Mommy Monday ~ You can’t do everything, but you can do one thing.

Anyone else guilty of trying to be super-mom? That is so me. I have a perfectly capable husband and 2 children, yet for some reason I am making the meals, cleaning up after the meals, emptying the trash, doing the laundry, running 2 businesses, and cleaning the house.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that my perfectly capable husband and 2 children are not willing and trying to do these things I just mentioned! So many times, I don’t even give them the chance. It’s hard. I don’t know why I do it, but it’s like I don’t even think to say a simple sentence like this: “Adam, can you throw a load of laundry in the washer while I go and peel potatoes?” or maybe, “AJ, the trash is getting full. Can you go and empty it?”

Nope. I am the genius running around like a crazy chicken with her head cut off while my loving family gets to each job just a second too late. I don’t really know why I do it. I am not bitterly thinking that someone else should be doing it. It’s like I go on auto-mode and just do it. Without paying attention. Without planning. Without thinking. And it’s just plain stupid. Of course, after a little while of doing this, I get utterly exhausted and run down and end up not being able to do anything at all! Then I start to fee like a total failure in every area of my life. And so I do what every other self-respectable mom would do…play candy crush. But don’t you think for one second that I am going to instagram that! Oh no. I gotta make sure that I instagram the fresh out of the oven, homemade apple pie, or the one square space of the house that is neat and clean and decorated like a magazine. Because, after all, I wouldn’t want people to think that I was anything but all of that.

And it all started because I was trying to do everything. And it is in those stupid times that I have to remind myself:

You can’t do everything, but you can do one thing.

So. For those of you mommas out there who are trying to everything and failing? (I know you are out there!) Remember the most obvious things. Make sure you are doing the one thing. The one thing that is the most important. That one thing may not be catching up on your editing. That one thing may not be washing the floor. That one thing may not even be making a 3 course meal, or doing the laundry!!

It’s all about doing things on purpose. Being attentive to what the most important thing in your life is right now. Today might mean that you have cereal for dinner and watch your kids favorite tv show with them. It might look like you pile the kids in the car and go to mcdonalds. (gasp) It might look like you get alone with God and you decide once and for all that you are going to make a commitment to start a Bible study, or go to church this sunday, or write a letter to someone you know you needs it. It’s just doing something on purpose. Just one thing.

For me tomorrow? It means giving my kids a break since we had their grandparents in town for the week and are about a week behind on school. That’s all. Giving them a break. Showing them that I value family time more than I value structured education.

Whatever your day has been today, stop thinking that you can do everything. You can’t. You weren’t designed to.

Stop trying to do something you weren’t designed to do.

Just pick something. One thing. Anything. And do it well. Do it without feeling guilty for the other things that are lacking. Do it with a good attitude. Do it with love. Just do one thing and do it well.

You got this!