Living on Ketchup

I feel like the last couple of weeks I've lived on ketchup... not the wonderful red condiment that as a kid without refined taste I put on everything (now the condiment of choice is ranch). But on catch up. Do you ever feel that your days are racing away from you? That should you even take a moment to breathe the day would be over? How do we get out of this crazy vortex? I know some of it is my life, but some of it is my choices.

I love helping people and doing things for others. And I don't regret what I do at all!! But sometimes I wish I could just have time to be and not do. I want to just sit and listen, and not necessarily have to run. I have had the blessing of two weeks in a row of having 10 hours of sleep on a Friday night. I go to sleep about 8pm and don't wake until 6:30 Saturday morning. Want to know something, other than not getting a chance to post my Fiction Friday I don't feel guilty. I think "wow that felt good."

Last week I was so frustrated with life that I sat down and drew a plate. The plate I then divided into 7 sections. I labelled each section a day of the week. Writing only what is definite each week, I nearly cried. My plate was nearly full and that didn't include babysitting, grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, or anything fun. That didn't include showering, or driving, or anything like that. I wanted to say see! See I'm so busy! And then I thought how did I get here? Well, I have to have a full-time job. And they needed someone to help at the pool. And I'm the Children's Ministry Director, so I have to be at church on Sundays and Wednesdays. And that's where I stopped. When did working at church become a "have to" instead of a "want to." When did I become so overwhelmed that I thought I just can't do this anymore? Pastor told me on Wednesday, "Well you know this isn't easy." I looked right at him and said, "I wish you would've told me that 13 years ago." And then I said, "Never mind, it wouldn't have changed anything, because you can't change the call of God."

And how true, we cannot (or should not lest we end up in the belly of a whale) run from the call of God. So did I miss posting my Thankful Thursday? Yes. But not because I'm not thankful, because I had such a wonderful day with my BFF that I was busy all day. And had many other things I wanted to say, like I'm thankful for Christmas cookies and grandma's recipe that always turns out better than the one you find online. And many other things. But I digress. I am super excited about my Fiction Fridays but as you can see I have failed yet again to post that on time. So what can I do with this busyness?

First I needed to evaluate it:
Can I cut anything?
Is anything interrupting my God time?
Am I running on empty?
What can I change?

Well at this moment I can't really cut anything, but I can allow myself to spend less time on frivolous stuff and more time with God. God doesn't promise and easy journey, but He does say "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." So if I'm feeling dragged down and burdened beyond capacity, if I feel like the world is flying past me, if I feel like I'm living on Ketchup. Then I need to look and see, did I add anything to the yoke God has given me. Have I taken time to spend time with the Prince of Peace, the lover of my soul? If I've added to what God wants, then I need to let it go. And if I've not spent time with my God, then that needs to be changed immediately!

So while I'm living on Ketchup, I also realizing there are some things I don't need to catch up. And so for the next few weeks I'm going to work on dropping the unnecessary burdens, because more than anything I want to be able to glorify God, and I can't do that by crawling around defeated from exhaustion! Thank you for listening to me as I walk through this journey!