Today, I’m back over at Kate Motaung’s blog, Heading Home for 5 Minute Fridays. If you are unfamiliar, 5 Minute Fridays are where women from all over write for 5 minutes on one word. No editing, no second -guessing – just writing for 5 minutes and hitting the publish button. You can come check it out HERE.
Today’s word is SHOULD
There are 5 words we all really need to strike from our thoughts and our vocabulary: if only, what if and should. These 5 words cover our past, our present and our futures.
If only looks back with regret at a past we can’t change.
What if looks ahead with fear to a future we don’t have much control over either.
And should, well, should can dominate our present to the extent that we end up living out everyone else’s agenda – if we let it. The problem with that is when we live by shoulds, we end up missing our musts.
Lately, God has been showing me that I have been so fixated on all the shoulds from what I should be doing to grow my online platforms to all my various commitments, that I haven’t actually been doing what He asked me to do.
While I’ve been running down rabbit trails, feeling frustrated at my lack of progress on what I’ve been called to do, God has been patiently waiting back on the path. He patiently repeats, “it’s this way,” every time I draw close to Him.
I guess I’m kind of a slow learner (or I’m just easily distracted), but this is not the first time God has pointed out that I’ve been way too taken up with everyone else’s shoulds, and missed out on His plan.
So, what should is keeping you from following where God is actually leading? I’d love to hear about it!
Hi Rosanne,
After not writing on my blog in maybe more than a month, I finally decided to come back to it. I needed a break from it, letting fmf become a should rather than a want. I’ve felt that way with sharing my heart too. I’ve been fighting this I have no purpose. I’m not a writer battle for weeks. I’d start to come back to the blog, write something than give up. I still journaled some, but the lie has been so hard to ignore, even with reminding myself of the truth. But when I wrote and published today, I felt some peace. I’m still afraid but I’m trying my best to trust Jesus with it.
Thank you for sharing this. We’re neighbors today ❤️
First, thanks for stopping by, Julia. I think it is really easy to feel like there is nothing new to share or say when we are writers or teachers or creators of some type. Emily P. Freeman just had a blog post on this that really spoke to my heart. You can find it at http://emilypfreeman.com/maybe-youve-done-this-too/. I too have struggled lately with the whole, “What do I have to offer that others haven’t already offered better than I can,” thing too. I’m glad you are back to writing though. The world has room for lots of voices! 🙂
I’m often down a rabbit trail. The thing that keeps me from following God’s lead is not saying no to the trivial. I can get lost in a big pile of trivial. Then the day is gone and my list of important is still there. But when I ask God what is important for me to do, he helps me cut the junk.
Thanks for stopping by, Cheryl. I have learned to tell people I need to think about something before just saying yes, but I still forget to to do that sometimes. In the past, I would give my to do list to God and ask Him to cut and trim what needed to be done. I think I need to start doing that again! 🙂