My last two blogs focused on accepting and embracing the
chaos of live. It is now time to
move on adapting to chaos and taking the ideas from previous readings and applying
them to daily living.
In light of previous information,
the next step is honestly asking yourself which of these strategies work for
you? Free yourself from
comparison! Perhaps only one thing
has resonated with you. Take that
one thing and customize. Your
personality will dictate exactly what it will look like in your own life.
For example, there are certain
“chores” I prefer not doing, such as cleaning toilets. I don’t really mind mopping floors or
laundry, but toilet cleaning is on the bottom of my list. Because I know that I generally will avoid
unpleasant tasks, I put this one first.
Many of us have heard this before, but hearing it and doing it are
totally different! I find my
bathrooms are much cleaner by making this simple adjustment. This practical task is accomplished
more often now that it is on the top of my list.
Another way I insert my own
personality into these ideas is by wearing something I love to do tasks I am
avoiding. There are days I don’t
mind grocery shopping and others where I cannot bring myself to get out the
door. On days like this, I wear a
favorite pair of earrings or jeans.
I do this because it makes me feel better about myself if I am wearing
something special. This is the
reason why men do not understand the fitness clothing industry! Women are not content to work out in
nasty basketball shorts and sweat stained t-shirts with holes. Why? Because if we feel good about what we are wearing and how we
look, we are more likely to work out harder and longer. So, if I wear something I love to the
grocery store, the job doesn’t seem as bad as it did before!
These are just a few examples of
how my own personality dictates how I use the practical ideas I have given to
you. Only you can decide which
ones will work and how they will work.
As we accept that there will be
chaos in life, we must remember that God is still moving in and through
us. He is more concerned about His
creation (you) than your circumstances (chaos). Embrace the fact that you cannot do it all and that you need
others in your life to help you.
Set healthy boundaries and stick to them. Benjamin Franklin said, “Resolve to perform what you ought,
perform without fail what you resolve.”
Finally, adapt your system and let your personality shine through
it. Give yourself grace and mercy
because failure will come.
I leave you to ponder this topic
with the words of a holy God:
Who shut up the sea behind
doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and
wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and
bars in place, when I said, “This far you may come and not farther; here is
where your proud waves halt?” Job 38:8-11 (NIV)
Here is where the waves halt, and here is where the chaos is
taken captive.
