The past few weeks have been unusual schedule-wise for us. My kids were complaining this morning that they just want a week where we have a normal schedule where we do school in the normal order 🙂 You know it’s bad when the kids are whining because they want to do more school!
I have to admit it’s been stressful for me as well. I love our normal schedule–mostly because we have structured our normal schedule in such a way that it pushes us forward in our goals just by following it. Normally, I get time to work on my writing six days a week. Normally, we work on our podcast. Normally, the house gets cleaner from week to week rather than deteriorating.
Anyway! Talking about being centered on our podcast, Epic Every Day, this week has had me mulling over how I’m doing in that area. Being centered is about living out of the essence of who God has made you (and me) to be. It’s about making sure you know yourself well and the things you do are the things you were designed to do. For instance, if you’re a screwdriver, you shouldn’t be pounding nails into a wall. If you’re an introvert, you’re probably not called to do a job with lots of people.
This idea was such a revelation to me. I was so used to doing what needed to be done regardless of whether it was the best use of my time. God has designed each of us with certain natural talents–for example, not everyone is energized by writing so not everyone takes the time to learn the necessary skills. Writing is something I’m passionate about and, hopefully, getting better at. It would be a waste of time for me (and for the person who received my work) to draw for a living. It’s not something I’m naturally talented at–nor am I willing to put in the time to increase my skills. It would be better for me to do the writing and for someone else to do the illustrations.
Proverbs 17:24 says, “Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth” (NLT). It’s wisdom to do the things God’s made us to do. We know that when we look at a tool. When my computer’s graphics card died (again!) this week, I didn’t go looking for pliers because I needed a mini screwdriver. Tools are not interchangeable, and neither are people. In the Church, we need our eyes to see and our ears to hear–we need everyone to do the job they’re designed for (1 Cor. 12) so we can all thrive. My life is better when you do what you’re called to do, and your life is better when I’m faithful too–whether we see the immediate effects or not.
So what are you called to do? What are you naturally talented at? Or what are you passionate about? I’m naturally talented at gathering information and I’m passionate about natural health, therefore, I know a lot about natural health stuff.
One way we can keep our eyes glued on wisdom is to write down what we’re supposed to be doing and then look at it regularly. I find I do much better when I have a sticky note of goals on my calendar and read through it out loud every day. It’s amazing how keeping my eyes on the finish line can motivate me 🙂 Besides, as my tai chi instructor likes to say, you can’t hit a bullseye if you’re looking at the wall the target is on–you have to focus on the bullseye.
Another way is to look at your schedule: is your normal schedule structured so that it will push you forward towards your goals? Do you have habits that create progress in the areas where you doing what you’re designed to do? If this is a struggle for you, I highly recommend reading JB Glossinger’s book, Sacred 6. It’s definitely helped bring this into focus for me!
Bottom line: Be the right tool for the job, and if you’re not, let someone else do it.
