on finding balance {danielle's story}...


my inspiring friend, danielle, is sharing her "finding balance" story today.
danielle blogs at take heart and can be found on instagram at @danielleburkleo.
almost two years ago, when i was ready to "take the plunge" and finally start a blog, 
danielle {who does blog design} was recommended to me by a close friend.  
danielle's kindness and grace with her very tech-illiterate client {me!} were above and beyond 
anything i could have hoped or asked for.
i'm motivated on an almost-daily basis by danielle's "juggling act"...
balancing her growing family, her walk with Jesus, and her in-home business.

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When Erin asked me to consider writing a post about finding balance, I said yes! and had plans of having it written, and sent to her, before I went on vacation in early July. Now, it's the day before my post will go live and I am just sitting down to write it. Oh, the irony.

I'll start with saying that I don't think anyone has it all together. To believe that there are flawless, perfectly balanced lives is just a lie that Satan will feed to us. Especially to us women craving a life  that looks like that. There aren't women I look at, online or in every day life, and ponder over their togetherness. It would be silly to think that just because someone has a beautiful home, or beautiful photos, or the perfect hair, and so on and so forth, that everything else in their life looks that way. We all have struggles, and we all share about those struggles in different ways. Instead of feeling discouraged when you see someone who has something you want - whatever it may be - feel inspired by them. That's one of my charges to you, sweet sisters.

My own, personal, short answer to how do I find balance? is that I don't. 





I am a mess. My plan of getting out of bed and running before all the kids wake up at 6 am rarely works out because a) I'M SO TIRED. b) they are all already awake c) do I really want to run? Pancakes sound so much better. I spend time working when I should be spending time with the Lord. I fall short in the areas of meal planning,  showering more than twice weekly, and having any desire in the world to put all that laundry away. My kids eat cereal for breakfast and dinner, and I'm cursing under my breath that soccer practice is four nights a week.

For me: This is the season of life that I'm in. It's hectic, and the floors are sticky as all get out, but I wouldn't change it for the world. We are in the thick of so many things. A young, growing family, navigating through the adventure of a new house we just finished remodeling, yet it still has so very much work to be done. My business is growing but I'm still unsure if I should actually consider having hired help a day or two a week. I'm swimming through laundry due to the lack of dressers in our home. I'm not preparing the meals I planned on preparing on Sunday, my DIY ombre has been looking orange since June, and I'm never 100% confident in the schooling choices I make for my kids.

I don't care if you're single, married, one kid, thirteen kids, working 9-5, a stay at home mom, New York, California, or Kansas, we are all trying to figure out how to have control of this crazy, messy, beautiful thing called life. But, here's the best part: We don't have to be in control! I am so happy to say that, today, I am not in control, praise the Lord. Christ brings me under his control, and through the blood of his cross I have a peace that passes all understanding. I can give all my plans that fell through and all my hopes of a well balanced life to Him. My identity is in Him and not how much I can get done in one day, how many miles I ran, or how I can perfect being a stay-at-home and work-at-home mom.

I don't have a magical plan on how to make it all work. If someone could give me one, I'll kiss them on the mouth. I do, however, have a short list of what I know I need. I need to put Christ first in my life, my husband second, and my precious kiddos third. If I don't do this, I need to check myself and get to doing it. I need community and I need worship. I need time for just me and my man. I need to pray over my kids and give them back to Jesus every morning. I need to rest and, most importantly, I need to take a girls trip every year, or maybe twice a year. I mean, seriously.

It's a simple list, really, and even though I lose my way more times than I can count, the Lord always floods me with His grace when I need it the most.

{the other posts in this series can be found here.}

3 comments:

  1. This really spoke to my heart today. Thank you Danielle! Priorities and proper focus should be there, but a messy life is just, living life with little ones at home. Thank you for the needed perspective.

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