a bye week

Emily - I've been thinking about your last post, and I think the way that I handle it is that I let each category of things have a "bye week". I mean, this month, the kids' school schedule is bizarre and there's tons of holiday prep, and so I'm not pressing myself to get my writing done. Right now, my writing has a bye week. Some days I think, "today is all about writing" and the housework is what slides. Other times I know the kids really need some intensive one-on-one time and I prioritize that and something else gets neglected.

I think you're right: we can't do it all. At least not all the time.  So I cycle things. I attend to one thing and get that plate spinning, then leave it to continue on with its momentum, and turn to the next thing and get it spinning faster, and so on.

I think you have to be okay with saying, "this part of my life isn't stellar right now" but only if you're ending that sentence with "because there is something else more important that I'm attending to". So, not sloth, just triage.

I'm guessing that you never reach a point of life where this isn't necessary, and our dissatisfaction comes with assuming that we will reach that point, and so we get angry that we're not there yet. But I don't think there's any "there" there. Or rather, no "there" here. There is certainly a rest to come for God's people. And He gives to his beloved sleep, even here on earth.

But I do think that part of wisdom is the ability to say, "this now, and not this". And then not to get stuck in that evaluation when the situation changes.

Which it always does.

I hate change. I'm just saying. Golly, everything should stay the same forever and I should just be allowed to sit on the couch reading and drinking coffee.

(Okay, that last bit was my thirty-something angst, not my ideal self. Heh.)

-Jess