Hard Choices and Big Lessons

In December I sent out several gifts to you that had impacted my life in 2016. One of those gifts was a video on “The One Thing.”

I shared with you that I was now living by the motto, “If you chase two rabbits, you won’t catch either.” Well, at least I thought I was living by that motto — until I wasn’t.

As you know from my last blog post about the Kitchen Table, our daughter was getting married, As it turned out, this mother of the bride was chasing way too many rabbits. I was building the mentorship program, blogging, mentoring, planning her wedding, and managing the bride’s emotions. Needless to say my plate was super full.

The Hard Choice

The truth is, I was trying to do it all out of fear that I would disappoint people. Yet, in the end I was finding myself exhausted, irritable, and still disappointing people. (Perhaps you can relate?)

So I made the choice to be temporarily absent in order to be intentionally present. I paused everything outside of the wedding so I could invest 100% of my time into my daughter.

The memories I made with Kaitlyn are irreplaceable. The wedding was pretty darn close to perfect, and I learned something huge about myself.

The Lesson Learned

Choosing one thing to focus on increased my productivity to a level I hadn’t seen in a long time. See, I had been spread so thin for so many years, that I didn’t even realize I was operating at such substandard levels until I stripped away everything and focused on one thing.

Weeks before the wedding I was putting out crazy fires, the bride was unraveling, and we were reaching wedding DEFCON 3. Yet, I had the margin in my life to handle all of these moments with grace. (Ok, I might have freaked out once or twice, but you get my point.)

The gifts from choosing that one thing were many, but the best part was being more present than I’ve ever been before. The week before the wedding we totally chilled. I got to share in every crazy moment with her like making a sign for Eric’s welcome home and doing her hair and makeup for her bachelorette party.

Yes, stepping away wasn’t easy but the payoff was huge! Before I paused work, I was telling myself all sorts of reasons why I couldn’t stop. Friend, they were all fear-based beliefs NOT faith-based ones. I was totally limiting the power of God and His heart for me and this community.

It’s Time To Have Fun

I’m excited to say, I am back behind the computer, and ready to pour out all that God has poured in. We are moving ahead with plans to launch a beta mentorship program in just a few weeks, and the Bible study Discover and video teaching series is coming out this fall.

And since you’ve all become like family to me, I thought I would share my daughter’s wedding highlight video with you, and a very special photo. So grab a tissue, and click here to see it.

Let’s ReConnect

I look forward to catching up with you on the blog and Mentor Mondays. If you haven’t joined our online Facebook Community, click here to listen to the message I just recorded about forgiveness.

Lastly, I want leave you with some encouragement. If you’re chasing more than one rabbit — STOP. Ask yourself if you are making your decisions based on faith or fear. God honored my commitment to focus on one thing, and I know He will honor that decision for you, too. Trust Him friend to work out the details. We need margin in our lives to be the very best He has called us to be.

Thanks for sharing the journey with me friend,