Setting Priorities
Welcome to 2012! It's a new day, a new week and a New Year. It's the day, week and year that the Lord has made, so let's rejoice and be glad in it!
Do you ever feel like the first week back to your routine after the holidays is a bit "vanilla?" After the excitement of the season, spending time with friends and family, shopping, going to Christmas events, and giving and receiving gifts, "normal" can seem, well…normal.
If you're like me, you have your daily to-do list: Run the kids to soccer, stop by the grocery store, finish a project at work. You rush here and there, taking care of all the things that matter most: the family, job, friends, church. It's so easy to slip right back into the daily grind. Before you know it, you're checking off your list…but Oh yeah, did you forget to put yourself on the list? Do you ever find that you're so busy investing in everyone else that you're constantly running on empty?
I heard someone say that you have to "show up" for yourself before you can "show up" for others. If you are constantly giving and never replenishing, you will be left feeling drained and frustrated. We are God's creation, and we have a responsibility to keep ourselves at our best. God never planned for us to live stressed out and overbooked. He created the world and all that is in it, and then He took a day off. You also need to take time to rest and enjoy the fruit of your labor! You have to make rest a priority in your life. When you are rested, you are able to manage your days better and handle the challenges that arise better, too.
This year, be determined to invest in yourself spiritually, physically and emotionally, and make it a priority! Take care of yourself because when you rise higher, you cause others to rise higher. When you are filled, you have something to give to others. When you live at your best, you are setting an example and letting your light shine brightly to the world around you. Be your best, live your best, and expect 2012 to be your best year yet, to the glory of God!
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"(Matthew 22:37-39, NIV).
Do you ever feel like the first week back to your routine after the holidays is a bit "vanilla?" After the excitement of the season, spending time with friends and family, shopping, going to Christmas events, and giving and receiving gifts, "normal" can seem, well…normal.
If you're like me, you have your daily to-do list: Run the kids to soccer, stop by the grocery store, finish a project at work. You rush here and there, taking care of all the things that matter most: the family, job, friends, church. It's so easy to slip right back into the daily grind. Before you know it, you're checking off your list…but Oh yeah, did you forget to put yourself on the list? Do you ever find that you're so busy investing in everyone else that you're constantly running on empty?
I heard someone say that you have to "show up" for yourself before you can "show up" for others. If you are constantly giving and never replenishing, you will be left feeling drained and frustrated. We are God's creation, and we have a responsibility to keep ourselves at our best. God never planned for us to live stressed out and overbooked. He created the world and all that is in it, and then He took a day off. You also need to take time to rest and enjoy the fruit of your labor! You have to make rest a priority in your life. When you are rested, you are able to manage your days better and handle the challenges that arise better, too.
This year, be determined to invest in yourself spiritually, physically and emotionally, and make it a priority! Take care of yourself because when you rise higher, you cause others to rise higher. When you are filled, you have something to give to others. When you live at your best, you are setting an example and letting your light shine brightly to the world around you. Be your best, live your best, and expect 2012 to be your best year yet, to the glory of God!
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"(Matthew 22:37-39, NIV).