March 20, 2016
Hurry Up! A reminder to keep calm amidst the crazy
“HURRY UP!” I told my 5 year old for the 87th time that day.
At least I think it was 87 times. It felt like more, but I wanted to be conservative. Later that same night I had a breakdown. We had had a busy week. Realistically when you own your own business, hubby works a full-time job on top of that, have a 5-year-old active son and a 5-week-old newborn, every week is a busy week right? Not to mention the never-ending piles of laundry, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping and trying to take a few minutes of “me time”.
Our day started off a little crazy. We were all up early to finish a Concealed Carry class for a client. Then lunch with our client, then all packed into the truck to hurry to the post office before they closed (which I hurry into, leaving hubby and the crying kids in the car), then hurrying to a coffee shop to grab some of our newborn’s stuff that we forgot there Saturday. “Mommy brain” is a real thing. (Insert sarcastic face here). After the coffee shop, we had to hurry to get to Target before rush hour. By that time our little guy was almost ready to eat. Therefore, I had to hurry to try on jeans and nursing bras; two of the MOST uncomfortable things when you’re dressing for your postpartum body. Also two of the MOST important things that no one tells you! You walk out of the hospital with a bundle of joy and with a belly that still looks 6 months pregnant. Maternity pants are too big, pre-baby pants too small…why hello sweat pants! Then hurry to the register, hurry to the car, hurry home to feed Killian, hurry to make dinner, hurry to get Ronan into bed, hurry to clean up dinner before Killian wakes back up. Hurry. Hurry. HURRY!
I was sick of it. I was emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted. I was tired of hurrying. It wasn’t coming from a place of “oh babies grow up so fast! Let’s stop and smell the roses.” I’m definitely not that type of person, but it was coming from a place of wanting to enjoy my days more and not feel rushed. After over-analyzing the day I’d had I realized that the only reason that we were rushing is because we felt that we’d had too. There was not one single part of my day that HAD to be rushed. Except maybe the getting home to feed the baby part… but even then I had a pumped bottle prepped and ready for emergencies.
So after this emotionally-charged- for-no-good-reason-day I wanted to turn to the Scriptures and see what the bible said. I was sure and I am sure that I don’t want any more days of “hurry up!”.
The first verse I came across was Romans 12:1-2: “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
What we’re looking at in this passage is verse 2, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,”. Take a look around you the next time you go into public. What do people look like? We are speeding to get to the grocery store, we are multi-tasking on stop lights, we are updating our facebook status’s while peeing, we are keeping a ridged and over-scheduled day planner. Why? Why must our kids be involved in every extracurricular activity our town has? Why must we always say yes to the extra shift at work? Why must we pack our schedule so tight that we leave no time to breathe in between activities? I’m tired of it! I know this isn’t what the Lord wants in our lives; to be stressed, angry, exhausted and generally spent in life that we all full well know that we do to ourselves.
Look at Mark 6:31 “ And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”
So apparently this busy, technology-filled life wasn’t the only problem. Maybe we’re just busy for the sake of being busy. Maybe we like filling up our days so we don’t have to listen to HIS still, small voice. Maybe some of us (myself included) are genuinely addicted to checking things off our to-do list. In all that crazy how do we slow down? How do we stop using the word hurry when it’s not a life-threatening situation?
Remember Mary and Martha? Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet soaking up His wisdom. She had her priorities straight, she knew that spending time with the Lord was crucial and more important than anything else.
Then we have Martha, who was rushing around trying to be super-mom (although we don’t know if she was a mother at this time we can all identify that we’ve run around like crazy like her!)
Read Luke 10:38-42:
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus[a] entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.[b] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Martha was distracted from the Lord. AND HE WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE! It makes me wonder how much more easily we get distracted in this day and age with the Lord at the right hand of God, and not in our own living room. I can’t wrap my head around that.
Are you picking up what I’m putting down here? We need to focus on SLOWING DOWN! Our kids are growing up right before our eyes. Do you know what else they’re doing? Watching us! Their spiritual life will be as important to them as ours is to us. Did you grasp that? God is as important in their lives as they see He is in ours? Sometimes we can schedule ourselves so busy and rush around like mad and not leave room for God at all.
I challenge you to read a book called “The Hands-Free Mama: A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!” By Rachel Mary Stafford. This book broke my heart. I ugly cried during this book; a lot. It’s well worth the reminder, however, to stop, slow down, put the phone away, put the to-do list away and spend time with our family and our Lord. Most of the time we create the schedules that drive us the craziest. From now on let’s make schedules that give us ample time to spend with our Savior and quality time with our family to grow together. There’s rarely anything that needs to happen right now that can’t wait a few more minutes to ensure a loving, grace-filled tone from mama and moment of connection with our little ones.
-Nila
