Going Without Knowing

I’m wondering what it means when a middle aged woman without children keeps singing the following to herself:

The  wheels on the bus go round and round.
Round and Round.
Round and Round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round.

That’s it. Just wheels on the bus and round and round over and over.

I think it means I am way too busy and that I have definitely not had enough sleep!

Some seasons of life are just like this. We all have them. Life goes 100 miles and hour and it feels like our wheels are spinning and never coming to rest.

I am committed to handling this wheel spinning season differently than I have in the past.  I am trying to take the advice I would give you if you came to me saying your wheels were spinning. What would I tell you? I’d say:

• Protect your quiet time with God. Make it the most important meeting you have during your day. Put it on your calendar if you need to. I used to put Quiet Time on my calendar regularly. Then I got tired of writing it out so I put QT down instead. I do not recommend this approach. I recommend listing it as TIme with God or Time with my Father. It is far easier to skip QT than it is to skip Time with God. Time with God helps give us his eternal perspective and helps us keep our priorities aligned with his. It also helps us feel his presence and love, remember his promises, be grateful for his provision, and seek his protection. We can so easily lose track of all these awesome truths and lose sight of who he is when we are in the wheel spinning seasons of our life. It also goes without saying that this is the only way to maintain relationship with our Father through Jesus and nothing – nothing – is more important than this relationship.
• Take care of yourself. This is the very first thing that goes out the window when I get overwhelmed with a crazy schedule and a massive to do list. And by out the window, I mean the fast food window! I do not eat nutritious meals and snacks. I do not exercise. I do not get enough sleep.  I stop all these healthy behaviors just when I need them the most to help sustain my energy, focus, and positive attitude. Try to do healthy things for yourself as often as possible.
• Take time to be with friends and family. Wheel spinning seasons are filled with tasks and projects and we often lose sight of the people we love who also love us. Take time to relax. Have some fun. Clear your mind and fill your heart. Talk to your friends and family about what you are going through. If you are incredibly busy, they may be feeling left out or neglected without knowing that it is simply a spinning season and that you love them as much as ever. Ask for their understanding. If you need to talk with someone about what’s going on in your life, do! It will help you and will strengthen your relationship with them when you honor them with authentic sharing of your life, both the struggles and the joys.
• Ask for help. It’s okay. Seriously.  I used to think it was a sign of weakness to ask for help so I wouldn’t do it. Now I think it is a sign of strength. It takes strength to say I cannot do this alone. We forget we were never meant to handle life alone. We are blessed to be called to be part of the body of Christ . So often we think this means giving and helping others and it certainly does mean this, but it also means receiving. It also means that God has put people in place around us to help us when we need help.When asking for help, don’t forget to pray and ask your Father for help and strength. Ultimately, he is the source of all good things whether he strengthens us from inside or uses others to strengthen and encourage us from outside.
• Set expectations, both yours and those around you. I’m trying to learn to be more realistic in my expectations and also to set boundaries. I’m not good at this. I put way more on my to do list for a day than Superman, Batman, and Spiderman could ever accomplish in a day. When we set our expectations unrealistically high, we are setting ourselves up for feeling inadequate, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Somewhere between unchallenging low expectations and unrealistically high expectation there’s a level of realism that is exciting enough to challenge us without unnecessarily demoralizing us. I have yet to find this. I’m working on it.It is also good to help set the expectations of others. While I find that this helps keep the expectations of those around me in line with reality, the biggest benefit  comes from the way setting their expectations changes my own. Knowing other’s expectations align with ours can give  freedom and peace.
• Make time to do something creative on a regular basis. Write. Paint. Take pictures. Sew. Cook. Do something creative that uses your brain in a different way. It frees your brain up and also gives an opportunity for you to express what’s on your heart and mind. Creative endeavors allow for very personal expression which is sometime missing when our wheels spin.
• Laugh, cry and pray. Try to laugh every day. Cry if you need to. Pray without ceasing.

This brings us back to the beginning. Depending on God, the source of all our strength and joy.

None of this advice is new. We probably all know these things already. It’s so easy to function on autopilot and not stop to remember what we already know. I know I needed these reminders tonight.

There is one more piece of advice I would give you: regularly ask yourself good questions. I will put those reminders off until another day. I’m actually going to follow the advice I would give you. I’m going to rest now so I can face another day of the wheels of life spinning round and round. As I rest, I will pray for all of you who stop by here in the midst of your busy day.

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What helps you when you are in a wheel spinning season of life?