discovering joy in the journey

Joy to the Heart

I saw this slogan twice this week and it really grabbed my attention.  I saw it once on a billboard and once on the back of a magazine.  It is a slogan put out by a local hospital, designed for connecting you with an online tool for assessing your risk for heart disease, stroke, etc – a basic heart check.

As a homeschooling mom to four little ones, three of whom have birthdays in December and January, I think (no, I know) I’m feeling overtired.  I have my proof.  Over the course of the last three weeks, I have been forgetting the simplest of things, have felt pains in my chest  and dizziness (Yes, I went to the doctor and they say that I am fine.  I also took the online heart assessment and I am not at risk.), am just getting over a cold that wiped me out for two days, can’t seem to focus on tasks at hand, and have a sense of being overwhelmed.  I am the type of person that presses on until a job is complete, that continues to work on something that I think must be done -even if it means I get less sleep.  This is fine, if done from time to time and not repeatedly.   I think the last couple months with Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday parties, and just the day to day grind has worn me down.  My ability to make simple decisions, my productivity level, and my interactions with my family are being adversely affected by my lack of sleep.

I am posting this for accountability.  I need physical rest and spiritual rest.  Yes, my list of things I want to accomplish are a mile long, my day to day list of items that have to get done are never ending, and my children’s requests for time and activity are beckoning.  I feel like I need a week long vacation, just me, alone, to catch up on some of the tasks at hand – putting all else on hold.  However, seeing as that is impossible, I am going to attempt to try something else.  For the next week, I am going to strive to be in bed and going to sleep 2-3 hours earlier than I have been.  If that means I don’t go to my monthly girls night out, so be it.  If that means the dishes are left in the sink until morning, okay.  If that means putting our kids to bed earlier so I can get school ready for them for the next day, done.  This is going to be a challenge for me- a change in my mindset over priorities.  This is designed for my physical rest.

For my spiritual rest, I desire to get up at a set time each morning this week to sit at my Savior’s feet.  I want to read, pray, worship, and listen – without my littlest one sitting on my lap, reaching over to pat the Bible (as sweet as that may be =).  I have  been so busy serving and being a Martha that I have forgotten how to be a prayerful, worshipful Mary.  Oh, how quickly we succumb to our old ways.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

This is my week for a true heart check.