So last week I prepared and prepared for our friends' visit and thought, "Oh, I'll just never get everything done in time. I can't seem to finish anything."
And while I mowed the lawn I thought, "Gah! Here we go again. Another seven months of mowing these eternal acres in the sun and heat and humidity. I don't think I can do it all over again this time." I even turned off the mower, staggered to the house (because I'm so out of shape) and, panting, asked Tom, "Are you sure we shouldn't try moving this year, instead of next? I don't think I can keep up with the yard the rest of this year and then next year, too, while we're trying to sell the house."
Tom mostly just smiled and let me speak my tiredness. I collapsed into my computer chair and played a favorite game I call Searching For Real Estate. Then I thought about all the trouble that moving entails (selling the house, selling our junk, packing, hiring a moving company, buying another house, traveling there, unpacking, signing with utility companies, getting settled....yada, yada, yada). I told Tom, "Gah! It's like Choose Your Exhaustion. Choose to stay and be exhausted or choose to move and be exhausted, too."
Then I went back outside and mowed some more. And murmured a lot.
Good grief.
But alas! Friday morning I listened to good ol' Joyce Meyer as I do four days a week (or more) and she made the most awesome statement. (This is how I heard it--it may not be word for word):
"If you always go around thinking you can't do things, you will always feel overwhelmed."
Oh. My. Goodness! That was sooo for me, Mrs. Overwhelmed. No wonder I've been where I am. I mean, overwhelmingness defeats us, yet how many times since moving to this farm have I thought, "I can't keep up with this lawn. I can't keep up with housework. I can't keep up with meals. I can't handle Tom's being home 24/7."? Uh, try about a million.
Well, duh. I need to shut-up. To stop saying, "I can't do all this. It's all too much." I need to stop even thinking that--for if I don't--I'll continue to feel overwhelmed and experience a whole host of problems in its wake. And I won't enjoy this farm or even this precious Life which God has given me for just a few decades before Heaven.
And guess what? The rest of my preparation time for our weekend went better. Smoother, and with way less emotional and mental tiredness (which I believe spreads to physical tiredness) . Imagine that.
So thank-you, Joyce, for helping me once again. Probably time #398,412. I so needed to wake-up, to remember that through Christ I can do all things. With Him, there is no room for can't. No room for feeling overwhelmed. But plenty of space for the strength of joy for the journey.
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"From out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."
"The joy of the Lord is my strength." Neh. 8:10
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(You may have missed my post about Galen and Donna's visit. You'll find it, below.)
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Absolutely love this song. Discovered it last night.
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6 comments:
Those words sound good, Dear. "Never say never." "Just keep at it." And your favorite of......"through Christ I can do all things."
Yes Ma'am, those words sound good.
But Dear One, where is it written/guaranteed that we can do all the work we did when young... Keep doing all of it, when we grow older? Isn't it kind of pie-in-the-sky to whip our [older] selves, to keep mowing all the lawn, and shoveling all the snow, and keeping all the vegetable gardens, which we could....... When we were younger?
Even with your Faith, don't you ever get to face reality? Even with your Faith, do you have to keep pushing yourself, to do all you could do, 10 years ago?
Btw, why can't Tom mow some? I thought he had a ride-around mower thing, even? Sure it takes gas to run, but so does your mower, take gas to run.
~♥~
Now, now, dear Aunt Amelia. Please calm down. heh. :)
Tom *does* help mow, but he had to wait until Thursday because it was just too darn wet out there! He would have torn up the lawn with the ride around mower any earlier. As it was, there are still some deep torn up parts where he mowed and lots of parts which were still under water.
Some parts though, I must always mow--the parts near the house, for various reasons.
The other thing--I've noticed that when we first moved here I had all the energy needed for everything! And you know? I still do--as long as I don't whine and moan and complain and expect perfection.
My faith never puts burdens on me. But oh my, I certainly do put burdens upon myself! And that's when God steps in and shows me where I've gone wrong, like the ways I mentioned in this post. And for that I'm ever so grateful to Him, my dearest Friend on this planet.
Thanks for your sweet concern for me, though! :) Blessings, Debra
Having such kind of friends is indeed a rare thing we have found...people who are not threatened by one's thinking aloud and who can also ponder things from different viewpoints...we have so few of those too...either we are just strange (and perhaps so) or it is simply the time we live in! But it sure is HARD to prepare for company as we age, we have surely found that out too!!
My life's theory as to lawns and other such things was to do it right or just leave it be...sigh. It bugged me terrible for my husband to mow and leave tufts of grass standing...but I no longer can mow and yep, he does leave tufts standing...but he is almost to the point he can no longer work like that...the humidity here is part of that picture!! As I am sure you well understand. I have been trying to tell him we need to hire some of it out, anyway...so far he will not agree...but I sure watch him like a hawk when he is mowing, worrying about his having a heat stroke, etc.
Blessings, Elizabeth in NC
Dear Debra,
I have found that words are such powerful things and the more we say certain ones..like "Can't"...the more we cannot!
I do the same thing quite often. I become overwhelmed in situations I "think" I can't handle. In the long run..I can. One of my favorite things to say is simply this... "because I can".
Hope you're having a most lovely start of the week! xo!
Sandra
Elizabeth--yes, there's that, too, re: having Tom mow. Sometimes I hate to ask him to when it's especially hot and humid so I don't mention it for a few days until it cools down. He usually won't complain much, though, at any time and I appreciate that. :)
Miss Sandra--I so believe in the power of words! Glad you do, too. Our own words (and thoughts) can keep us going or make us tired awfully fast. :)
Thanks, Ladies...Debra
Great post, Debra! Just what I needed to start my day today!!
Thank you!!
Hugs,
Myrna
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