The BEST Good Things

If you look around my house, you’d think we’re moving. I’ve been shuffling, sorting, packing, and unpacking like a madman this year, desperate to rid our lives of some of the clutter that has been seeping in for our 12 years in this house. But not just item clutter – I’ve been re-configuring chore charts, mandating family chats about gift expectations, shifting homeschool piles, and donating like my life depends on it. I feel like it does! I’ve been saying “no” to events and invites like a stuntman, clinging to the few slow times we get each week.

Aside from the logistics, it’s the invisible drive to make everything good, at the same time! Trying to cook healthy, help kids fight their rooms back to manageable, drop off a meal, fill out that paperwork, find the cheapest source of everything, manage in-law visits, research health, move bedtime, fight the island clutter, and hunting pants for the tall daughter.

I’m sure you feel it, too, as moms. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled by many

things” (Luke 10:41). Anxiety comes in so many shades, and I have been busying myself with mine, rushing it to the bottom of the tub, so slow to swirl around the drain and just disappear! Meanwhile the baby (which I didn’t throw out!) is waiting day after day for me to just SIT with him and read those storybooks that I keep renewing. I’m actually anxiously ridding my household of the things that I picture making us anxious! Isn’t that ironic?

But Lord, how do I make this place more peaceful unless I cut out so many of the lesser “bests?” Christ’s love for the busy homemaker Martha gives me a bucket of pause. He says in earth-shattering words in Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Where do we see this anywhere but Christ? The world is desperate to fight for their place, to prove themselves through skills, accomplishments, and knowledge, and on the flipside, any picture of worldly peace usually is centered around self-gratification and escape. I feel the gravity! Christ still calls us to take up a yoke, but His is so unlike the ones we’ve crafted. I picture his involving slower mornings, full of relationship and prayer, and full trust in God with the logistics of life. I have so much to learn!

May you choose to read storybooks with your littles tomorrow morning before even changing. Be a stuntman and throw out some school plans for the day, dare yourself to hold still an extra 5 minutes when the house is shouting “shoulds” at you. Soak in the idea that He really is enough, that He really does take our burdens and rewire brains to be peaceful, because He IS peace.

By: Carrie Wahab