Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23
Many years of my life I thought, “When this is over, then I can get more control of life.” But the time never came when life was slow and balanced. Somewhere along the way, I began to realize that I had limited strength, limited emotional cash, limited brain space. When you are spent, the warning lights will come on!
I have seen many women, over the years, burn out and become either a victim of their own lives by feeling a failure or become cynical and lose their ideals. In a culture where very little supports the role of mother, where we are often taxed 24/7 for years on end, we often do not even know that this is not how God created our lives to be.
When a woman can glance down at her heart and see doubt, fear, bitterness, anger, or self-doubt, it is time for heart surgery. No one can make us be responsible for the well being of our hearts—we have to do that as an act of our will. Wisdom teaches us that there is a time to give out and a time to restore. But in this frenetic culture, we have to learn to close off the noice and activity, to design rest, peace, restoration, so that we can finish the race of our lives well.
When you are taxed by your children, your friends, or your husband, what flows out from the depths of your heart? What you are pouring in will surely spill out in your words, your eyes, your attitudes, your actions. Filling our souls with beauty, goodness, humility, faith, and the love of Christ must be intentional so His life will be what spills over onto others when we are “squeezed.”
Jesus said it is not the outside—our performance for others or attempts to do righteous works—that determines what a man or woman is like. It is possible to fool others because of our behavior, but it is never possible to fool God. He sees what we are like on the inside.
If God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect and we find ourselves expressing an over abundance of stress related attitudes, we must be doing more or giving more of ourselves to things than God wanted us to—Is your life reflecting the “goodness, acceptability and perfectness” of God’s will? It is so good to take inventory and see what is taxing us too much, what we are doing to refresh, what we need to put in place to restore.
There are those seasons when this is not possible, But we can only live stressed out temporarily and not as a way of life for years or there will be serious consequences.
Planning Restoration
The starting point for spreading inspiration and faith is cultivating our own hearts. If a mama is taking time for reading Scripture, pondering the heart of Christ, worshiping Him, and following His ways, her children will draw the love and sweetness of Christ from her every day.
If a mama is engaging her mind in great books, learning new ideas, and stretching her own intellect, her children will also benefit.
If a mama is developing her character and taking small steps to become more self- disciplined, more of a servant leader, more patient, and more generous with lifegiving words because of her obedience to Christ, her children’s souls will be watered by the strength of her obedience.
If a mama is taking time to rest, to celebrate Sabbath rests on a regular basis, to make time for friends that fill up, then she will find more emotional strength to give to her family.
Don’t worry primarily about having the right rules, the best formula, the right books. Be concerned, instead, for your soul—what are you planting there? What are you watering in the depths of your soul?
This weekend would be a great time to take some time off and to plan for cultivating your own soul.
