Image courtesy of pawilon75/freeimages.com

“Mom, I need a ride to school.”  I drive my son to and from school every day while he’s on a variance to another school district.

“Do you have time to talk?” My friend’s having a crisis.

“I need some Carolyn time.” Another friend says.

“What’s for dinner?” I hear after spending the day in appointments.

“There’s a baby shower, and a family birthday party.”

“Can you pray today?” I hear when I walk into church.

“Can we meet about the ministry you guys lead?”

“It’s been months since we’ve seen you; don’t you care about us anymore?’ I hear from a relative.

All of this and more. My family. My house. Looking for another house in the district my son wants to go to school in. My daughter having a baby and walking away from the Lord.

At times I’ve just wanted to shut the door and hide from it all.  I’ve been putting my writing off, I’ve been putting time for myself aside, and all of sudden, resentment boils up within me.

I start to write. And I hear God say, how can you give to others when you haven’t taken any time for yourself?

I remember when my son was a baby, explaining to my husband that I couldn’t keep giving as a mom unless I took some time for myself, and that time could consist of as little as having a quiet cup of coffee in the morning. In the midst of life, and all the needs of the people around me, I forgot that. And God was quietly reminding me. Do something for yourself.

I’ve thought of some ways to put this into practice:

• Schedule time for myself ~ I’ve heard so many times that If we don’t schedule something, it won’t happen. And it’s true. If we do not schedule time for ourselves, that time is so easily eaten up by other things.

• Take a bath~ I remember someone saying that to get away from everything; they took a lot of baths.

• Do something to relax~ What relaxes you? If you haven’t found something yet, try some new things until you know what it is. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but do something to be good to you.

What do you need? That’s a question I heard from the Lord at the beginning of this year. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in life that we forget we have needs too. It’s ok to take time out for ourselves. It’s ok to relax. I’m going to schedule some time out for myself today. What are some things you do for you?