I have no excuses now, for not being productive!

The above is my new home office area, which I've been putting together for several days--hence, the drop in blog entries this week. I have 5 separate areas of my life to keep running, each with its own set of reference books, papers, files, etc. and my little computer desk was being overrun with it.

My eighth-grade son's homeschool book reports were often buried under counseling folders, my college son's class schedules, or old edits from my literary agent. I knew it was getting bad when I found myself using a diagnostic manual for sexual addictions as a paperweight for my son's spelling test! Now, I have space galore and am tickled pink!

Would you look at all those file drawers? The top one locks--for confidential client files. And as the treasurer for our homeschool coop, I now have a special drawer for those records, too. The rest of our co-op committee will be thrilled that I no longer lose the money! (And if you happen to be one of those committee members--I'm just kidding about losing the money. Sort of.)

So, how fragmented is your life? Isn't it strange how we keep taking on more and more without stopping to evaluate whether we can realistically do it all well? I've learned over the years that nothing is more stifling than being overloaded with responsibility that others have foisted upon us. It is weighty and uncomfortable and all we want is release.

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Imagine that every day you were required to get up early and hoe a huge garden for which you could see no end. Very quickly, the work would become drudgery and your heart would fill with resentment against that stupid garden.

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But what if it was God's garden?

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The secret to carrying a thousand baskets is to never pick up one that isn't the Lord's basket. He promises that his "yoke is easy and His burden is light." We get tired when we're carrying our own baskets, hoeing our own gardens, doing someone else's work.

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I gladly juggle my baskets because each one of them has been handed to me by God himself. They are direct assignments and there is more than enough time to get it all done when I let him prioritize them.

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If you're feeling overwhelmed with life's demands, give yourself a checkup. Are you hoeing someone else's garden?

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