I’m uncertain of what lies ahead, and recent years have been a bit bumpy. Joy seems to flee a bit more readily. The person I am today doesn’t feel like the version found in my recent past. My daughter believes the change began during the building of our new home. My inclination is that it started earlier than that.
The loss of my nephew and sister were devastating blows. During that season, we unmoored from a church we had served for a decade. Additionally, the kids have now both graduated from college and started lives of their own while our parents moved in next door. It feels like we are restarting our lives with new relationships in a new place in a new season.
I do my best to take care of things. This provides some level of satisfaction and is my life’s default; determine what is most important and work on that. Even so, the best things in life aren’t quantifiable and can’t be put on a to-do list. These include love and family, friendship and beauty, and faith. Yet all these are pressured by daily affairs. And since projects never end, there is always more in the queue waiting time and turn.
When life gets complicated, I find it helpful to simplify. It is difficult but liberating to realize that I can’t do it all and that some things will just have to wait. This means that each day I choose how I live and what I do and the rest I put into God’s hands. Some things will get left undone, even good things. Yet simplify and choose I must. And when I do it frees me to do my best and find peace in trusting that it is enough.
Life passes so quickly. As Corey Rich has written,
“In order to maximize what’s important you have to minimize everything that isn’t.”
Comments 14
Someone told my mom years ago after they had gotten old that the things they worried about happening, never happened, but there were other things that they never thought about that did happen and they faced it at that point so it was useless to worry. Glad that God holds our future and we can trust Him. Enjoy the moment!! We love you!!
Author
So good. Thanks Aunt Judy. Please give my love to all the family!
Great read Danny! Thanks for your openness. Love your family!
Author
Thank you Jack.
This is beautiful.
Thank you Danny.
Author
Thank you Brenda.
Great Devotional Danny!
Maybe you should write a short devotional each day? I know you’d have a lot of followers. Me being one.
Author
Thanks for your encouragement William!
Wise words-thank you.
Author
Thanks Karen!
Danny –
This is so well written and such wise words. The older we get, the more we find joy not in “things” but in the people we spend time with. The projects are easier to leave undone now if it means time with a friend or family member. Thanks for your transparency.
Thanks for writing this!
Cindy Birney
Author
Thanks for the kind words Cindy. I’m grateful my words can help in some small way. I appreciate your encouragement.
Love the authenticity and transparency in your sharing your journey… painfully good.
Author
Thank you Sheryl.