We are living in a unique time. There are so many frustrations, and yet so many opportunities. Everywhere we look, there is another opportunity to serve the Lord in a deeper way. It really depends on what we allow to hold our time and attention.

LEARN TO LET GO

I’ve made a few adjustments lately that I hope will help me to focus on things that are more important. You may think they are very small things that aren’t even worth mentioning. I agree that they are small, but definitely not insignifanct.

I let two hobbies go recently. I really enjoyed doing both of them. One was Book Folding. It involves folding the pages of a book into designs. The first time I ever saw a book folding project, I knew I wanted to do it for myself. I did finish several projects, but as time went on, I spent more time thinking about the projects I needed to finish, rather than actually doing them.

Because thinking about doing the Book Folding projects was stressing me, I decided to give this hobby to my daughter-in-law. I gave her all the patterns that I had, and freed my mind from having to think about future Book Folding projects.

I also love working puzzles. Actually, I love the idea of working puzzles because my mother always worked puzzles. The thought of working puzzles made me feel close to my mom. In reality, however, I spent more time thinking about making the time to work puzzles than I ever actually worked puzzles. It became stressful clutter in my mind. I made the decision to put away my unworked puzzles. Perhaps I’ll bring them back out in a later season of my life, but for the season I’m in, they only caused me frustration.

DECIDE WHO YOU WANT TO BE

As I said at the beginning, there are so many opportunities to serve the Lord in a deeper way. We have to choose to let some things go, so that we can pursue more meaningful ministries and pastimes. The world will tell you that you can have it all, and do it all. The truth is that you can have and do a lot, but the more you choose to allow into your life, the less you will be able to do any of them really well.

I’ve decided that I’m going to be a Reader, Writer and Bible Teacher. These are ministries. I am  also going to be a chicken herder and a beekeeper. These are hobbies. All of this, along with being a Wife, Mother, Memaw and Pastor’s Wife makes for a very full life. That is why a few things had to go.

I encourage you to take inventory of your own life. Who do you want to be? How do you want your life to look? What possessions, ministries, hobbies, relationships and thought processes are truly important to the person God has called you to be? What things need to be released so that you can pursue your best life for Jesus?

”A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;” (Ecclesiastes 3:6)