Holding it All Together

There are so many things that we are supposed to be doing on a regular basis to keep it all together.  I should be in school, I should be getting good marks, I should be reading, I should be working out, I should be eating right, I should be keeping my home clean, I should be socializing on a regular basis, I should have a job, I should be saving my money, I need to be making money, I should volunteer, I should be involved in my community, in my school, and in my church, I should be reading my bible, I should be spending time in prayer, I should be spending time with my family, I should be outside more, I should have good posture, I should look put together at all times and on top of ALL this I should be getting 8 hours of sleep a night.

We have 24 hours in a day.
Minus 8 is 16.
Let's say with classes and a part time job that takes at LEAST 8 hours of my day away.  Now I have 8 more hours.
1 hour of exercise a day now I have 7.
Showering, hair, makeup, outfit that takes about 1.5 hours of a day. Now I have 5.5 hours.
To prepare food, and then eat that food is maybe an hour.  Now I have 4.5 hours.
Maybe 2 hours of homework a day that leaves me with 2.5 hours.
If I get 1 hour of social time a day I'm left with an hour and a half now.
Volunteering anywhere, church, community, or school would take up that hour and a half at least.

Now I have zero hours in my day.
If I am doing all of these things that the world tells me I need to be doing to be a "complete" "whole" person I am left with no time to spend with my God.

In this way, I find myself living of the world and not just in it.
Because I am living of the world in this manner, I burn out, so much so that I just completely shut down and end up not getting anything done. This is for one reason, and one reason only, I am not putting Jesus first.  I know, that's pretty cliche right?

I often don't think about it in this way, if I can just be skinnier, if I can just get good grades, if I'm just financially stable, if I can just get a degree, if I just have a lot of friends, if I just have the right outfit, then I will be good, then I will be complete, then my life will be good, maybe then I'll be happy.

WRONG!!!

Jesus, my father, the one who died to save me NEEDS to be at the forefront of everything I do.  I need to wake up in the morning, spend time with my lord and then let everything else fall into place as it is meant to be.  We are not capable of making everything perfect, we are not capable of living perfect lives, we are not capable of having it all together all the time.  Please, give yourself a break, let yourselves breathe, pat yourself on the back because it is so hard to live in this world.  The good news, Jesus doesn't care.  Jesus loves your heart, the rest of the stuff doesn't change anything.

Next time you find yourself becoming overwhelmed with the demands of the world just stop, take a moment, breathe, whisper a prayer to your father, and remember this : you are enough, you have always been enough, you will always be enough.