When is the last time you totally flipped out because you hit a wall of complete exhaustion? You know that breaking point when life has given you more than you can bear.
Embarrassingly enough, it was just this week for me. What led me to a not so minor meltdown was living my life waaaaay out of balance. Lately, I found myself doing too many “good things”. You see, for some reason we think its ok to stretch ourselves thin when it comes to family, home, friends, volunteering, ministry….
Wrong!
When our life is out of balance, we are playing on the enemy’s field and before we know it we are entangled in weeds of lies and caught wrestling with tremendous frustration and exhaustion.
This week when I found myself in a dark moment of despair, sobbing, and overwhelmed with life, I had a BREAKTHROUGH!
As I was crying out to God, he gently whispered one word to me. “Excellence” I know that sounds strange at first, but through that one word, I found a new perspective which led me to a great sense of peace.
I recognized that a core value of mine is to live a life of Excellence, however I’ve fallen really short of this because of doing way too much lately. As hard as it can be to say no to people or even dreams you may have, it is well worth it because it is impossible to be all things all the time. Sometimes we have to let go of a few things because it is not the right season in our life. For me, it’s writing a book.
I came to the understanding that it is time for me to go back to the basics. That means spending more time with God to find clarity and balance in my day-to-day life. For you, I’m sure it looks a little different. I want to encourage you to answer this question today and leave a comment below.
What does living a life of excellence look like to you?
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Thank you for writing this. Last week I lost it bad. I yelled at our poor dog (we have three he’s the newest addition a 110 lb puppy – he’s 16 months old) and he ran away from me. I looked around me of everything that needed done and wasn’t. I have given of myself in all areas and felt like a dried up sponge. After yelling at the poor dog again, I had to go run errands. I sat in my car and just lost it sobbing and I felt like this is so dumb I don’t even have a reason for this bread down but I did. I know my schedule time with Jesus was out of whack due to doing ‘good’ for everyone and trying to get everything dow, let alone having a pitty party for myself due to a lot of social reason I realize now it’s because my Jesus time was out of alignment!
Back to basics – Tea and Jesus time ~ thank you
Nancy, having tea or coffee with Jesus is my most favorite thing to do! Thank you for sharing your moment of weakness you had last week with us! It’s comforting knowing I’m not alone in my meltdowns 🙂
Linda this is such a great post! I have found myself on the enemy’s field the last couple of weeks myself. Thank God for your breakthrough, I also turned straight to the Word. It’s so hard for me to say “no” sometimes too!
Love you,
Melissa S OBS Group Leader
Hey, Linda! A few months ago, I sat down and carefully wrote down a list of my priorities in order. I also wrote down exactly what I meant for each one. For example, one priority was to be there emotionally for my family. Under it I wrote “spending time with them, being proactive by arranging my schedule to be home when they are home, being available to talk to them when they leave and when they return.” I ended up with 8 priorities. This really opened my eyes to what is important to me. I find that when I do things that are good but not priority, and especially when the good things interfere with what is priority, then I get frustrated. It has helped me tremendously to make decisions about how I spend my time. Recently, it was assumed that I was going to help give a bridal shower. I really didn’t have the time or the desire to give the shower. I quickly got back with the person who assumed and simply told her that I had not planned to help. I didn’t offer excuses…I just stated the truth. The person was fine with it, and I was so happy that I was not overloaded by adding a bridal shower to my agenda!
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you for commenting. I love how you shared that you sat down and made a list of your priorities and how ultimately that impacted your decision to set boundaries with others in your life. My favorite word lately is to be INTENTIONAL, and that’s exactly what you did and the reward paid off! Awesome work!
what does living a life of excellence look for me?
Living a life of excellence would be for me to always always put my trust in God and nothing else. I do well for weeks, months then I fall into this fear and worry of stuff…..Stuff that isnt even important!!!!!!! or I try to be at everyones beck and call and savior when I am not God!!!!!! l I can do is pray for them and I do but I feel like I must do more when prayer is the best thing I can do for anyone and so I ask God to please put the good words in my mouth and in my heart so that I can spread his word.
Love this!! In addition to SSL, I am doing Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits by Joyce Meyer with a group of ladies I met through OBS. As I tried to get ahead on my reading and blog post for our Make 1 Break 1, our next chapter/habit is The Habit of Excellence (not perfect but striving for excellence). I am so guilty of saying Yes to too many things and finding myself hitting that brick wall. I am also a procrastinator due to be a perfectionist. Luckily God is showing me that I don’t have to be perfect because He already is. I just have to be obedient and strive to be more like Him daily (Excellence). Thanks Linda for another awesome blog post!!