Last week, I found myself with an unplanned hour and a house of beckoning chores demanding immediate attention.
So like any woman with a house full o’ kids and a husband that works long hours, I thought I would just cram as much as I possibly could into those precious 60 minutes.
I arrived home, put on my running shoes and started to RUN throughout the house, checking this and that off my list.
A few minutes into my Wonder Woman mission, I grabbed a load of dirty towels and, clutching my phone in my right hand, loaded them in the washing machine.
Ten minutes later, I couldn’t find my phone. So of course, I called it from my land line (it’s sole purpose for existence) as I walked from room to room listening for it’s jingly ring.
Nothing.
And then I heard it – a light thumping in the washing machine.
Bounding down the stairs, I opened the washing machine and sure enough, there sat my phone, looking soppy and sad on top of those longing-to-just-be-clean towels.
I washed my phone in the washing machine.
I would like to tell you that this is out of character for me but as my husband can attest, this is not too terribly unusual.
However, I think this happens more than I care to admit because I make things harder than they really need to be.
I try to do too much all at once – instead of focusing on slowing down and being present in the moment, I’m thinking ahead to what’s next, to what needs to be crossed off the list, to what needs my attention so I can just get it all done and exhale.
But here’s the thing: I’ll never get it all done. There is no finish line to the list of household chores waiting to be completed or really, anything else for that matter.
We so easily can lose focus, get bogged down by what we need to do next, worry ahead, multi-task to an unhealthy extreme, and just plain carry around a ten pound load in a five pound bag.
And I think this is how we are with our faith sometimes, too.
Because our faith is really so very simple – we are commanded to first love God above all else. Second, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Yet we often make it so complicated.
Social issues divide those who profess to love Him. Differences of how truth should be taught abound. Judgment creeps in and threatens to choke those who feast on the bread of His word.
We see what divides us rather than what unites us. And that’s really just a shame.
Because what unites us is Jesus.
Plain and simple.
So this week, I’m trying to slow down and be present in the moment. To be thankful for all things – big and small. I’m trying to simplify and not make things harder for myself than what they are intended to be and to remember what’s really important in the overall scope of eternity.
It’s us, not God, that complicates it all. Busyness, ingratitude, and preoccupation do not come from Him.
Plain and simple.
“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What’s something crazy you have done while trying to do too much?
I woke up this morning already drained from the busyness waiting ahead of me… Glad I slowed down enough to read this. Encouraged to know so many of us are in this together!
I’m sure that forgetting to pick my son up from school yesterday was because there were 17 other things going through my head. I was thinking of where I was going as soon as he got off the bus and what to do after that.
This today is one more reminder that to slow down. Thank you for that!