Back to weekly rhythms of the 52 ways series!

I’ve really enjoyed writing these thoughts and encouragements out for you — hopefully they are beneficial, and get you thinking.  Remember it’s all about faithful steps, no need to overhaul your life all at once.

Speaking of which….

Week #37  Stop tweaking your life

I’m absolutely speaking to myself today as well as gently challenging you.

First, a major caveat:  I’m not against self-improvement, I’m definitely in support of maturing and growing deeper over time, and I do not promote lazy thinking, or the general excuse ‘well, that’s just how I am’.

Alright, still with me?

Today, allow me to speak to women out there tempted to tweak their lives on a constant basis.

While there’s healthy room for godly goals, I’m talking about a regular sense of dissatisfaction with how things are.  A need for ongoing evaluation of your life resulting in adjusting, changing, modifying, refining, tweaking life around you much of the time!

Basically, the name of the game is always improve!  improve!  improve!

Got a cleaning rhythm down?  Well, it could be better.  Finally carved time out for devotions or scripture reading?  Yes, but I need to do more.  The kids organized on jobs and responsibilities?  Uh huh, but they stink at most of them.

Whew.  That’s an exhausting approach to living!

We do this for a number of reasons, and I’ll offer what I think to be a serious contributor —

We do NOT Abide in Christ. (John 15)

The root could be a lodging of our identity as a woman, a wife, a mother in what we do instead of who we are.  This upside-down view causes us to strive to do better, instead of abide in Christ to be better through his work in us.

And boy, does it cause problems for us and everyone one around us!  We live dangerously close to the biblical description of a nagging wife.

Action Plan:  But, there is HOPE.  If you see a problem:

• repent, ask for forgiveness, and ask God for wisdom on what to do (James 1:5)
• share the issue with a spouse or friend, asking them to join you in prayer & accountability
• (re)learn what it means to abide (remain, rest) in Christ – start with reading John 15, do a little research or ask another mature believer
• remind yourself often that maturity comes in stages – for ourselves, our children, our spouses.  Growth will come, but we must patiently wait on it while we’re faithful — not strive to make it happen.

More to Read:  I love, love this Super Mom vs Abiding Mom chart.  Print it out, refer to it often (read those scripture references too!).