Thanks, but No Thanks...

Second post - so far, so good!

For those of you who are in college, who have been in college, or know what it is like to have absolutely no time... this post is for you!

Now, I could sit here and talk about all that I am involved in - or I can just assume that you either know me and know how busy I am, or that you can relate.  I think we have all been in the position of feeling like you are scheduled every single second of every single day. This is how my life usually is, and it is definitely how I am currently feeling.  With that out of the way... let's ask a question... What should we do about it?

Woah.  Have you ever thought about that?  I hadn't.

I was just down in Milwaukee for an interview for my first post-grad job and I was reviewing interview questions with my friend in the car ride down.  She asked me, "What is your biggest opportunity?"  In other words... what are my weaknesses?  I quickly rattled off, "Well, I'm a perfectionist..." - typical college-grad answer.  We then got to talking about what our weaknesses REALLY are... we both agreed - over-committing ourselves.  Two months ago, I would have just accepted this and moved on.  Not this time.

In my current Bible study, we discuss the ways Satan wiggles his way into our lives and makes us believe things are normal... white lies, feeling depressed, etc.  So - how about over-committing myself?!  Every time I say "yes" to something I am filling up my schedule.  Sometimes I wake up, get ready, go to class, work, attend meetings, go for coffee with friends, come home, do homework, and go to bed completely exhausted without even cracking open my Bible.  The devil REJOICES in this!  That is not okay with me.

So, what should we do about this?  We can't just stop doing things!  Wrong.

I am challenging myself to pray about accepting things or saying "yes" from here on out.  I give my big life decisions to God, why not give Him my small decisions?  I challenge you to do the same thing.  Let's look at a little example:

You get an e-mail early Monday morning asking if you would like to come to dinner on Wednesday with a group of people from class.  (This would be the point where I would hit "Reply" and answer "Sure!  I would LOVE to do that!")  Instead of hitting "Reply" right away, you close your eyes and ask God where He wants you on Wednesday night.  It could go something like this "God, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to spend time with John, Sue, and Bill on Wednesday night.  Lord, if this is in your will - please allow me the openness in my schedule, if you require me to be elsewhere, please make this clear to me."  Pretty simple, right?  Then, listen.  God wants to be a part of your life and every decision you make.  If He wants you to spend more time with Him on Wednesday, He'll let you know.  :)

The reason I am so interested in this is because last Wednesday, I had already made a plan to go to a club meeting.  My friend called and asked me to go to a last-minute Bible study.  I ended up going to the Bible study and got my world rocked.  However, I felt bad about missing the meeting that I had previously committed to.  Another example - I had committed to going to Chicago with a club, but hadn't really prayed about it.  I just got a really bad feeling about going and ended up cancelling.  I was then given the opportunity to attend a conference the weekend I would have been in Chicago.  I am so excited to go to the conference, but I still felt bad about cancelling on my previous engagement.

So, instead of feeling bad about cancelling things or missing meetings - I want to be able to say "Thanks, but no thanks."

That's my challenge for you.  I will update you on my progress and I would love to hear about yours!

Love in Christ Jesus!
xx