Who me? Function like an adult? Sometimes, to navigate the world, I feel like I needed a doctorate in adulting, but I’m learning that life doesn’t take advanced degrees. Instead, God can use simple truths to sustain me, if I’ll just let Him.
Here are three of my recent favorites:
It’ll come around. I can get overwhelmed by big tasks. We looked at a fixer upper this weekend, and as my husband and I talked (read: argued) about staircases, egress windows, and a master bedroom that did not yet exist in a home we do not own, I got completely stressed out. Add to that the questions of how the money would work, and I did not have a good weekend.
I talked through it with my husband and parents and my mom advised me to take it one step at a time. She said some people (her, actually) enjoyed this process and it didn’t have to be so stressful. I just needed to ask questions and basically unravel the knot one thread at a time. I was not consoled.
But the next day, after sleeping and more talking, I felt completely better about it. I was reminded that sometimes, in writing, too, I’m overwhelmed by the tasks before me. In writing, I’m (generally) able to keep the perspective that it’ll come around. Going hand-in-hand with this are the beliefs that I’ll eventually figure it out and there’s a time for everything. If I don’t have the ambition to tackle a project now, I just have to circle it a little longer until I get a foothold, and then, my route will be laid out before me, and it’ll come around. I’ll draft my novel. I’ll figure out the house.
Let my failure at remembering this be your reminder to keep this in mind. Don’t get stressed. Remember, it’ll come around.
I have everything I need. I put this on repeat and jam out to it as I walk through Target, TJ Maxx, and whatever other store manages to cram its aisles and shelves full of beautiful, peach and pink or mint and white accessories, clothing, mugs… Don’t even get me started on gray suede footwear. I have everything I need. And more.
Thinking that leads me to consider the things I already own as I pass all the things that tempt me. I have so many pretty things. I have an orchid next to my laptop as I type. I have quite a stash of pretty earrings. I have more clothes that I love in my collection than I can wear on a regular basis.
Do I always resist the temptation to collect more? No. But this saying is true, and it does point me in the right direction when I use it. I hope it helps you, too.
God, You are good, and I trust You. I have to give the credit for this one to blogger Allie over at We Are New Romantics, who wrote about using this line as a centering prayer in this post. Because of the aforementioned house, I didn’t sleep well on Saturday night, but as I woke up and tried to fall back to sleep, when all the thoughts about the house and all the things I’d managed to get worked up about tried to crowd in, I repeated this to myself instead. Guess what happened? I fell back asleep. Whew.
I love this one because it’s so simple and so true and it’s the only one of the three that’s a prayer. We’re told to pray without ceasing, but sometimes dwelling on our problems after we’ve hashed them out so many times already isn’t the healthiest way to go. Sometimes, just handing it back to God with a simple statement like this works wonders.
Overwhelmed, stressed out, and losing sleep? Try it. God, You are good, and I trust You.
What simple truths get you through the day?
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