Life can be pretty busy, confusing and stressful at the moment in the middle of a pandemic and yet another lockdown. Becoming superwoman seems to have become a basic necessity to surviving. But alas, I'm only human, no cape here or pants outside my tights.
With limited strength it's easy to feel like I'm not enough or I'm not getting it right so instead I end up feeling overwhelmed, drained or anxious. In order to be a good mum, keep on top of the kids' routines, run the house and everything else I have to give ALL OF ME.
I can do it, but I have to throw myself into it with what feels like no room for anything else. But I'm also a wife, I have to take my husband's needs into consideration.
And what about self care? Wanting to look after my needs, exercise, rest and spend time with God? It can feel like in order to fit those things in I have to sacrifice time spent elsewhere.
Then there is Church, extended family, friends and neighbours I'm reaching out to. I am limited. So what do I do? How do I find the balance?
Some people teach about having a list of priorities; God, then family, then work and so on. Perhaps adapting this list according to the season you're in is best? For example, should your kids come before your husband when they are little? Or work before family when paying off a mortgage perhaps?
Recently, I was exploring these thoughts in prayer when God said to me as clear as anything "You are mine! Your life is not your own. Your husband, your children, your body and everything you do is stewarding a life that belongs to Me."
"Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God!"
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 TPT
I can't pour from an empty cup so I ask myself, who am I really living to please? I believe that having perfect balance is about giving my whole entire self to God and that's it.
Then, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, whatever I do (I repeat WHATEVER I do) is worship to Him. It's not my husband before my neighbour or my kids before Church. It's Him then Him then Him then Him. He fills all in all and it is all His.
"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering..."
Romans 12:1 MSG
I don't need to worry about splitting myself into a million people or about what falls down whilst I'm holding up something else because He holds me and my whole life. It takes faith and trust and a lot of releasing the need for control. But surrendering to God always leads to life and freedom.
It was so freeing to realise that I don't have to be superwoman to everyone and meet everybody's needs - I simply have to be His. Completely His. This is where His grace lives. His unforced rythmns of grace. The cost of living a life of worship is great but it's a light burden to bear because of His Spirit living in us.
His grace isn't there to make our lives easy, it's there to make them possible. To be able to do the hard things and do them with joy. He will give us all the wisdom, strength and guidance we need for whatever we are doing. We can be present in all of life's moments, without feeling like we aren't enough or we should be somewhere else, doing something else.
"He is within me—I am his garden of delight. I have him fully and now he fully has me!"
Song of Songs 6:3 TPT"
I hope this encourages you to know that striving to be perfect and to get everything right all the time is fruitless.
Getting to Know Him and listening to His voice is all the balance you need in navigating life and responsibilities. Let worship and building an altar with your life be your motivation behind it all. In every significant and seemingly insignificant moment.
Setting healthy boundaries can be worship, having fun can be worship, taking brave and bold steps can be worship, resting, budgeting, changing nappies, cooking a meal, wading through toddler tantrum after toddler tantrum. It can all be worship when you know that you are stewarding a life that now belongs to the One who adores you and is able to make all things work together for His glory and your good.