After a few big weekends of parties and going out with friends, Jacob and I decided to have a slower Sunday (with a much needed sleep in) and head to church on Sunday night. After spending two nights watching the last few episodes of Season Two of Outlander (OMG how GOOD was the last episode on Season 2?!) We needed a slower morning to recharge.
Our Sunday night service included an interview with an interior designer which inspired me greatly. I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely lady in Sydney at Colour Conference earlier this year.
I don’t know about you, but I get inspired by successful business owners who are mums. Being a mum myself, I understand the time and dedication needed to juggle the role of being a mother and a business owner. Family should come first, but often, a business will demand time and energy that can see a family being placed down the priority list. Yet, this business woman and her partner (her sister) made a pact that they would put their children first, no matter what. I loved that! (If you want to follow this interior designer, check out @porchlightgirl and @porchlight_interiors)
What was really attractive about this mother’s testimony was she was never afraid to pursue her passions, even as a mother. I think as mothers, we can feel guilty about pursing our passions or our careers. And yet, I think showing our children we have an alternate life from looking after them is important. And for stay-at-home mums, it’s not about pursuing work outside the home. It could be a hobby or writing a blog or volunteering at school or even studying. You should have something for you that stirs your heart and renews your energy.
Our pastor then shared a message about busyness and what society sees it as. I had heard the message before, but it was one I needed to hear again because lately I have felt life has been demanding a lot from me lately and this year I have felt really stretched.
But I’d much rather be busy than bored.
Being bored and having nothing to do and no one to care for sounds… well boring.
I’m blessed to have a husband to love, children to love and raise up, parents and grandparents alive to converse with, a house to maintain and clean, a job where no day is ever the same because I write so many varied stories. I’m part of a dynamic church where I volunteer my time to ensure new attenders don’t feel one of the crowd, and I enjoy being part of the committee at Maggie’s Kindy where I’m the Workplace Health and Safety Officer. It’s been hectic this year. Yet what a blessing it has been to have these amazing things in my life to be a part of.
I do think it’s important to have a margin or white space in one’s life. Overdoing it can be very easy and it can lead to a breakdown, which is not healthy. It’s actually biblical to rest. But often we do put a negative spin on being busy. But if we had the opposite – with no one to care for, no work to get on top of, nothing to get involved in and no passions to pursue, life would be a massive white space of BOREDOMVILLE.
Are you ever thankful for the events you or your children get invited to? Sometimes I think they can be a pain in the butt, yet, what a blessing it is to have friends and family that value our presence in their lives.
If you run a business and you feel like you’re constantly chasing your tail, what if you had the opposite where you were chasing business instead?
I can’t actually claim this new way of thinking about busyness as my own as it’s something my pastor shared on Sunday night.
But I thought I’d share it with you because I’ve seen plenty of posts saying busyness is wrong, or we’re all too busy and we need to ‘stop glorifying busyness’. I do think if you are overloading your schedule with events, you may need to say no to some things so you can say yes to others and ensure you have that necessary white space.
But our busyness can actually be an indicator of a blessed life.
A full life is not something to be ashamed of or feel guilty about. It’s something to be thankful for.
