We are coming off a busy Season. Do you feel relieved now that it is over? Have you had enough of organizing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, serving, volunteering, partying. . . Should I go on?
Do you feel like your life is a bunch of pieces in perpetual motion as you attempt to get IT all done? Are you filling up the time that you have with things you think you MUST do or SHOULD do? AND, are you trying to please people because they told you how fabulous you would be at doing just one more thing?
STOP STOP STOP STOP
Listen to yourself for a moment. What it is that one thing you would LOVE to do? What is pulling at your heart and bouncing around in your head. THAT is the thing God wants you to do. As an entrepreneur and business owner, a working woman, you need to have focus. Just as focus is good for your business; it is good for your life.
Focus begins with journal in hand
Here are the steps:
- Ask God to come into the time (even if it is five minutes).
- Write down three to five things that are important to you. The things you most value in your life.
- Make a list of all the things you are doing outside of your work and family responsibilities.
- Circle any activities that reflect an extension of your work or family.
- From those activities, draw a line from each to the value it exemplifies.
It may take many sessions before you get it all out. Be patient with yourself and the process. Only items that can be legitimately connected to your values stay on your list. All the other activities? Start removing them from your life.
I am giving you permission to say NO and to QUIT. I am giving you permission to spend time with your family, to stay home in the evening, to skip a church service on the weekend, to not volunteer your Saturday away, and to focus on what is important to you. By cleaning out your ‘busy’ life you will make room to make MORE of an impact on your sphere of influence.
God has given you a specific assignment, a CALLING. It is specific for you. Your first responsibility is to take time with Him to listen and hear what it is He wants you to do, not listen to the SHOULDs. Jesus promised that your life in Him would be easy. Matthew 11:30 MSG says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
The lie is that your life has a secular part and a sacred part. That somehow you MUST keep the two separated. God wants you to be WHOLE. Living a life that is seamless, where you show up in any situation as YOU.
Keeping you busy and in motion is a tactic of the enemy to make you unfocused and confused. Align your WORK with your values, align your ACTIVITIES with you values. See your WORK, your job and business as your CALLING. God has placed you where you are right now for a specific reason. When you see your WORK as your SERVICE then you have focus to do more for God.
Being close to Jesus does not mean signing up for every volunteer opportunity. It means asking Him what the next step is in your work and life. Take time to listen to the Father instead of all the SHOULDs. Follow your true values, those things most important to you. Find the way to SERVE God through that and you will have focus, feel more fulfilled, and show His goodness in the overflow that happens.
The CLARIFY book can bring you into focus. It has examples and activities to help you discover what God is calling you to do through your WORK. It gives you permission to STOP the perpetual motion and REST in Him and His plan for you.
Be filled to overflowing,
Deneen
P.S. Get your copy of CLARIFY 12 Principles to Illuminate Your Calling to the Marketplace on Amazon starting January 18th.