Hello my friends!
Thank you for visiting my blog. I am excited to use this site as an opportunity to share my heart with other women and give you scripture and tools to help you see the miracle in the mess.
Today the focus will be taking care of ourselves. The desire of my heart is to encourage you to get filled and fueled so that you can care for those precious people in your life who need you.
Taking care of ourselves is incredibly important and yet it is normally the first thing to get neglected as others need our attention. It may feel selfish to take a nap or find some quiet time. It could even feel indulgent to go on a long walk and savor the silence. But what if those brief moments of nourishing ourselves equipped us to serve others better?
As women, we are blessed with roles that primarily serve others. When we are young, we help our parents around the house. Later, we are babysitters who care for the little ones of others. In adulthood, we are wives who care for our husbands, home, and children. Sometimes, we are called to care for an aging loved one or a precious person fighting an illness.
All of these roles are caretaking roles. All of these roles require tremendous amounts of mental and physical energy. How we show up for these roles depends on how we take care of ourselves.
Self-care doesn’t sound so selfish anymore, does it?
Since my youngest daughter was born nine years ago, my very wise Granny told me “Don’t forget about you.” I really had no idea what she was talking about. I thought she might mean to not let myself go and fall down the rabbit hole of parenting only to reappear looking like Sasquatch when my littles were grown.
It was not until my husband, Matt, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 40 that it made sense. I finally realized that my people need me to be on my A-game. They do not need me to be perfect, but they need me to be firing on all cylinders. This is how your people need you too.
What this looks like is a rested and peaceful you. The you that is ready for each day regardless of what it holds. The you that has been bumped up from the backburner and has a nice home on the front burner.
Jesus and Flight Attendants Agree!
What could Jesus and flight attendants have in common? The way you prioritize your well-being may be just the thing to bring them together. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus is asked which of the commandments was greatest. Jesus told the crowd around him that “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Let us break this down a bit. First, we are to love God with everything within us. We must wipe out all idols and seek His guidance each day.
Next, we are to love our neighbors like we love ourselves. Please do not gloss over that. We are to love others as we love ourselves. Not better than ourselves, not instead of ourselves, but as we love ourselves.
Now that we know how Jesus feels, let’s check in with flight attendants. At the beginning of each flight, passengers are given a presentation by flight attendants on what to do in the event of an emergency. Caretakers are spoken to directly during this time and are told that in the event the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling to put it on themselves first. First y’all. Not the babies, not the elderly, not the husbands. The caretakers first.
Why is this? Aren’t these other people going to suffer? Yes, they will suffer if their caretaker is passed out in the aisle from lack of oxygen.
I hate to break it to you; you cannot take care of your people on an empty tank. You gotta fuel up, sis.
How do you fuel up?
Let’s be honest about this…I’ll go first. If I treated myself as good as I treated my husband and three girls, I would be well taken care of. Heck y’all, if I treated myself as good as I treat Annie, our dog, I would be living pretty good too.
I am not that great to myself. My self-talk is pretty harsh and I am incredibly critical of all of my shortcomings. Often my workouts go undone so I can clean another spot in the house or play Hatchimals with my girls.
Now look at your situation. Are you twisting yourself into a pretzel for everyone around you while neglecting your basic needs?
How about your health? Are you eating well and exercising? Those things drop like flies when we are busy and pulled in many directions. It seems easier to just keep drinking coffee and running around like the Tasmanian Devil.
Let me tell you a little secret, if you are worn out, sick, or stressed you have too much on your plate. It is time to sit down and have a meeting with Jesus about what His priorities are for your life. Get in alignment with His will and the rest will fall into place.
Jesus instructs us Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
His way is light. His way is gentle. His way is restful for our soul. Doesn’t that sound awesome?
What if we handed Him the current state of our weary and burdened lives and asked Him to untangle it all? What would our lives look like after aligning with His word and priorities?
I would love to encourage you to take action this week and start treating yourself just as good as you treat others. You are a valuable member of your family and you need the occasional reminder to put your mask on first. I have created 3 action items for you that are easy to implement today. Go ahead, you deserve it!
Let’s Take Action:
- Go to the Lord in prayer. Lay your life before Him and ask Him to lead you to rest. Seek His will, direction, and wisdom.
- Make “no” your most used word. Stop committing to things inside and outside of your home that aren’t blessing you and your family. Know what you want your life to look like and only use “yes” when it blesses.
- Think of one thing you can do each day to fill your cup. It may be the same thing each day (i.e. stretching as soon as you wake up) or it could be something different (i.e. Monday manicures, Tuesday tacos with friends, Wednesday walk the block, etc.)
Thank you, again, for visiting the Lens of Faith blog. Before we part, let’s go together to the Lord in prayer:
Father God, thank you for my friends that are joining me as we seek You first in our lives. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for the people you have entrusted us to care for. We love them and want to serve them well to your glory.
Lord, we ask that you help us surrender our lives to You each day and exchange our heavy burdens for your rest.
Thank You for faithfulness and goodness. Amen.
Praying your have an amazing week,
Sheila