Battle or War?

What a learning process this has been for me.  It has been really hard lately to stay consistent with my blog.  I guess this is the perfect opportunity to discuss how easy it is to fall off the wagon and how much easier it is to stay off than get back on at times.  Life has been so busy lately and keeping up has been a mere pipe dream.  And I only have one sweet little bug.  I cannot imagine how fully my life is going to speed up when we add more kids to the mix!  Regardless, life will always be busy if there isn't direct intentionality.  Someone once said that everyone has the same 24 hours in the day.  That is unchangeable.  What is important is what you do with them.

It seems so often the line between what we can control and what we can't gets all blurred and we end up blaming the world for the things we can change and taking credit for the things we can't.  One of the most valuable things we can do in life is decipher the difference.  Why is it so valuable?  Because without deciphering the difference, we are bound to live a stress-filled life.  We will constantly have no control of our life or the things in it because we focus on changing the things that we can't, or more honestly, the things that don't matter.  

I recently went to lunch with a mother of three and one on the way.  She calmly sat sipping her tea beside me as her kids terrorized the landscape and made me question my desire to have anymore than the single angel baby that we have right now.  "How do you stay so calm?"  I inquired, utterly and completely inquisitive.  She smiled softly (with tired eyes) and replied, "I pick my battles."

What truth there is in that!  How much havoc and stress could we save ourselves if we could do the same in life.  Imagine looking at the next stressor that came along and instead of letting that terrorize your sanity, calmly recognizing that as a battle not worth investing into?  

I don't know about you, but I am very focused on living a stable and productive life.  A life of consistent success.  Not that I wouldn't fail, but that I would be consistently progressing.  This is only achieved by directed intentions.  And the only way to receive directed intentions is by constantly plugging into truth (in our parenting, self-esteem, marriage, and otherwise).  It is interesting that whenever we invest in truth, the more truth we discover and the more lies we invest in, the more lies we discover.  We can achieve stability, but only with consistent focus.  Focus on the good.  

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2