“Listen up!”—that’s Mississippi-speak for “Give me your attention, please!” At least, that’s what my mother always said when we were being too loud to hear what she wanted to say next. Usually, it meant that whatever she planned to say was something that she considered important…and that meant that we should also consider it important…if we knew what was good for us! (grin)
I was lying in bed the other night trying to go to sleep and I was actually pretty frustrated–perhaps that was why I wasn’t sleeping! (Ha!) In my mind I reviewed several recent conversations with people who are facing extremely different circumstances. Despite the differences, they did seem to have a common denominator: they were putting too large a burden on themselves.
Now, I was raised to have an excellent work ethic, so I’m never going to be one who’ll tell you it is ok to be a slacker. I WILL tell you that even when you work hard there will be times when you still can’t control the outcome. It is unfortunate…especially, since I’m a bit of a control-freak, but there it is…and trust me, if there were a way to control everything in my life so it would go exactly as I planned every time without fail…well, I would have already found it. (Though in the spirit of absolute truthfulness, I’m not entirely certain I would share that illusive understanding with very many people…or even here with just you few dear friends…or even just my cats. Ok, well, it appears I still have some personal things to work on over here.)
So, in the absence of amazing wisdom telling you how to make everything in life work like YOU want it, I’m here to tell you the following things (and even though I’m not your mother, I do have MY mother’s tone down pat on this one!), so listen up:
- You are responsible for how well you do your job.
- You are not responsible for how well someone else does their job…OR how well they think they could have done yours.
- If you haven’t done your best, then you are not finished. Finish it.
- Your best today may not be your best tomorrow. You’re not IN tomorrow, however, so don’t get too caught up in that.
- IF you have done the best that you can do today, then nothing YOU can do will make it better. Let it go. In fact, wrap it up in prayer and take it straight to God…and then leave it with Him. Walk away. Let it go.
These things aren’t life-shattering, but they could be life-changing for someone else out there. If this is for you, you’ll know it. If not, then Happy Friday to you. Either way, the weekend is coming and there are other things that need your attention OTHER than the ruination of a perfectly great summer weekend by a repeating mental flagellation over things you can’t change now that they’ve already occurred. Let it go.
Everyone has a job to do, but it is not your job to do everything all by yourself. (and yes, I just stomped on my own toes with that one!–in fact, I may have just heard my husband shout an “Amen!” from several miles away on that one!) Even Scripture is clear about it. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul shares it this way:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
It couldn’t be much plainer. Do your part, let others do theirs and leave the result up to God. It all belongs to Him anyway…Who better to be in charge of the results?
Grace & Peace!
(and happy weekend, everybody! It feels really good to be back! Oh!…and I’ll try to work on that selfish/sharing thing…Later. Yeah, well, I’ve got the honest thing down pretty well, anyway.)
quiet ambitions: 