When It Gets To Be Too Much

Do you ever feel like you’re being pulled in several different directions at once?  Maybe you have small children and your house is chaos – on a good day.  Maybe you struggle with the kids, the laundry, the after school activities, the dog and on and on the list goes.  Maybe you’re a dad who works all day and then tries to help with the kids when you get home.  Some of you are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.  Others are retired which implies nothing but time on your hands but family and/or friends need this and that and you, too, are being devoured by the tyranny of the urgent.

Time to take a step back before your health gets affected and you’re no good to yourself or anyone else.  “Put your own mask on first”, as they say on the airplane.  Simple, but so true.  What good can you be to yourself or anyone if you collapse?

Households with children are predictably hectic.  But, how much has been added that maybe doesn’t need to be at this particular age?  How  much could older kids help by doing chores which could not only help but also teach responsibility?  A dad who works 12-15 hours/day may not have the energy to be much help except on the week-ends.  Retirees who get swallowed up in helping friends with needs may have to pull back a bit or they will be the one needing help.

If you love your family and care about your friends, this is difficult.  But, taking the time to evaluate what works and what doesn’t, what needs to be put off till a better time, what outside help might be arranged, may be the only safeguard against collapse.

For years, while teaching and still having a son at home, I took care of my aging parents.  Yes, they were in care homes, but that still meant doctor appointments, medications, paying bills. going shopping, phone calls and any number of tasks that needed to be done with and for them.  Feeling totally burned out one day, I wrote these words:

“I cannot be all things to the people I love.  God has promised to give me the strength to be a servant one day at a time.  And, He has reserved the role of Savior for Himself.”

Bear in mind that some people (whether aware or not) can suck the life out of you.  During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He did not heal everyone.  When it gets to be too much, pray and ask God for His divine perspective and His wisdom about what needs to change.   Then, wait and listen, making sure you aren’t the one sucking life out of another.

“But, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But, let him ask in faith without doubting…”  (James 1:5-6a)

”I will instruct you and teach you in the way in which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. “  (Psalm 32:8-9)