Your Story Needs to be Written

I read a devotional this week about writing your story a little bit every day. We can get so bombarded with to do lists, laundry, cleaning, cooking, that we don’t put down our lists and really take the time for people.  “Marriage isn’t about a well-executed to do list, and Aaron would much rather eat takeout and hunt around for a clean basket of laundry if that means I put down the list and really listen to him.” (Niequist, “Savor”, p. 97) I find myself doing this all the time. I have my agenda and my to do lists and I don’t look at the world around me. How many times has my husband come home and I am knee deep in cooking or chores or an email and I don’t take one minute to give him a huge and say hi. In that moment I missed an opportunity.

I keep thinking I have to have it all together, it all has to look good and clean and perfect.  But life is messy. There are ups and downs, there are messed up meals, and there are dirty rooms. But the best part, life goes on. Shauna says, “I am learning that being connected in a deep way is so much more than being well-organized, efficient, buttoned-up, and tidy. I default to tidy when what my husband wants and needs more than anything is laughing, listening, and playing, being with instead of being efficient” (Niequist, p. 97). Does this resonate with you? Do you want to accomplish things rather than just sitting and being? Don’t get so caught up in achieving that you miss the moments of love, life, and laughter that are just waiting for you.  Chores and errands can wait, but your story can’t.  It will keep on living itself whether you choose to take those precious moments or not. 

Picture from lifehack.org

By you and me living our story and letting our life speak, we are hopefully telling the story of who God is. If you have been transformed by God, if there is change because of what you believe, then your life points to that. By you shrinking back and being stuck in control and to do’s you aren’t living out the beauty of who God is in you.  God likes the messes. He likes real life. He doesn’t need a buttoned up cookie cutter home. He wants you to find joy in what you are doing and look around you to see the blessings of where you are. So as you take some time to engage in the world around you, take some time to enjoy the Heavenly Father who created you. He has purpose in your life and He wants you to know him.  And to know someone, you spend time with them.  So spend time discovering more of who you are in Him, and you will be living more abundantly to what you have been called to.

As Shauna encouraged me this week to write my story, I encourage you. Engage in life. Spend a few moments to take in the world around you. Live your life, don’t let it pass you by. The most important thing we can give our spouses, our families, our kids, and our friends is time. Write your story.