Busy/Distractions

I have been really busy of late and so haven't had time to blog. Actually I haven't had much time to think too deeply so there has been very little in my head.

I was exploring this with a friend and she had just read how people with my motivation can get caught up in being busy, pleasing people - as in not in that people pleasing way but just going with the flow as they like to be with people to encourage them on their journey, doing lots of little things that lead to that feeling of being overwhelmed. But as well as this they lose out on their calling, on what the God given plan for their lives is.

This is where I got to. Oh it didn't come on all of a sudden but has been creeping up on me. First I take on this job, then that friend wants to see me, then this other job, then another friend, as well as the regular family commitments. Suddenly my day is too full to think, to really pray without getting distracted, to have time to write and be creative, even no time to do the CAB study that I really want to. I had to slow down, to rethink, and this is what I have been doing, in the gaps, between this conversation.

I know God has a plan for me in this town and I don't think it is to do with cleaning old people's houses, no matter how much they need it and how lovely they are. I have spent time sorting out what I do and how much time it takes and then cutting it back. Yes we could do with the money, but I have survived on less when I have been doing what God has called me to. I wonder where that trust has gone? God will provide for all our needs so I do not need to be doing jobs that then distract me from what He wants for me. And even though this is probably another blog space I do wonder why it is so much easier to trust God when one is with people who also trust God? In Ywam we all had to trust God but it does seem in regular congregational settings we trust more in programs. But I digress........

I am having to set good boundaries, to learn to say No. I need to go back to being a human being rather than a human doing.

The interesting thing though I noticed yesterday when Ian and I took time out from doing what we ought to do and just did what we wanted to do that there was time in our garden. Time to plant and time to weed! And I remember God saying when I started on this whole thing with the chickens and the no dig gardening that this was part of the establishing the land. It is interesting that when we took time out to be there was time to establish something in our land. There was also time for a neighbour to share a confidence, and for Tabi to cook us a meal. Both things are rare as the neighbour is very private person, and Tabi really does not like cooking. But I believe this came from slowing down, from being not doing, from doing what we wanted not what we ought to, for having time for us rather than others.

My prayer is that I am bold enough to stick to my boundaries when people try to push them, when others need me, and to then find that space again to keep exploring what it is that God is wanting us/me to establish, what His vision for me is and how I get there.