Burden

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Ever hear that phrase? Ever use it yourself when talking about your to-do list?

The word burden elicits images in my head of a pack animal laden with bags and blankets, struggling to walk underneath its load. Its head is down, tail drooping, defeated eyes.

It’s not a pretty sight is it? Yet how often do we load up our own to-do lists on our backs and plod through life in the same way? There are so many good things in our world that we can fill our days — and our kids’ days — with. Sports, dance or music lessons, church activities, special school events… on top of school itself and homework and time with family.

There is nothing inherently bad about any of these things. Sports allow a child to grow physically, music lessons allow them to grow mentally, church activities allow them to grow spiritually, school events allow them to grow relationally… and our children need all of those things.

(So do we. We should never stop learning and growing.)

But how do we know when to stop? When to actually say “no” before life becomes a burden? Being snappy with my kids because we’re late *again* to the next thing, or pulling exhausted kids out of bed every morning, is no way to live.

Might I recommend something? Before you agree to take on something new, give yourself three days to think about it.

• The first day, evaluate the pros and cons of the event or activity. Write it down on paper if you’d like.
• The second day, go throughout your day imagining you’ve said “yes” to it. How does it make you feel? Are you excited about the prospect? Would the timing of the activity fit well within that day’s other events?
• The third day, go throughout your day imagining you’ve said “no” to it. Again, how do you feel? Are you sad? Relieved? Does your schedule thank you for the white space? Or do you really, deep down, feel like you’re missing out and will regret it?

One more important thing to keep in mind… in most cases (not all) a “no” answer now does not mean “never”. And a “yes” answer now does not mean “forever and always”. I’m currently in a season of saying “no” to women’s Bible studies at church. Do I want to participate? Absolutely. Does my family need me away another night each week? No. Will I never ever again be part of a Bible study? I hope not!

I believe we should try to live our lives like those pack animals who carry a light load from place to place, head held high, with the freedom to take off something at one stop and take on something else. We need to be able to evaluate what things are good for us and our family at any one point in time.

Trying to do it all — the “badge of honor” in our current culture — WILL break the camel’s back.

Five Minute Friday is a weekly opportunity to simply write about one word for only five minutes, and link-up what you’ve written, to connect with other writers. (oops… guess I had more than 5-minutes worth of words on this one 🙂 )

 

*Photo by Noah Holm on Unsplash*