We Shall Overcome

I feel like I've been distracted lately. Or--actually I think I'm becoming aware of how distracted I've always been. Sometimes I feel like just doing *life* is more than I can handle. Paying the bills, taking care of the kids, buying the groceries, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, getting a little sleep--most days just keeping up with these basic things is so overwhelming. So I crave the occasional distraction to keep me from going crazy. A favorite tv show, a favorite ice cream, a game, an outing, a shopping trip...lots of shopping trips, actually.. I feel like I'm always kind of consoling myself with comforts.

I want to be an overcomer. I don't want to spend my time distracting myself from my troubles, or wallowing in them--life is just so much bigger than that, I think. I am not staying focused on my goals and who God created me to be.

Don Miller has been talking about the importance of your story lately and he says that "A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." After reading a couple of his blogs it just really hit me that I haven't overcome *any* conflict. Not any. I think that I have been too naive maybe, or maybe I had an idea about God--that if He wanted me to do something that everything would magically fall into place and it would be easy. But that's not how it has turned out. Everything has been hard. But you know what--I guess God didn't say it would be easy. And maybe that's even part of the beauty of life--a person who has overcome challenges to reach their goals is a better person because of what they have been through. Maybe God gives us these opportunities to be overcomers.

I have been reading The Chronicles of Narnia to the girls and it has been so amazing to share that with them. Besides the Bible, I think The Chronicles of Narnia taught me more about God than any other book, honestly. Right now we are on The Silver Chair. At the beginning of this one Aslan (who parallels Jesus) gives Jill some signs that she needs to follow in order to rescue Prince Rillian. What he says to her really kind of struck a chord with me:

"Remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. And now, daughter of Eve, farewell--"

I don't know--I kind of feel like the air here is thick and my mind is confused and I am forgetting my purpose. Everything looks different than I expected and my mind is kind of cluttered with distractions and routines and obstacles I wasn't expecting and it is just hard to stay focused.

So--I don't know what that means for me exactly, but I think I really need to look at my life differently and think about stress and hard times and challenges as obstacles to overcome--and not hide from them or mope about them, etc.