You ever feel like you’re coming apart at the seams? Coming unglued? Unhinged? Like everything was fine for a moment and then suddenly it all started caving in on you? I have regular moments like that. I don’t like them.
They happen so innocently. You’re in the middle of taking care of your business. Everything seems fine and normal. Sometimes life might even seem to be going well. Maybe you’re accomplishing some things, checking items off your to-do list and feeling pretty good. Then something goes sideways. Then it seems like falling dominoes doesn’t it?
A kid spills watermelon juice on the floor you literally just steamed clean an hour before. You get a couple messages that are going to make some tasks more complicated than you hoped they would be. They’re going to create extra work and gum up additional days. Another kid has a meltdown over homework. You don’t have time for this, you have places to be at specific times. Balls are dropping. One kid won’t stop asking questions and the other is near tears and yelling. You start getting stressed and extra frustrated.
Probably all of us have been in this place multiple times if we’re honest. What do we do in this moment when we feel overwhelmed and pressured? This is moment that makes me think of those old “Calgon take me away” commercials. I want to snap my fingers and disappear or at least snap my fingers and make all the things disappear.
Friends I want to encourage each of us, myself included, to take a deep breath and find the reset button. Of course, we don’t get a mulligan but we can just stop for a minute. Go ahead let the balls drop for a second, regroup and pick them back up. We don’t get style points for how thin we can spread ourselves or how many balls we can juggle at once. It’s far more effective to just stop, breathe, and pick them back up.
I find this to be a wonderful time to simply say, “help me Jesus.” Like the song says, there is power in the name of Jesus. The Bible tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. That includes those split-second moments where we feel like everything is coming apart at the seams. At the crossroads where an otherwise good day could start to go south, He can help us pump the breaks and regain perspective.
Pick those balls back up one at a time and try again. Maybe even leave a couple for another day or get rid of some of them altogether. When you take that pause, you can prioritize how to pick them back up. It’s going to be okay. You can do it, and so can I.
