Lay it down and live it up!

Happy Monday yall! Monday's aren't usually that "happy" because everyone's got so many responsibilites to take care of during the week.  Which, when you think about it, we should all be recharged and ready to take it on because we've just had a weekend to relax and church the previous day to remind us who's really in control, and how much we are loved. 

But somehow that's not the case.  Our mind switches over to all of our to-do's.  Work, school, kids, spouse, budget, chores, hobbies, cooking, exercising, family, health etc. 
And lots of moms think we should be able to take care of ALL these things and do it without a single complaint and a happy smile on our faces.

 

 

And with social media like facebook, blogs, twitter, instagram etc. we all tend to just share our successes and happiness.   Which is totally normal!  It's like the old saying "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all!"  Of course some people have no problem complaining and sharing, but I find most of those people tend to JUST complain and not focus on the happy parts of their lives.  Anyway, I really only like to share the fun stuff.  A yummy meal I made, a cool family outing, cute pictures.  You know what I'm talking about.  Because its so much easier to share the fun stuff.  And not to mention encouraging because others like to hear it!

 

We have to remember that this image we see in public isn't everything.  Everyone has stresses, worries, really just LIFE that we carry around with us all the time.  Leaving us to feel more like this:

 

 

And then even more stressed because perhaps none of our friends are talking about or sharing their stresses.  We feel overwhelmed, like failures, and just HEAVY carrying around this weight.

 

I wanted to blog about all this because yesterday at church the pastor had a great visual of how we all tend to wear our life.  He had two volunteers come up and then gave them each a prop that represented our responsibilities in life. 

So picture yourself doing the same.  Physically carrying around the following:

 

A cookbook (cooking/eating healthy)

a computer (bills, work, social media)

your kids/family (I know this one is easy to picture because who isn't walking around with a baby on her hip while multitasking!)

a broom/mop/vacuum (chores)

A bible (spiritual life)

And whatever else you do extracurricular

Sports equipment

Crafting supplies

Tools

 

It's A LOT. I'm sure you could think of several other things that represent your personal life to add to that list and carry around each day.  The point was

 

"If you wear your life it will wear you out!"

 

Can I get an AMEN?!  I'm a very visual person when it comes to learning, and understanding so this just really hit home for me.  How exhausting to carry around all these things.  Now obviously we don't physically walk around carrying each of these objects.  But we kind of do.  It's all on our minds all the time.  It starts to weigh us down.  And we get frustrated and upset.

 

I also happened to be reading one of my favorite magazines, Whole Living, and there was an article about a book written by Adam Phillips called 'Missing out: In praise of the Unlived Life'  It's a self help book that I have not personally read yet but the topic has a lot of truth.

 

  "Much of our "so-called mental life" is spent fantasizing about what we don't have but wish we did. We are haunted by thought of what might have been, whether romantically or in our career choices. "In our unlived lives" he writes, "we are always more satisfied, far less frustrated versions of ourselves" The author argues against indulging in such wistful thinking. He urges readers not to dwell on supposed missed opportunities which might have ultimately disappointed us anyway. "The myth of our potential can make of our lives a perpetual falling-short, a continual and continuing loss" he says.  ....... Above all, Phillips reminds us that to yearn for the unlived life is to sabotage the one we have."

 

 

I find that last sentence pretty powerful. 

"To yearn for the unlived life is to sabotage the one we have"

Do you ever think of things you wish you did, or could do differently? If I could just do this better, or get this, this, and this done I would be happy.  I would be caught up.  Do you constantly think about all the things you don't have that you feel would just make life so much better? I know I can definitely be caught up in those thoughts.  And it keeps me from focusing on the awesome life I do have. SABOTAGE.  This word kind of makes me laugh because my hubby is usually saying caden is sabotaging him by strategically leaving toys in his way. haha! Ok sorry for the random thought.... 

 

 

Ok back on topic.  In the bulletin notes at church was this statement: "Stop chasing after your life and start chasing after God's!"  Matthew 6:25-27 portrays how little we need to worry because God will take care of us. 

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

 

The next visual was of the volunteers on the stage then taking off all of the props and laying it at the foot of the cross.  So picture that for yourself now.  Take all those things we thought about physically carrying around and lay them down at God's feet.  Feel free now?  Is it a little scary to just give up control?  Answer me this then, are you really doing that great all by yourself?  All these 'things' we let muddy our thoughts and lives take over too much.  We can't see the fruits that God is giving us.

 

 ^"Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful."  Mark 4:18-19

Lay it down at His feet.  Let God take control so that we can live the life He has promised us.  Stop carrying such a burden that He is so willing to carry for you.  TRUST that He will give you the ability to accomplish what you can, and that you cannot do it alone.  Don't be afraid to lay it all down & LIVE IT UP!