I love this time of year! The Christmas lights, decorations, celebrations…it’s all so wonderful and filled with love and joy. I look forward to it all year long! How about you? Do you feel the same or maybe you try to, but get overwhelmed by the busyness of the season? Your list gets long! You buy all the gifts, attend all the events, and try to make everyone happy. Sometimes you wonder where is all that love and joy I’m supposed to be feeling? I used to live this way all the time, not just during the holiday season.
Then, God started showing me how crazy my routines had become! I was so busy running around trying to help everyone that I didn’t have time to spend with the ones who mattered most. I was missing true relationships because I didn’t have time or I was so stressed I couldn’t relax and enjoy my time with others. This lead to major burnout several times. Burnout is a real problem and it’s not how God intended for us to live our lives. Stress totally ruined my health and stole my joy! Now, I’m fighting to get those things back. How, you may ask? I started intentionally slowing my life down, being thankful, and choosing joy every day.
It’s really hard and it took me a while, but I’m loving the new way we live our life! We aren’t constantly rushing to get from place to place. Now, we are trying to be intentional with our activities and only commit to what we can truly handle. This way we can give the best of us! You see, when I’m stretched thin and juggling too many tasks, I can do a good job on them, but never my best. But, if I slow down and just pick one thing to focus on, it gets all my attention and my best efforts.
It’s hard to say no to good things, but we must in order to have great things! This is how we can receive love and give it away as well. Over the next few weeks we will unpack the topic of loving well. Let’s dig in and see what truth God reveals to us! Try to think about the tasks that are absolutely necessary for you to do. Then, see what you can start crossing off your list. What is not truly needed? What can you delegate? It will feel weird and maybe even impossible at first, but get the ball rolling. I promise it will change your life in the best way!!! See you next week.
Love, Christin
PS – I’m listening to When Making Others Happy Is Making You Miserable by Karen Ehman on Audible right now and it’s really helping me! Get it here or on Amazon/Audible. Another book that really helped me is The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst. I’ll talk about my fight with people pleasing on a post in the near future! Some other books that have helped me are listed on our resource page. (These are not affiliate links, I don’t make anything from your purchases. I just want to recommend good resources to my friends.) Enjoy!