...running the course God sets before us, no matter the cost, no matter the task, to the end, for His glory
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Too Many Hats?

Moms have always been known for their ability to wear a multitude of hats:
  • Counselor
  • Teacher
  • Cook
  • Medical Assistant
  • Taxi Driver
  • Laundress
  • Judge
  • Jury
  • Executioner
  • Finder of any and all lost items
  • Logistical planner
  • Inventory Manager
  • Boo-boo kisser
  • Last minute fixer of problems
  • Owner of biggest shoulder to cry on in the world
Really, that list only begins to scratch the surface.

More Analogies:

Lately, I have had more hats than possibly ever in my life. In fact, I can barely stick with the one analogy.


There is always the "spinning plate" analogy. Sometimes I feel just like the guy on stage, spinning plates, and I have reached my critical mass when there are too many plates and I simply can't keep them all spinning. Something is going to crash, and something is going to break. At. Any. Moment.





Or maybe I should go with the "too many irons in the fire" analogy which refers to a blacksmith, back in the day when there were blacksmiths, who had so many projects going on simultaneously that he would put so many irons in the fire that he couldn't keep up. I know just how that blacksmith feels.





But lately I felt more like this guy from one of my favorite children's books, "Caps for Sale." In the story the man with all the hats has them on his head to transport them from one town to another in order to sell them.

Okay, so my analogy breaks down here. I am not selling anything.

But I do feel like I have that many hats on my head, in the sense that each hat represents another job to do. One I can't ignore. One I really need to get around to. One that if I fail something bad might happen.

It is at moments like this, or seasons like this, or years like this, that I am tempted to reach down to my bootstraps and pull them up and make lists and work hard and get up early and go to bed late and get my flesh good and productive.

Or there is the other alternative of just rolling over and refusing to get out of bed in the morning. There is just so much to do that ignoring the whole thing seems, at the moment, the most logical option.

Either alternative though is allowing my flesh to control me instead of the Spirit.

What's a Girl To Do?

What do I do when I don't know which job to work on next and I am tempted to throw up me hands in despair?
          I remember Isaiah 30:21:  Whether your turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

What do I do when I am working and working away, and see no fruit, and begin to question the point of it all?
          I remember Psalm 126:5:  Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting!

What do I do when I am so tired that the only productive thing I can think of to do is to sit down and cry?
          I remember Isaiah 40:31: those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

What do I do when I know that I cannot possibly do what is before me to do? No way! No how!
          I remember 2 Corinthians 12:9: But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Maybe when I learn to wear just one hat I will
look as peaceful and serene as she does!
I got this from "Victorian Source:
 http://lacetoleather.com/victorian.html

Just One Hat


Thank you Lord. 
Though You give me lots of jobs to do, You only give me one hat.
Help me, please, remember that all I really need to wear is just that one hat.
The hat of the daughter of the King.
The hat of one dearly loved and protected.
The hat of one who is sustained and maintained by the God of the Universe.

Just one hat.







 

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