My ‘wobbly’ life and encouragement for Easter
From time to time, I experience what I like to call a “mom meltdown.” For example, as I was driving home yesterday after a late-night Easter basket run, I looked around my vehicle, at the kid crumbs and discarded french fries and junk from all the projects I’m working on, and I mentally threw my hands up in the air.
“Why can’t I ever seem to get it together?” I asked myself. “I’m always so overwhelmed and behind on everything.” And then came the other inevitable questions:
- How do my friends do it? They always seem so organized and at peace.
- When will I ever get caught up?
- What do I need to change to make things easier?
- Why does life seem so hard?
- What is wrong with me?
And as I drove home in the dark, exhausted and on the verge of tears, this verse popped into my mind:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. – 2 Cor. 12:9 (NIV)
For Type A people like me, this verse is hard. Because I want so much to improve myself, to accomplish my goals, to please others, to control the outcome. It’s unnatural for me to boast about my weaknesses because I spend so much time trying to get rid of or minimize them.
But during this particular late night “mom meltdown,” it was as if God himself laid His hand on my shoulder and simply asked me to let go …
… To let go of the idea of perfection – the perfect home, the perfect family, the perfectly organized and chaos-free life.
… To let go of the silly notion that I will catch up on my to-do list.
… To let go of the striving for significance, influence and approval.
And then He asked me to rest. Rest in the promise that He’s still working on me and I will never be complete on this side of heaven. Rest in the promise that He cares for me and has never failed to provide me with everything I need.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
So in spite of the fact that my life often looks and feels a lot like the wobbly fan I recently renovated on my back patio, I can actually rest and rejoice in the chaos of every day. Because it is one more piece of evidence that Jesus is alive. His power rests on me and is made perfect in my weakness.
May you enjoy a restful and joyous Easter celebration!
![#003: Seasonal decorating for less – 10 strategies [Podcast]](https://livingrichonless.com/wp-content/themes/hueman/assets/front/img/thumb-medium-empty.png)
You are perfect in God’s eyes ~ just the way you are. There are no Norman Rockwell families with all the perfection you speak of. It was hard for me but I finally got that! 🙂 Remember that time spent with your loved ones and dear friends is more important than all the “doing”. Beautiful scriptures and yes, let go and let God!
xo
Pat
Thank you. I needed this word this morning. And I don’t even have children!
Glad it was helpful, Bridgett. 🙂
I turned 60 this year. It seems that over the last few years I have learned a hard lesson that I will share with you. I was late in life mom after several miscarriages. I had so much I was involved with that I didn’t take the time that I wish I had with my daughter.
We are so different, we see things differently, we react differently, we communicate differently.
In the last few years they had a tough way handed to them. A promised job in California suddenly went away for them, this after the apartment was emptied and they were spending a few weeks here before loading up and heading south. My daughter was enrolled in a college down there, that ended with the job loss.
Then the recession hit and then the government sequester….it has been tough.
Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems that had I sat down with her more, taken more walks with her more often, found time with just her and I with nothing better to do but talk, would have been good.
I say this is the time to slow down and smell the roses and love the family. It will pay off greatly in time. You will have a good deeper, richer relationship with all and when you are an empty nester, you can do the stuff that you have decided to set aside for now. This I will also say, God is good, He loves you and will keep in you, those things that are important. And He will give new life to them when it is important or the right time to pick it back up again. He is the God of BIG things but He is also the God of the “little” things, the personal things, the everyday things. In fact, I think we can find Him in those things all the time if we just stop and take the time to find His hand in all we do. Bless your heart, thank you for sharing with us.
Jill, thank you so much for sharing your story. It has really made me stop and think about a lot of things. Somehow you knew just what I needed to hear. It is such a gift to have readers like you who bless me so much more than I could ever bless them. Thanks again and Happy Easter!
You just penned my story to a tee! I forget sometimes I’m not alone. Thank you for sharing the encouraging Word. It was needed and appreciated! : )
You’re very welcome, Theda. 🙂
Amen.
Susan:
As a mother myself, I, too, feel I am a perfectionist, and struggle as you when it comes to having things orderly all the time, but I have to remind myself daily that no one is ever perfect, except for the Lord.
Just like the wobbly fan, from the outside, it looks perfect, but on the inside there is that flaw that cancels out that perfection, just like us. It is ok to say that is ok! It is how God can work on us, from the inside out. We are God’s workmanship! Remember the song, “He’s still working on me”? It is a daily thing for us all and we have to remind ourselves that we will never be perfect in this lifetime…but we still have that hope of eternal perfection that is promised to us. As a mother, we just do our best with the strength that God gives us. Like in a card my mom gave me years ago, with a cartoon man holding on to the edges while hanging over a cliff…No matter what you are going through, Hang in there! … At the bottom was God’s hand to catch us during those tough times when we just don’t feel we can hang on any longer! Yeh, let go! He’s there! “Through it all”! Yeh, that’s another song! Motherhood isn’t all easy, but cherish the memories! You have a long way to go! Have a blessed week! Just had to share!
I spent my Easter afternoon and part of the evening in the ER at Nason Hospital! I took the neighbor lady’s daughter to the hospital with a possible appendicitis! It turned out to be PMS! Hang in there! Things aren’t as bad as they seem sometimes!
Susan, what’s really funny about all this is that “we” (meaning ordinary struggling women) look at you and ask the same thing. Looking from this side of your blog, you appear to be all those things you wish you were. I love that you have God’s word so well hidden in your heart that when you needed comfort, His word is what came to mind first. We definitely need to be more patient with ourselves as none of us are “finished” products. God is still working on us moment by moment. Thanks for your transparency and by the way, I think you are “perfect” just the way you are!
Thanks for the kind words, Norma Jean. The really funny part is that people would think I have it together! I always say to remember there is more behind the scenes outside the camera lens that you don’t see on my blog – a world of chaos, usually. 😉