Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Simplify

When Andrew was about Jenna's age I decided that it was time to get back to work and ministry. The first few years of The Brothers lives went by in a haze for me and suddenly they were both in preschool and I had two days a week to do something for myself. Frankly, I can't remember what I did!

Fast forward to last May when I once again felt like I could take on some professional activities now that Jenna was about to go to Mother's Day Out twice a week. I agreed to do some music therapy assessments in the fall for a local school district. But it was May, right, so I thought I would start a couple of other new things, too.

And now? I have too many things I am trying to do and I need to streamline! Currently on my professional roster, in order of appearance, I am a Creative Memories/Ahni & Zoe consultant, a Legacy Republic Independent Consultant, a Music Together instructor, a Young Living distributor, and a music therapist. Too much.

In searching for life significance in activities other than serving my family, church, and community, I have made a crazy busy life for myself. As a result of that I feel like I do a lot of things with mediocrity and little with excellence. Rather than being a good steward of the little things with which God has entrusted me, I have sought out bigger things and don't have enough time and energy for the really important things - marriage and family.

And admittedly, my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and time spent in fellowship with God have also gone to the wayside. There is just so much to do, and I push my quiet time back later and later in the day until the day disappears.

In my circle of friends many of us decide to choose one word to live by in the new year. I think my word for 2015 will be "Simplify." I want to simplify my home, and simplify my life so that I can do the things I believe God has called me to do and say goodbye to things that are good and healthy and not for me to do.

I am starting with the book "Clutter free: Quick and easy steps to simplifying your space," by Kathi Lipp. I heard Kathi speak at my local MOPS group last spring and decided we should be best friends. Perhaps not in real life, but at least virtually. The thing I love about this book so far is that it's not just another organizational system. I have tried organizational systems. They work for me for awhile and then it just gets overwhelming because I have too much stuff and too many irons on the fire. This is a book about getting rid of stuff. I feel like if I have less clutter in my life that I can concentrate on the things that really matter.


So, here I go. Simplify. Starting to blog again is not simplifying, it's adding another thing to my to-do list. However, accountability is important and if I am not vocal about what I am doing, I know I'm likely to not do it. I will simplify, I promise, but it is going to be a work in progress! My hope is to chronicle it here, but if that doesn't work I will have to let it go.

Aren't you glad my theme is "Simplify" and not "Let it GO." Oh yes, she went there.

You are blessed.