Last week I made a list of everything I want to accomplish in the next 10 weeks. Then I looked at my calendar and realized that, really, I don’t have 10 weeks. I have a outlandishly long list of things to do between now and the first week of October.
You know, about six weeks from now? Yeah.
I thought it would held my building anxiety to talk over the next month and a half with Mark. But as I told him, I realized just how busy these next several weeks will be and just how hard I’ll have to work to finish all the projects I’ve started.
It made me want to cry. Actually, it still does.
Life is busy, isn’t it? Even though your projects and to-dos might be different than mine, I bet your fall is still pretty busy.
It might be my favorite season by far (the weather! the leaves! the jeans-and-sweatshirts! the comfort food and coming-soon holidays!), but autumn brings a whole slew of pressures that summer often leaves us unprepared to face.
– Back to school shopping. Back to school meetings.
– New classes, new teams, new highlighters and glue sticks.
– Activities every other (or every!) night of the week.
– Time change and bedtime change. Diaper change and job change.
– Jeans that used to fit and crock pots full of yummy dips.
– Pinterest projects to pin and crafts that seem so easy but are really too hard.
– Book clubs and Bible studies and dance lessons starting again.
– Babysitters going back to college. Parents (aka, babysitters!) going on a cruise.
– Tailgating. Cookie baking. Apple picking and pumpkin carving.
For me, I have a new job I’m still settling into, a daughter going back to preschool, Cubbies and swim lessons, a husband who works crazy and long hours, a conference I’m speaking at and a conference I’m attending, a family vacation to plan – and go on, two birthday parties to plan and a Halloween costume to find. I’ve got a stack of books I need to read, and a treadmill that I’ve sworn to get back on. And then there’s this commitment to write every day in the month of October.
Thankfully, before I can truly begin hyperventilating at the out-of-controlness of it all, I remember that’s the point. I’m not in control. He is.
As I’m heading into this season of busyness and important projects and if-I-don’t-get-this-done-the-world-will-end, I’m committing to looking to God before I look at my to-do list and taking one step at a time. Both are important, the spiritual and the practical, and both will make the difference between reaching this fall’s finish line with a leap or a limp.
So this afternoon, I’m facing my to-do lists and calendars (yes, multiples on both counts) like a big girl. I’m setting myself some deadlines, because I know that I work well under pressure and don’t work at all without it. And tonight I’ll go to bed early (for me), so I can get up early (for me) in the morning and start a new Bible reading plan.
{Okay, fine. The new Bible reading plan is actually just finishing my one-Proverb-a-day plan from May that I barely started before falling [hard] off the quiet time wagon.}
I’m determined that, even if I finish this season tired from exertion, I’ll also finish it satisfied with all I’ve accomplished and with all God has done in my life.
Will your fall be a busy season? How do you handle seasons of busyness?
The bracelet I’m wearing is a beautiful – and timely – gift from my friend Lisa Leonard. I’m honored to wear a piece from her new collection at DaySpring and thankful for the lovely, wear-it-every-day reminder to Be Still and Know {that He is God}. Lisa has created this collection of hand-molded pewter jewelry, but as she has said, they’re more than pretty pieces. Created in honor of her own journey through heartbreak and hope, Lisa’s Faith Collection at DaySpring offers jewelry full of meaning and deep sentiment.
DaySpring is offering you 15% off the entire collection through September 15. Just use the code LLD15. And through the rest of this month (that’s just this week!), the By Grace Alone necklace is $10 off.
This post includes affiliate links.
We seem to be between busy seasons, but another one is brewing later in October-November. Thanks for the reminder to “Be still and know I am God.” It’s really best when I don’t try to be in control! :)
What a blessing to have a bit of a break from the busy! Enjoy it and build up your be-still-and-know muscles now! :)
it’s so, so easy to get overwhelmed in all the to-dos. I too am a victim of the never ending list. but, as i’m learning more and more now, God has a plan all his own and i can either make it easier on myself by doing things his way, or I can make them more difficult by getting in the way. It’s a choice every day…sometimes every hour. But I’m slowly but surely making progress!
I hear you. I feel like a lot of my battles have to be fought every hour! :)
YES! We do have a crazy-busy fall schedule. Beginning with back-to-school in August, each week we’ve added something: soccer, Awanas, new preschool, next week my own small groups begin and we will be at full-tilt for a couple of months! Thank heavens for Labor Day and a long weekend. In addition to the school/homework/two-soccer-teams/church schedule, I’m working hard to catch-up on discipline with my children where I’ve been too lenient, I’m speaking in October, traveling in November and hosting guests in September. Add in a boyfriend and yes, it can feel like too much … but the key, as you said, is one step, one thing at a time. Ultimately, if we miss a verse or a practice, sanity is way more important!
We won’t be busy at all this autumn…with another little baby on her way to land here at the end of October. :) I like your unintended pun in bold above about “summer leaves”. hehe
I hope you weren’t driving during your photo opt either.
Feeling sassy today,
Sarah L.
Dear Sassy Sarah,
NO, I was not driving when I took that photo! Well, I guess technically I was. But I was at a stop light. Does that count? :)
Love the bracelet.
I’ve written about the busy a bit lately too. For us, when we really start to feel stretched and worn, we take a hard look at our commitments and find something we can eliminate. There is very little that absolutely must get done, outside of jobs and school, most of the time. Just knowing we have the option of taking a break makes a difference!
This is what I’ve struggled with, Nicole. All the things I’ve jammed into my life are good things, so it’s hard to let any of them go! But I know – what’s good is not always what’s best or right…
Oh friend…this right here : ” I’m committing to looking to God before I look at my to-do list and taking one step at a time. Both are important, the spiritual and the practical, and both will make the difference between reaching this fall’s finish line with a leap or a limp.”
To often I limp, but your words inspire me to handle it all more thoughtfully and celebrate even the smallest of accomplishments. WORD.
Adore you, Mary. You are a gem.