Running Ragged...

Scripture:
Exodus 18:13-27
Philippians 3:8-11

Have you ever felt yourself being run ragged?   You just have too much to do and not enough time to get it done in.  Between church, work, taking care of the home, running kids everywhere you just don’t know how you can get anything else in.  Someone asks if you could take on one more task and you groan under the weight of it all.  Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, saw Moses being worn down.  He couldn’t keep the pace up indefinitely.  How much are you trying to manage?  I know I have reached a limit to how much I can place on my plate.  I see more things to add but there is no more room.  In order to take on any new tasks an old one must be let go.

How well do we prioritize our lives?  Do we place those things of higher value at the top of the list?  How can we decide what to take off the plate?  Jethro advised Moses to delegate the smaller matters to others.  There are things in our lives that we can let go and allow someone else to handle.  The problem is that we tend to think they will do it wrong because it isn’t how we would do it.  Just because laundry is folded slightly different than how you would fold it doesn’t mean it is folded wrong.  It just means it is folded differently.  Just because someone doesn’t perform a task the same way as you do doesn’t mean they are wrong.  It is just not how you would handle it.

So the next time you feel the pressure building let something go.  If it is a task that needs to be done it is OK to allow another person to do it, even if it is done a different way.  Allow God’s peace to wash over you.  Take rest and refuge in Jesus.  Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.