I stole the title of this blog from a little wall hanging I saw somewhere, many years ago. That saying was above an image of a mom and her kids. How true! And I had it relatively easy as our two sons gave us little grief.
The saying is true of more than parenthood. It’s a blessing and privilege to serve God, but the blessing often comes with a challenges. God likes to stretch us.
2009 was full of blessings for me. I finished my Masters degree, I had a leadership role in our church’s stewardship campaign, I received coach training through our Northern Illinois District and I served as editor for a major LCMS writing project. These responsibilities were on top of my Volunteer Equipping job at church, some speaking engagements, and keeping up with my monthly newsletter. It was a year of wonderful opportunities, and I spent the majority of the year trying to keep my tiredness within limits, struggling to be a good steward of my fast-fleeting energy, concerned about keeping it all straight so I didn’t miss an important deadline.
About November, things seemed to be slowing down. I looked at a few projects that had been on the back burner for over a year. I wanted especially to finish up a book project I started in mid-2008. I decided first to submit some articles to various magazines. If any got accepted — I well knew the odds against an unsolicited manuscript getting published — that would motivate me to finish the book in the 3-4 months before the magazine article would appear.
I brushed up some articles and sent them out in early December. The very next day, I hear that Lutheran Witness is interested in publishing the article I sent . . . in their January issue! So the last month has been a flurry of finishing up the book, doing so even while watching football with my out-of-town sons over Christmas weekend.
All in all, I learned lessons about time management tools and techniques that work for me, how to prioritize and what really is most important to me, and on letting go of tasks to be with the people I care about.
When God blesses you, look out!
Tags: adventure, blessings, challenges, stewardship, volunteer
