At one point today, I just stopped and laughed. It wasn’t the text I got. That text was from a dear friend. It was the simple fact that it was the 200,000th question I had been asked today. At some point, you just have to laugh and recognize where you are. Done.
I love Dr. Seuss. Remember the Cat in the Hat? The moment where he tried to balance EVERYTHING only to find it all come tumbling down? Check it out…
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“Look at me! Look at me now!” said the cat.
“With a cup and a cake on the top of my hat!
I can hold up TWO books! I can hold up the fish!
And a little toy ship! And some milk on a dish!
And look! I can hop up and down on the ball!
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all…
Look at me! Look at me! Look at me NOW!
It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.
I can hold up the cup and the milk and the cake!
I can hold up these books! And the fish on a rake!
I can hold the toy ship and a little toy man!
And look! With my tail I can hold a red fan!
I can fan with the fan as I hop on the ball!
But that is not all. Oh, no. That is not all….”
That is what the cat said… Then he fell on his head!
He came down with a bump from up there on the ball.
And Sally and I, we saw ALL the things fall!
~The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
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Did you notice anything? Hint…. LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME NOW! It was all about the kids noticing how good the cat was at his balancing act. AKA self-absorption.
As I felt more overwhelmed this week than I may have ever felt, God drew me to a couple of pages in the Bible study that I’m doing right now. The page titles were “overwhelmed” and “frazzled.” Those pages brought me to the reminder of the cat. My balancing act looks a little different, but still the same…
- Loving my husband and kids;
- Living out an example of Christ;
- Making sure everything is done right;
- Trying to be everything to everybody;
- Sending unending emails;
- Answering questions that have already been answered;
- Creating no separation of work and home;
- Allowing people to control my attitude;
- Rising blood pressure;
- Growing frustration;
- Becoming a robot, just spouting answers to the questions asked of me;
- Exhaustion;
- Failure.
There comes a point when all of the balls in the air fall. When we are doing everything in our own strength and forgetting to let Jesus take it all, we are sure to fail. Guess what? That’s where I am. I no longer can be what I need to be for ANYONE because I’ve been trying to please EVERYONE. I blame NO ONE but myself.
God doesn’t want this life for us. He doesn’t want us to let people and things overwhelm us. Friends in my life continue to remind me of where my strength should come from and I’m thankful for the hard reminders.
My personality is one of pouring myself FULLY into something I am passionate about. I LOVE my job. I LOVE the kids and families that I’m allowed to serve. Unfortunately, what happens when I pour everything out at work is that I have little left at the end of the day. Who suffers? The ones I love the most. So here is my “done” post… saying that I’m awfully close to everything falling to the ground and I’d rather not get completely to that point.
God is yet again pursuing me, sending me glimpses of what life could be like if I would just let go. It’s real, y’all. He just wants us to trust.
So my question for you is… How’s your balancing act going? It probably looks different than mine, but God just wants to see that you trust Him with it.
I’m almost at the same point. I’m like a little teeter-totter. All the way one direction, then all the way the other. Up-down. Up-down. I am definitely not where I need to be spiritually or in my family right now because I’ve let the work overwhelm me! Need to find my equilibrium again and start trusting again. 🙂 Hope you reach yours!