We have been visiting a new church now for a while and this
past Sunday really had a great sermon that hit home. I just wanted to share some notes from the
service because it is fall, school had started and we are seemingly living in
“Insanity”.
Lately, my personal prayer requests have included a plea for
help organizing. Organizing my life,
time, house, kids, closets—and all ‘things to do’. It is really about priorities. The last six months or so (who am I kidding, it is really like the last 2 to
3 years!), this subject has been in the forefront of my mind. I struggle daily with what comes first,
keeping on track, and …oh…what did I forget now? As a parent, we all struggle with this in
some way. We are balancing life with
kids. We are in charge of these little
beings and they bring a whole set of items to the table we must address and
organize.
Last Spring, I finally admitted to myself I have been doing
too much in all of these places outside the home. Now, most of my volunteer work is good stuff
and contributes to the family, etc. BUT
when you take on too many of these things, you leave very little room for your
core-your family, and possibly your spiritual life. I vowed last spring it was time to back off
here and there and re-focus.
This brings me back to last Sunday. The sermon was a part of a series called,
“Insanity”. The title for Sunday was
called, Help! Not just help, but HELP ME!!! The interesting thing Rev. Rufus Smith said
that really GRABBED me was this: Do you
have enough margin-or space- for crisis? If you do not, you are too busy! We all will face crisis. We just will.
If you do not allow margin for this, you are setting yourself up for
insanity. So I sat there with my mouth
open. I might as well have been sitting
on the front row with a giant spotlight on me.
Rufus could have just said, “And Tracey Simpson, yes you…I am talking to
you.”
I have not been giving myself space. Space for error and recovery. Space for quiet time to catch up. Space for organizing my life in little
bits. MORE space for my spiritual walk. You know how when you are very active for a
long time… When you are exercising for
over an hour, or you have a long day with your kids walking around, going to
sports events, etc.? If you do this over
and over without recovery you set yourself up for feeling bad. Your body is fatigued? You may become ill. This is what I am seeing with my
busyness.
I need to take some hints from my dog - take a break...
I won’t go over the whole session of notes but I want to
highlight a verse.
Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way the Spirit also
helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit
Himself intercedes for us with
groanings too deep for words.”
Where I am weak, He is strong. Thank
goodness I am not left to deal with all of my problems by myself, nor am I
alone when I pray. Even when I don’t
know what to say, He is there to help me along.
What a blessing. It is like a
second-chance when you pray. “I don’t
know what to say Lord,” or “I can’t put it into words, Lord,”—these thoughts
are helped along.
I have attached the notes from the service. Pardon my handwriting, please! One really neat thing to also focus on is the
section on Enjoying Peace. Love that.
Have a great week. I
hope to blog a little more frequently as I get re-focused. I have some projects I want to put up soon!
With Joy! --Tracey
