Martha, I could care less about the presentation of the perfect plate, just come here, sit at my feet and find rest in this moment. This is the essential to the being I’ve created you to be. JUST PAUSE.”
I don’t have to be ON 24/7. I have learned that embracing sacred pauses actually allows me to pull
feeling and impulse to the side in order to seek insight, truth and well-thought direction for the wellness of my being. And I continue to review that lesson daily.
FROM THE LEADING HEARTS EDITOR LEADINGHEARTS.COM