Assignment

I have been thinking a lot lately about assignment.

How we each have been given an assignment for life, and none of us have the same one.

Sometimes it is easy to look to others and see all they are doing and wonder why you can't seem to manage that?  Or you think about things you wish you could do or you want to do, but you just can't seem to get it all done.

Well one of my current assignments is homeschooling.  And four children.  And a tight budget.  And sometimes, that means there are things I just cannot do.  And I have got to start embracing it.

The other day, I was overwhelmed with the cobwebs in my ceiling corners, the dust underneath the beds, the sticky floors that need scrubbing, and the pile of paperwork in need of organizing.  Clothes that are too small for my kiddos are stacking in huge piles in the garage.  My refrigerator is pretty much as dirty as it could get.  And it's starting to get empty.  There are emails waiting for replies and gifts waiting to be bought.  My baby books need updating and I have crafts waiting that I really want to do with my children.

There is always more to be done than there is time to do it.

And when I see other moms managing things well that I don't, it is a fight against feeling "less than."

But I know in my head that I am not "less than."

I have a different assignment.  My assignment is to have my four children and to keep them home with me and to homeschool.  And this means that I need to choose homeschooling over cleaning.  I need to choose the library over an organized desk.  I need to choose watching television at the end of the night (since I haven't had a break all day) instead of filling in baby books and responding promptly to emails.  I have to make my priorities and let the rest go.

This is so much easier said than done, but sometimes, when I blog my thoughts and put out there to the world what I want to do and be, it reminds me of my truths and my goals.

So this is one of them.  EMBRACE the assignment that I have been given, knowing that it is NOT the same as others around me.  Acknowledge that because of the assignments that I do have, there are sacrifices that need to be made.  And I want to make them.  I really do.  I want to sacrifice a clean house and lots of free time and new clothes and make-up on daily.  I am ready and willing to choose simple meals and hand-me-down clothes and busy days and dirty floors.  For this is my little space in the world.  I [alas] cannot do it all.  And that is okay.

What is your assignment?

What do you need to sacrifice for that?

I encourage you to embrace that today, knowing that you are not "less than," but are living in the peace and joy that comes from following your calling.