So . . . how’s your week going?

Stressful? Too much to do? Frustrated with too few hours in the day?

Me, too, Friend. Me. Too.

So let’s all just take a minute and press pause. Or better yet, let’s say no to something.

One of my favorite writers, Bob Goff*, quits something every Thursday. That’s right. Every Thursday he evaluates and picks one thing to stop doing.

My schedule and my responsibilities have become a bit like my linen closet. Let me explain: my mom will, occasionally, come visit and clean out my crazy disorganized linen closet. She’ll help me sort through and throw out the sheets that belong to bed sizes we no longer own (I think it’s safe to donate the crib sheets once your kids are all in middle school or above, right?), she folds the fitted sheets with an efficiency that would make Martha Stewart jealous. She categorizes and futzes and makes it all beautiful and pretty.

And then she has the audacity to leave town.

And it only takes this family about 3 weeks for the linen closet to look like this:

Pin THAT!;)

That’s a bit like my life. I over commit, and obsess and fret and worry and careen towards a nervous breakdown. Then I stop and take stock, maybe go see my counselor if I’m in a particularly wise place, I get everything in order and I breathe. I make time for long runs like I had Saturday where I really see the people and things around me, I make time for friends and to write and to read an actual book.

The park where I run. Yes, it’s amazing.

But then, just like my linen closet, I blink and we have chaos all over again.

Jesus gets it. And no, I’m not just saying that because I feel the truth of it in my heart (which is true) but because it’s in Luke 5:15-16.

“The news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

So today, let’s figure out what we quit so we can spend some time in the wilderness and be quiet and pray. I mean, I know what you have to do is important, but is it more important than healing people? Because that’s what Jesus took a break from to be alone. Let THAT sink in for a minute.

Maybe it’s something tangible like a volunteer gig that you’re doing out of obligation even though it drains you. Maybe it’s an unhealthy relationship or an unhealthy expectation.

Maybe it’s beating yourself up for everything you’re not. Or perfectionism. Or people pleasing.

But just think about it and figure out what you will quit. Because although this metaphor of my linen closet is a good one, I think I’m going to quit obsessing over my disorganized linen closet. My mom will come back eventually. And I am in desperate need of some time alone in the wilderness to pray. Or nap. Or just sit and listen.

Happy running,

Jen

*if you haven’t read Bob’s book Love Does, you absolutely need to. Seriously, go over to Amazon and order it or download it or whatever you do to absorb the written word. It’s pure greatness. And if you need further encouragement, he’s a lawyer who has all of his client meetings on Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland. I know, right?