Pruning your Schedule. Destressing your Calendar.
Do you ever catch yourself thinking, “But I’m the only one who can do this!”? As if you are THE ONLY ONE. Well. If you believe it, child, you been fooled. And you’re not the only one. You’re in good company tonight. But let’s not stay believing that little lie, shall we. Let’s be free.So, let me teach you how to Prune:
As I’m working in our garden for the first time this year, the Lord is showing me about pruning my schedule. What is fruitful and what is just sucking energy?
In perfect timing, Miss Jane sent me her notes from Priscilla Shirer’s Fervent:
“Your Pressures-Reclaiming Peace, Rest and Contentment
If I were your enemy, I’d make everything seem urgent, as if it’s all yours to handle. I’d bog down your calendar with so many expectations you couldn’t tell the difference between what’s important and what’s not. Going and doing, guilty for ever saying no, trying to control it all, but just being controlled by it all instead. If I could keep you busy enough, you’d be too overwhelmed to even realize how much work you’re actually saving me.” (page 133)
“How to reassess your schedule:
Try identifying the most common pressures and expectations in your life that cause you fatigue, fragmentation, distress-occasionally even an emotion that borders on despair.
- Check your schedule for patterns where you’re allowing yourself to be enslaved to things that aren’t truly critical, important, or indispensable as they seem.
- Check your motivations for why you say yes to so many things and why you feel such guilt and loss of importance for saying no.
- Check to see if the places where you most typically overload your time involve people or goals or interest areas that you’ve elevated to the status of idols.
- Check how much emphasis you place on the current status of your wardrobe, house, car, job, fitness, education, and any external measure that causes you to feel defensive, pressured to keep up and compare.
Ask the Lord for real discernment here because some of these determinations can be subtle and hard to spot. Remember, your enemy is involved, so he’s sure to try blinding you to what’s really underneath it all. A close friend or family member whose wisdom you trust might actually be helpful in this process as well if you promise to consider the validity of everything she says and reveals about you, even the things you don’t quite agree with as first.” (page 145)
That’s a darn good word! Hoping that helps you as much as it did me! Thank you, Miss Jane and Miss Priscilla Shirer!
love,d