Prompted To Write: The Best Advice Ever

This is an entry for Meredith's bi-monthly writing challenge, Prompted To Write.  Follow the link if you'd like to join in.

My advice...to myself....to Christians....to all people.

Do less.

Slow down.

Be.

Commit to a very small number of things.  A VERY small number.  Then pour yourself out for those things.  Even if you consider yourself to have a large life plate, it is far better to do a few things and do them well rather than commit to lots of things and give a half-baked effort at each.  The worst thing I've found about spreading myself too thin is that I start to hate and resent the things I'd said 'yes' to.  I breathe a sigh of relief when a group or event I'd committed to is cancelled.  I start to wish I'd get sick just to get some respite from my 'overcommittedness'.

I like Meredith's post about keeping a lazy diary because we WILL get sick at some stage in the year.  That's not being morbid, that's just being realistic.

As for those things that you should say 'yes' to...well, you'll know what are the right things.  If you're a Christian, ask God for wisdom, stand back and look at the big picture and then evaluate your life and what's important.

I'm not advocating laziness, far from it, but we tend to live as if we're indispensable to God, that He can't run His world without us helping Him.  Bollocks!

I was a chronic 'yes' person.  I'd like to think of myself as a recovering 'yes' person.  The only person I need to please is my Heavenly Father and He is already pleased because He looks at me and sees Jesus' perfect righteousness.

This year I'm a 'no' person.  Not to everything, but circumstances have forced my hand.  I truly believe God's love for me is not based on how much I serve at church or how many old ladies I help across the street.  I like doing those things, but sometimes I just can't.  Getting out of bed is a big enough achievement.  I recently said 'no' to a night Bible study.  Out here night Bible studies mean dragging Rory out and driving half an hour or more on a gravel road in the dark with kangaroos lurking when I already feel like my eyelids are weighed down with coins I'm so tired.  I meet with two other women from the farm for Bible study and prayer on Friday mornings instead.  We all have young children so we need flexibility and mornings work best.

When did you last stop to smell the roses?  I should take my advice and go out into my garden to smell my own.

Some lighthearted advice:

Those of you who watched Thank God You're Here may remember Frank Woodley's performance as the Shaolin Temple Master of the Way.  It's classic.  His advice?

A man should never hold his nose when he sneezes or if you do this, my children, your eyes pop out of your head.  And it's hard to get them back in because you can't see.

Don't try to eat a stone...it'll hurt.

Don't ever try to throw a feather at someone in anger for they will just look at you and go, "Well, what are you doing?"