I Forgot What It Was Like...
I forgot what it was like to be busy...
Being on maternity leave for the past 10 months, I have not been busy. If anything...there have been weeks where the time has gone by so slow, I started to wish I was busy! There were weeks where it seemed everyone was busy but me...and so I started to feel feelings like jealousy and loneliness. I started to feel sad that no one was contacting me and that no one 'cared'.
This past week, I have been helping out with Vacation Bible School at my church. While I wouldn't say I've been busy necessarily, my time has definitely gotten taken up this week. And so I started to remember. I started to remember what it was like to work all day, and still have to make dinner, and then lesson plan at night. I started to remember what it was like to have to leave the house in the early mornings and not to have the choice of taking a nap later in the day. I started to remember what it was like to be rushing around from one thing to the next. I started to remember the difficulties of being busy.
I'm not saying that maternity leave has been a breeze. Just because I have not been so called 'busy', it has challenged me, and stretched me, and helped me grow in so many ways. Slow days are not easy, but neither are busy days.
Often when we are in a specific situation we forget what it was or would be like to be in a different circumstance. It is easier to say 'woe is me' instead of taking the time to think about being 'in that person's shoes. I have been guilty of this.
When thinking about how a friend or someone close to you is not doing as you wish they would, instead of first considering this to be a stab at you, consider that other person's circumstances. Try to remember what it might be like, or if you have never been there, try to imagine. Instead of choosing to be hurt, choose to be loving. Because very often, it IS a choice to put our needs above others. To put our own desires and feelings above others, when instead we could be choosing to lift that person up, which in turn, most often, will end up lifting yourself up as well.
**To be loved, we must love.
Being on maternity leave for the past 10 months, I have not been busy. If anything...there have been weeks where the time has gone by so slow, I started to wish I was busy! There were weeks where it seemed everyone was busy but me...and so I started to feel feelings like jealousy and loneliness. I started to feel sad that no one was contacting me and that no one 'cared'.
This past week, I have been helping out with Vacation Bible School at my church. While I wouldn't say I've been busy necessarily, my time has definitely gotten taken up this week. And so I started to remember. I started to remember what it was like to work all day, and still have to make dinner, and then lesson plan at night. I started to remember what it was like to have to leave the house in the early mornings and not to have the choice of taking a nap later in the day. I started to remember what it was like to be rushing around from one thing to the next. I started to remember the difficulties of being busy.
I'm not saying that maternity leave has been a breeze. Just because I have not been so called 'busy', it has challenged me, and stretched me, and helped me grow in so many ways. Slow days are not easy, but neither are busy days.
Often when we are in a specific situation we forget what it was or would be like to be in a different circumstance. It is easier to say 'woe is me' instead of taking the time to think about being 'in that person's shoes. I have been guilty of this.
When thinking about how a friend or someone close to you is not doing as you wish they would, instead of first considering this to be a stab at you, consider that other person's circumstances. Try to remember what it might be like, or if you have never been there, try to imagine. Instead of choosing to be hurt, choose to be loving. Because very often, it IS a choice to put our needs above others. To put our own desires and feelings above others, when instead we could be choosing to lift that person up, which in turn, most often, will end up lifting yourself up as well.
**To be loved, we must love.
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