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Are We Too Busy?

How does life get so busy?  So busy that you feel like you never have time to do anything?  Nothing seems to get done, but you always have something going on?  

Maybe it's because we have so many people in our house.  Maybe it's because I need to work on my time management skills.  Maybe it's because my body just doesn't have the energy it once did.  I don't know.  But what I do know is that my house is a wreck;  I can never find the clothes I want to wear because they are dirty;  I have a to-do list a mile and a half long;  and my calendar is completely full of "stuff".  

That "stuff" is stuff I really want to do.  It is stuff that makes me feel good and complete and like I am making a difference in the world and myself.  Volunteer opportunities are something I never really participated in until the last few years.  I always heard that little negative voice in the back of my head that told me I wasn't good enough to volunteer and that no one really wanted me there anyway.  But God told me different one day and changed my heart and my mind.

When I began my journey a couple of years ago of learning to love myself, it was because I got a lesson from God about the fact that He loves me - no matter what. No matter what mistakes I've made - to myself and others.  And no matter how much I've hurt Him.  It was truly a wake up call. I had lived in a state of utter despair (in my own mind) for almost 10 years when this was revealed to me. I saw my life as an unbearable burden placed upon me as punishment for my past sins.  Then God revealed all the blessings He had placed in my life and taught me how to focus on those blessings instead of the harsh realities of life.  There are still hardships in my life,  but they don't burden me like they once did.  They are just part of life - not the whole picture - anymore.

With my new understanding of God, myself and my life, I began to accept the services in which I was led to participate.  Some services have changed over time, and I am now in some areas of service I never would have thought I would be.  The rewards and blessings I have received in serving are so much greater than I could have ever imagined.  They are greater than the blessings from receiving service from others to me!  In Luke 6:38, Jesus says "Give and it will be given to you.  Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."  This is SO true!  Many of the areas I serve involve children - an area I was sure I was NOT supposed to be.  But God led me there anyway, and I am so thankful.

God wants us serve each other in love, as He loves us - each and every one of us.  Not only to serve, but to serve with a heart of joy.  It feels good to help someone else; to know you are doing God's work and to see the miracles God uses us to accomplish. That is blessing enough, but God goes even further to bless us: Ephesians 6:7-8 says "Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man; knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will received back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free."

If you have not found a place of service in your life, I urge you to try.  You have gifts you may not even know about yet that could alter the world!  Opening your heart and life to service to others enriches your life as much as theirs.  And remember you are never alone; God is with you where ever you go!

Much love~

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