Run Yourself Ragged...

When I was a kid, we had this crazy game where you tried to use magnets and levers and all kinds of things to move a ball bearing from the beginning of the game board maze to the end. The game was called Run Yourself Ragged (google it -- it's real) and I LOVED it.

Apparently, I've never outgrown the game...BUT... now I play it with my life ...AND...I think it’s something God wants me to give up...

((When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11)) -- or at least I’m trying to put away the childish things that harm me -- and NO, I don’t think the bubble wand & bubbles on my back porch are doing any harm ;))

Living life in a pretty much perpetual state of vacation -- or state of planning/working/searching for the next adventure -- sorta mode for the last year has made it hard for me to focus -- or more accurately made it hard for me to focus without hyper-focusing. I like to blame it on the traveler's lifestyle, the working like crazy to accomplish what I had to in as short a time as possible so I could run off somewhere fun and play some more -- Kinda like the working for the weekend concept so many I know engage in weekly, except in extreme overdrive -- I was working (which may have meant volunteer work or cleaning house or planning showers or whatever I was doing that wasn't a "real" job) as intensely as possible to accomplish as much as possible in as little time as possible so that I could take off not a weekend -- but several weeks at a time (sometimes) -- to do nothing more than travel & relax & explore.

I'm not at all sorry that I did those things. I wouldn't trade what I've seen & what I've learned (especially about myself) from those experiences for anything...BUT...I am having to learn how to not play Run Yourself Ragged with my daily life now that those fast-paced, fun-filled travel days are done.

Maybe it's in part because of the life I've lead the last year (or maybe the last 3 1/2 years... or wait, maybe the life I've lead the last 37 years) maybe it's just because it's who I am or who I have become... but whatever it is, I tend to procrastinate & play THEN hyper-focus, over-think & absolutely Run Myself Ragged (and never quite strike a blessed balance between the two) ...

BUT...I think things are changing because I’ve been praying a lot for blessed balance without it diminishing the person I know I’m meant to be AND I believe God is answering me!!! I know I am never going to be "Normal" and frankly, have no desire to be...BUT...I have discussed this ragged rat race mentality with my friend God and here's what I think He's been telling me:

1. You are by far not the only one who feels this way... In a world where everything comes your way at 978 mph the temptation is to go that fast to take it all in or to completely drop out & let it all just rush by -- AND neither is necessary - OR - His plan for my life!!!

2. Make a To - Do list daily...

--Which I have done -- but it's not an ordinary To-Do list. Each and every list has at the top ...”Thank God in ALL things!!!” ... (This is a little trick I picked up from my Daddy -- whose to-do list on the yellow legal pad always started with PTL-- that’s right friends, your kids are watching what you do as much or more as they are listening to what you say & they are learning from it ;) ... I believe that in addition to following the good example set by my earthly Daddy that it is the first thing my Heavenly Father would have me put on my list as well. The list has lots of things on it some days and not as many on others. Some days I mark off absolutely everything and other days I learn that it's ok to move things that aren't urgent to tomorrow's To-Do list & that isn't painful or a failure at all to do so because I am Thanking God in ALL things! The list also has a prayer or a statement or verse at the end every day that is something I want to remember to do for God or for others or even that I think God would have me do just for me! AND while outlining everything for a day makes it more manageable, I think the most important thing that I have begun to learn IS that if my list, my day, my life begins and ends with God all the stuff in the middle isn't nearly as hard to handle.

3. Don't focus on the list...FOCUS on LIFE!!!

Understand that the list is just a guideline, and that HE is my only Guide! He has pointed out to me that goals are good and important, but any 'goal' that leaves me feeling frazzled & frustrated isn't a goal He'd have me pursue. I feel very clearly that He has said -- and would have me share -- that it's really important to Stop Chasing possessions & people & position & provisions that aren't running. I -- and maybe you, too -- am wasting energy trying to get things he has already given me or that He just knows I don’t really need. He has already provided all that I need and if I ask Him even all that I want AND Running myself Ragged chasing things has left little time for me to focus on the amazingly beautiful, wonderful, plentiful things He's already given me.

I feel like my friends are often running as much as I am -- or frankly much, much more than I am - I am running for a family of one when many of them are running to do and be and give to many -- AND -- that God wants us all to know that while he wants us to pursue & press on toward the things He has for us, the he also wants us to slow down and enjoy the incredible blessings that He has already provided us.

While I am still itching to get my hands on a Run Yourself Ragged game board and see if I’m as good or maybe better at it than I was as a kid, I am even more anxious to seek the balance between pursuing goals & ignoring life and to stop living an unfulfilled life where at the end of the day all I’ve managed to do is Run myself Ragged!

OH...and...btw, I do forget from time to time (as God reminds me regularly - I am only human & so are you) ...BUT one of the truly great things I’m learning through all of this is that no matter how many times I forget that God will remind with His words as long as I ask Him to... And here are a few of the words he’s using to remind me that I hope will help you too:

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths -- Proverbs 3:6

Be still, and know that I am God -- Psalm 46:10

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? -- Romans 8: 32

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -- Jeremiah 29:11