Embracing the Season

I wrote this for a friend, but wanted to share it. It might encourage someone else!

This morning as Eowyn was climbing on me and interrupting my prayer time, I had to be reminded again that is what prayer time looks like for me.
Prayer time doesn’t look like a monk hidden away in a monastery. Bible reading doesn’t look like a scholar huddled in the corner of a University library. 
Quiet time isn’t so quiet with cartoons playing in the background. It isn’t uninterrupted when kids are climbing on my lap and others are asking questions every 30 seconds. 

Sometimes we are distracted and discouraged by what it doesn’t look like, so we discredit what it is.

Balancing Jesus, children, work, home, and marriage doesn’t look easy because it isn’t! You don't have to make it look easy.

Stop looking at what it is not (not clean, not easy, not pretty), and what you’re not (not the best at everything). Stop and look at where and how you’re killing it! Celebrate what it does look like. 
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It looks like a messy kitchen because you’re a successful business owner.  Celebrate the success!
It looks like hard boundaries because you’re strong in putting God first. Celebrate the wisdom and understanding!
It looks like brain over-load because you’re so busy growing and learning new skills and understanding. What is hard and new now will one day be easy and second-nature. Celebrate what you know now that you didn’t know or do a year ago!
It looks bumpy, messy, unsure— because it is! 
It is growth, not the end result.
It looks like kids watching cartoons because you’re tired…as you are expected and allowed to be!
It isn’t always about doing something better, but being present for the process. 
If God has placed you in a messy, busy, overwhelming situation, then you’re right where God wants you. 
But what needs to come out of your heart to allow room for the mess, the new, and the hard? 
Fear, false burdens, false expectations, other’s projections, disappointments. Sit with Jesus to see what you’re carrying that he wants to take away. 
Celebrate what it is, don’t dwell on what it isn’t. It’s about who you are becoming, not what you are doing. He can speak to you in the busy, chaotic, messy circumstances if you quiet the other voices. 

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