Cross One Thing Off Your To Do List Now

The things you need are provided for you. The things you need to see, you will see. The things you need to hear will be heard. The people you need in your life will appear. You will read what you were meant to read and take from it what you are meant to take. The universe sends you a lifeline.  You can choose whether to receive the message today or wait until a bigger billboard arrives to announce the way more clearly.

I had a billboard moment this week.  Just when I needed some direction, I got it. This time I was sitting at church (but for all you non-religious types--rest assured you can have a billboard moment outside of church).      

The message I heard related to my to-do list.  As a SAHM with four girls under eight, my to-do-list looks pretty similar from day to day and it looks that way seven days a week. It's a pretty endless list.  There is ALWAYS something to clean. If I wanted to, I could keep myself busy (very busy) from the time I turn the covers down to the time I pull them up again. 

The message that I heard was this: 

Cross one thing off your to-do list. Simple. I can do that and more!

Without actually doing it. Wait... What?

Here comes the billboard moment:  Make a conscious decision to rest and don't feel guilty about making it and taking it.

In a race with no finish line: I would collapse if I kept cleaning until my house was home magazine perfect. I would probably run us into debt trying to keep up with the latest and greatest. I would be frantic trying to keep up with every activity the girls ever wanted to try.  

Where does it say we have to work all day, every day, without a break?  I can think of examples that direct us against that thinking. Most notably, that after the sixth day of creation, God rested. 

Why do I feel so guilty about taking a rest?  Part of it might be due to my current job and the way that I perceive that some people view the work of a Stay-at-home-mom:  My time is my own. I can rest whenever I like. I don't have a boss breathing down my neck. (True. But also not True. Let me know if I need to elaborate.) 

What do I DO while I'm resting?  Well, nothing at all for starters.  What does rest look like? Reading. Napping. Praying. Listening. Singing. Writing (for my own pleasure). Walking. Living in the moment with the dog.  Snuggling with the girls or the Mister.  For you, it may look different. 

I've taken a good hard look at my to-do list.  For every six things I need to do, I have crossed off the seventh and its place I wrote the word:  REST. The peace that will be gained from doing this will far outweigh the cost of having an extra load of laundry on the pile. 

I challenge you to do the same.