Thursday, August 11, 2011

Finding Balance In My Life Part IV (Choosing Between Mountains)

Okay, it has been a few weeks.  Where were we?
When I was in college I lived 20 minutes from my aunt.  One day I was over visiting and we were heading out to lunch.  We were trying to get my cousin (who was only three or four at the time) out of the house and into the car when she refused to put down a bag of skittles.  She was on the verge of a meltdown and taking the skittles away would have completely pushed her over.  Leslie stopped herself from trying to grab the skittles and said out loud, "Is this the mountain I want to die on?"  She immediately answered herself, "No" and we all piled into the car - Leslie, me, Gabriella and the skittles.

We cannot all be perfect at everything all the time.  It is just not possible.  There will be days when we have the time to eat healthy and well-put-together and then there will be days when we eat a whoopie pie for breakfast.

Hi, my name is Sarah and I ate a whoopie pie for breakfast.

You can probably tell that it has been a little nuts around here lately.  Bruce has been teaching at Vacation Bible School, the foot traffic because of VBS has slowed down my productivity during my office hours, I am trying to wrap a couple of things up before I take vacation next week and I have a couple of extra services this week.  I haven't folded laundry in two weeks and I am unclear as to whether or not I actually have a kitchen table at the moment.

And I am letting it go.

Let me back up ...

One of the things that I tend to be slightly obsessive about it eating in.  I hate spending money on eating out or ordering in when I can stock my fridge and pantry with food to cook or to pack and bring with me.

That money is better spent on shoes.

Obviously.

The thought crossed my mind last night that we had no sandwich meat or lunch-on-the-go-friendly food.  I suppose I could have dragged myself to the grocery store at 8:00 at night, but with the craziness of this week I've been having, the thought of spending hours around a dinner table laughing with friends seemed much necessary for my sanity.  So I did that - and this morning still had nothing to take for lunch.

After VBS wrapped up this morning, I thought about the fact that I had several hours worth of work to do.  I then thought about the fact that all I had to eat or drink thus far was a whoopie pie and a mug of coffee.  And then I thought that I would be virtually useless to everyone I came in contact with if I didn't give my body more fuel than that.  So then I called in an order to a pizza/sandwich/salad place nearby.


I ordered a tossed salad with grilled chicken and honey mustard dressing (which was more like spicy mustard, but it was still good nonetheless) and grabbed a tea from the cooler.


There are a lot of food and healthy living bloggers out there that preach the importance of stocking your pantry with food so that you have it available to grab, cook and prepare.  And I agree with them.  And I would be lying if I said I didn't feel like some kind of foodie failure every time I placed a food order.

But let's be real - sometimes we are just too busy to spend time driving to and from the grocery store and stocking up on groceries.  Sometimes we need an extra 20 minutes of sleep and do not have time to put together breakfast or lunch to go.  Laundry may go unfolded.  Emails may go unanswered.  Calls may go un-returned.  That doesn't make any of those things less important to us. But sometimes there are five different beautiful mountains in front of us and we can only choose one to climb.

This is the week of absolute insanity for me and I am choosing to be a good pastor to my congregation and a good wife to my husband.  I am piecing together 30 minute slots of downtime where and when I can find them.  I am allowing myself to go to sleep with pending work and household chores that aren't urgent.  That's about all I can handle this week.

And do you know what?  I'm okay with that.

Can anyone relate?

6 comments:

  1. Can I just hug you right now? Because I was just stressing about my house that isn't as clean as I would like it to be, but after long days taking care of a teething baby and my husband working obscenely long hours....I think I would rather just sit. And now instead of being a spaz, I think I will just eat some ice cream :)

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  2. Hi, my name is Rainey and I ate potato chips for breakfast this morning. Seriously. I had a moment of weakness, and I'm ashamed to admit that... but it's true.

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  3. I think you are being very wise with your time. I think both of us like to be in the kitchen- chopping, mixing, creating. BUT being in the kitchen certainly isn't the most important thing. It sounds like you're already doing what's most important (including taking in stride the fact that no one can do or be everything at the same time.) I'm glad you wrote out your thoughts on this; I think your thoughts serve as a great example of balance.

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  4. I am completely, 100% with you. I have a full time job, I am a grad student, I am a part time mom (aka, step mom) and pastors wife. I wanted to be like the Proverbs 31 women and I realized at this point in my life, it's just not possible. I make sure everyone has clean clothes on their back and some sort of food on their plate. Sometimes, I have to priortize and often times gourmet meals and kept house is not at the top of list. I have come to terms with this. :)

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  5. Very well said Sarah. I'm learning that there is no such thing as "perfect" and to be okay with that. Especially the food thing. I love to cook and love to eat. But, sometimes, it's just too much for me to think up meals and go grocery shopping, so sometimes, we eat frozen dinners, or eat out. Thanks for sharing, it helped me "be okay with it." too! :)
    Cindy

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  6. Umm absolutely! I know those feelings all too well. I have a running slogan in my head saying "Lindsey you can't do everything all the time." Sometimes I listen to it and sometimes I push it out of my head because I like to think I'm superwoman sometimes. It's helpful for me to pick my can't-live-withouts and for me that's spending time with my husband and family and going to the gym, everything else will eventually work it's way in.

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Hello and thanks for commenting! Unless I have your email address, I respond to all questions directly in the comment form. Check back if you've asked one! xo, Sarah

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