Our August is awfully full.
I'm typing here - with my calendar spread out before me and my nerves coming undone within - because looking at the agenda is making me quiver a bit.
Most of the penciled in events are favorable.
Some are annoying and mandatory.
But for the most part - the things we have committed to next month and beyond are of the positive variety.
School. Church events. Fellowship. Visitors. Bible studies. Gatherings. Meetings. Appointments.
And so it goes. Such is life.
And this is good. And it is healthy. And it is an honor. And it is growth inspiring.
But while so many of the things on my calendar have the potential of ringing in a lot of light.....they can sometimes feel really heavy.
Like right this moment - I feel like I'm shouldering each square on the August almanac.
It makes me want to build a fortress around our lives and reel in the drawbridge.
But at the same time, I wrestle with that image. I know my propensity to hermit-in at times - could really run with that image and it could be the fall of me.
Let me rephrase that, it would be the fall of me. We are made for community.
It's just the truth that being engaged, being a participant, becoming involved - is right.
Backseat parents.....
sideline Christians....
shore sitting people...
they miss out.
And the world misses out - just as they do.
But too full of an agenda.....can leave one empty.
Too awful much of a grand thing - can truly be a negative.
It's like air.
I think you'd agree that oxygen....it's pretty awesome. We need it to be. But if we humans only went around inhaling all the time - we'd bust.
The exhale is a must.
Filling our lungs up with oxygen is kind of like....a have to.
It's the same with involvement and engagement - our souls need it to thrive.
But just like the lungs need to deflate and expel carbon dioxide out of the body....
Our schedules and agendas need some emptiness.
We can't go around filling up all the time without some releasing and letting go.
Last night - we had nothing.
So the oldest started piecing together PVC pipes - to make little water systems in our backyard.
And this morning - we had nothing in particular scheduled....so I was able to make pancakes.
I was able to mix and stir and splat and scoop and fill happy bellies...because we simply had some margin in our day.
Pipes and pancakes would not have happened otherwise.
I'm grateful for all the opportunities. And for most of them - I'm thrilled to dive in. As I mentioned - it's an absolute honor to be engrossed. But September, onward - I plan for simple to reign.
Because saying no to good things - so that we can say yes to great things, to spontaneous things - it's what I want. It's what I need.
As all of us here gear up for another school year, another fall season, new commitments and continued old ones....
Let's be faithful, yes.
Let's commit to the things we feel are necessary and needed, of course.
Let's heed the call on those things we hear the Lord pointing us to, most importantly.
But let's allow simplicity to have it's place.
Our homes and hearts will be fuller....
with the few and far between.
