Sorry. By the title you may have thought this blog post would be ultra spiritual... about faith or trust or something like that. It isn't. :) It's just that today I had a stunning realization that I am not a complete wacko! All of which is totally blog worthy after months of not blogging, right?!
There are times when I sit down with Joel after a long weekend of great events and seeing God do great things in the lives of people and realize that we haven't seen our family or friends for weeks or months or BOTH! I feel the horror of my in-laws thinking I hate them. And then I think that maybe my friends hate me because I haven't text them back for a couple of days. And it's then that I feel like I am INCREDIBLY lame and there must certainly be something wrong with us (well, in many ways there probably is). Completely Serious. Weeks! And it's not because we avoid any one of them on purpose (usually). It's really just because we don't have 8a-5p-ish jobs and with varying seasons we get more freakish-scheduled and with the both of us, someone ALWAYS has a weekend activity, if not 10 activities and we WORK on Sunday's. We COMPLETELY love where God has us, but thus a con that includes at times (ok, almost always) having a LAME-O social life.
And then I read the following paragraph from Beth Moore's blog (yes, I know I am not Beth Moore and I am not writing a book... though maybe someday) and it gave me such joy because I realized I WAS NOT ALONE! GAH! (A few notes: Beth is in the middle of writing a book with her daughter Melissa, Melissa and Amanda are her daughters, LPM is her ministry, Living Proof Ministries).
"Melissa said something to me yesterday that I’ve thought about a lot. She said, “You and Daddy and [insert Amanda's nickname] are pretty much my social life right now outside of home because I can’t be a dependable friend.” Whoa. Have I ever been there. People ask often how I’ve “balanced” (me balanced???) ministry with family and I’ve said the same thing over and over: I dumped practically everything else. If you have the updated version of David: A Heart Like His, it’s dedicated to my friend, Johnnie Haines, because she stuck with this on-again-off-again friend for 30 years. I’d drop out of communication for weeks at a time. I’m not suggesting anybody out there dump their social life. It’s not healthy. It’s just what I had to do for long stretches of time in order to fulfill my responsibilities to family and calling. These days I have my fellow sojourners at LPM and YOU and I am inexpressibly grateful. Truly, it’s one reason why I love blogging so much. It’s the way I get outside without ever leaving my home or office."
This makes me realize A LOT about me, us, and the friends that have stuck close despite our TOTAL wackiness. And honestly, it makes me ok with being lame if I'm putting my chips daily where I should (God, marriage and work). I am continually realizing that life is NOT balanced. And honestly, I'm totally ok with that. Someday (maybe), I'll see my friends (if I have any left after the next few years) more often!
Sigh. I'm not alone! :)
It is the season of life you are in right now. It always helped me to think of them as seasons because seasons do change. Life won't always be like this, I can be content with the now because there will be an end. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is very good, Sarah. The wackiness comes when we think we need to do it all. The world believes this lie, clamors after this lie and in the end is left with nothing yet can't understand why you aren't doing it all.
ReplyDeleteHow very encouraging to read Beth's real-life, honest answer.