God

Room to Breathe

Whew, life has been full for Jimmy and I lately. Between training Mavis, tackling house projects, taking on some extra responsibilities at church, working, and Jimmy taking violin lessons, we have both found our selves completely worn out.

brown and white parti colored cocker spaniel puppy sleeping on couch

I pretty much look like this at the end of every day lately!

We talked about how we’ve been feeling busy, so busy we don’t have breathing room in our days and weeks. When we have an obligation every single night for weeks straight, something has to give, you know? We’re both introverts and just don’t thrive off of constant socializing.

We realized we needed to make some adjustments, decide what is truly important, and which obligations we aren’t willing to give up. So, here’s where we’re at now.

  • Jimmy isn’t going to take violin lessons anymore. This was expensive and took a decent chunk of time each week. He put a lot of pressure on himself to be ready for each lesson. Now he can practice at his leisure and truly enjoy it.
  • Mavis is done with training! She passed Adult Level II, which was the highest level class we could do at the pet store we went to. We are so burnt out on training and have been going to classes once a week since August. We are all ready for a break and the opportunity to train on our own time at home.
  • We won’t give up the new church responsibilities, because our focus in life is Christ and living for Him. Serving God means serving our local church (among many other things!), and we wouldn’t want to give that up in a million years.
  • We are trying to cut back on any extra obligations that pop up. We are both pretty bad at saying no to people, but we’re working on it 😉

This week is our first week without violin lessons or Mavis’ training and we feel like we have room to breathe. That is a wonderful feeling!

Have you ever found yourself overly busy for an extended period of time?

Love All. Please One.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is people pleasing. I’ve long known that I naturally have a people pleasing personality. I just really, really like to make others happy. That in and of itself isn’t a bad quality. When it competes with doing God’s will, it then becomes a problem.

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Doing the right thing in God’s eyes often means upsetting someone. Saying no to someone or something in order to say yes to God often means upsetting someone. Pleasing God instead of people often means upsetting someone.

The thing is, as a Christian, I am called to love others. There is a distinct difference between people pleasing and loving, though.

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I am to love all, but I am only to please One. The One I am to please is God. Period. Thank goodness for that! Imagine if we had to please God and man. That would be exhausting. I know this because I try to do it all the time.

When I find myself upset at not being able to please everyone, or sad that someone is mad at me for doing the right thing in God’s eyes, I have to stop and remind myself that I am to love all, but please One.

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When I feel that familiar tug of people pleasing that leaves me feeling anxious and weary, I take a moment to remember Who I am to please. That allows me to love those around me, and helps me recognize my priorities and goal in life.

There is so much freedom in that.