What matters in my life right now . . . and what doesn’t? Where should I be spending my time? We find ourselves asking these questions when our to-do list seems to grow without permission. How dare it!
About a month ago, I had one of those moments when everything in my world collided, and I realized I could not meet all of my newly-set goals. I am a goal-setting amateur, so my goals had micro goals, and those micro goals all had babies when I wasn’t looking. I just couldn’t do it all. I wanted to, I really did, but I couldn’t. It was all too much and I was exhausted.
I prayed about this and felt like God was leading me to make a list of the things that I do and put them in levels (or Tiers) of importance.
- Tier 1 would be the basics of life (homeschooling, family, home and basic self-care).
- Tier 2 was blogging (something I enjoy, but only do twice a month).
- Tier 3 was working on the book I am writing, and
- Tier 4 was personal development, hobbies, etc.
Then He told me something that was both difficult and relieving—He told me to just live in Tier 1 for the next four days. Four days! That felt like a long time. I was not supposed to look at or open emails, or go to websites that pertained to Tiers 2, 3 and 4 (which I realized took the majority of my email/internet time). Those tiers were off limits. Once I felt peace again living in Tier 1, then I could add on Tier 2.
Day one was difficult for me, simply because of my habits; and honestly, I really enjoy working in Tiers 2-4. But at the same time, having permission to just live in Tier 1 was like a dream come true. It was simple. It was easy. I was focusing on my family – caring for them, feeding them, and doing the most basics of life.
Every time my brain started to wander to the other Tiers, I would wrangle it back. This was my time to decompress and live simply. By day 2, I was thriving and really enjoying the excuse to live simply and do less. I had permission to not be Superwoman for four lovely days!
This was the balance I needed, and God recognized it and coaxed me in that direction. Right now, I have slowly progressed to living in Tier 3. Tier 4 can wait. Peace is more important.
Challenge:
- Write out the different Tiers in your life. Then, take 15 minutes to think about them and ask God which Tier (or Tiers) is best for you to live in right now. Living in less does not make you a failure! It makes you wise.
- Give yourself permission to live in a tier less (or more simply) than where you are currently living.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14, says, “ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:”… read more here.
Let’s think about it like this: are you working so hard and doing so much that your quality of life and health are suffering? Maybe even the people around you are being affected?
Personally, I have learned that…
- Life will go on if I don’t blog.
- Life will go on if my daughter misses a ballet class. (Her social life will go on.)
- Life will go on if I don’t volunteer this time.
When life gets hairy, if we can step out of the extraneous things in life and focus on what matters, peace will return. Our family’s hearts and health really matter—and so does our own. When was the last time we put our phones, pads and tablets down and went for a family walk or a walk with our spouse? People matter. Hearts matter.
Take a step back from your to-do list—observe, evaluate, temporarily postpone or eliminate, then step back into a simpler version of your life.
Prayer: God, would you tell me what I need to do in my life right now. There is a season for everything. Would you show me what season I am in right now and help me stay there until it is time to move on. I trust that, in your goodness, you will bring me into all truths and peace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
