When life doesn’t work the way it should, we look for reasons. We make excuses and assign blame. Many times we are our own worst enemy in any situation. Poor planning, lousy follow-through, or even dropped responsibilities – plenty of fingers point this way and that. The clambering noise gets exceptionally disconcerting. It’s challenging to wade through the swamp and find a better way to look at what’s missing.
This past week of living without puppies underfoot (Hallelujah!), we’ve taken our time to jumpstart a near-normal life. I think it will take more than seven days, but there’s more to get done than the crunching calendar allows.
I’ve learned that everything doesn’t have to be perfect. A little clutter, a wicked twinge, a conversation that didn’t go as planned. Do you know? It’s hard to be the “whole person” you want to be. There are not enough hours. You feel imperfect. How can you face everything that needs to be met? There’s no one to call for help or pick up a few loose ends. We’re all busy where we are planted. Life feels fractured. You give, but leave yourself open for missing puzzle pieces to overwhelm your mind.
You Are Not In This Alone
Another way of looking at this puzzle palace we’ve created is that we often feel out of control with all the irons in the firepit of life. Suddenly, like David, you are overwhelmed. What do you do then?
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalms 61:2 NKJV
Throw in a few more personal stressors. Suddenly all you want to do is quit!
We’ve all “been there, done that” a few times!
Perhaps that’s the wisest place to be. Realize you are not in this alone. We’ve all been there. Some have found their escape and returned to peace, and others continue to wallow in the pit of despair. What you should do is look for the best way forward. That often comes in prayer and seeking counsel from someone who can look over your shoulder and help you make a path forward.
Working Hard to be Whole: Realize you are not in this alone. We've all been there. Some have found their escape and returned to peace, and others continue to wallow in the pit of despair. What you should do is look for the best way… Share on XRealize, you still must walk your path, but someone else could have a solution.
That’s the first step to making ourselves whole. Realize that we are overwhelmed, and you are not in the battle of change by yourself! You need help. Ask for it! Don’t wait for someone to notice and step in as the Good Samaritan did in Luke 10:29-37. We do not know if the wounded man could call out, and perhaps he did. Regardless, the Samaritan stepped up, leaned in, and took over!!
Abraham Lincoln, after the Union Army’s devasting loss at the Second Battle of Bull Run, said a prayer recorded in Civil War Dispatches by Noah Brooks:
“I have been driven many times upon my knees
by the overwhelming conviction
that I had nowhere else to go.
My own wisdom and that of all about me
seemed insufficient for that day.”
How Do We Make Ourselves Whole
First and foremost, before you consider making any changes, you must know where you are going!
What does “whole” look like to you?
Nothing else matters as much as knowing what you think of when it comes to being complete. Priorities. Destinations. Goals. Objectives. Demands, wishes, wants, or desires.
Whoa! Before you dump everything, you must consider the responsibilities resting on your shoulder. Today. You do not jump ship from anything until you know you’re ready to move forward. Too many have given the heave ho‘ to their current world and then wandered through life thinking the grass is greener elsewhere.
Everything halts until you define yourself.
Changes must consider your current responsibilities (roof, table, work, relationships, etc.). But you can identify where the empty spots are and what needs to happen to adjust. You can point out the loaded spaces and determine how to thin them out.
When I shop for just about anything for me, I take a long time defining what I want or need before the bucks roll out of my wallet. That means browsing the shopping aisles but being willing to walk away without spending the dough. It could mean talking to others who have been down this path before and letting that help with my choice.
Spend the time identifying who you are and where you will feel whole.
Important Decisions
I’ve said it often, I’m back in Alaska and living far from the masses; if only God will tell me to Go. If he does, tomorrow doesn’t come soon enough. But what if he says No, or Wait, or Not Yet. What if I don’t like His answer? So Sad. Too Bad. Instead of being headstrong and doing what I want, my life stays anchored where he put me. I turn my attention to being profitable while I wait.
Prove myself where I am, and I believe he will give me the desires of my heart.
Spend enough time doing what the prophet Isaiah writes about, and it could be my desires get bent to his wishes. I’m just saying. Will you go where and when he asks? Or do you reject his counsel and do what you want?
Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:27-31 NKJV
So… Do what you have learned to do, and make a significant decision to be whole.