I don’t normally post on Sundays but something that fits for today has been on my mind. It’s about taking time to recognize things for what they are and make adjustments as necessary.

Last week I received an e-mail about stress management. I joked with the sender that it sounded like a blog article in the making and she responded that she was pretty sure I’d see it that way. (She knows me so well. *wink*) The point of the message was to remember to lay down your burdens to rest. This point was driven home with a story about a lecturer. In his stress management class he asks his audience how heavy they think the glass of water he’s holding up is. As the responses filter in he tells the group it’s not the absolute weight of the object that matters but how long you hold it. He points out that if he’s only holding it for a short time it’s no big deal. However, if he attempts to hold it up for a long time problems are going to arise and eventually he will become to tired/injured to keep it up. He compares it to stress explaining that the same is true. If we try to carry our burdens for long periods of time we’re going to give out. We have to learn how to set the glass down for a rest.

She shared how another speaker she’d listened to recently had expounded on this concept sharing the importance of setting down your burdens or other things weighing heavily on your mind each night with your keys or whatever else you put away for the night on your nightstand; that in the morning they’ll be there waiting for you and you can better handle them if you’ve had a little rest.

It sounds simple enough, yet I find myself prone to carry around a lot of extra worry, burden, stress (you name it) without putting it down for a break sometimes. Daily activities can become a big deal even though I can’t define why it’s a big deal. Some days my kids just really seem to push my buttons and I find myself struggling to maintain a peaceful feeling inside. I find myself getting short with them and if I’m completely honest I know that often it’s not justified, at least not at the level that I reacted with. I think these are those little things that I’m forgetting to set down for a little bit so when the next little thing comes up it knocks me over. Sometimes I think it’s those little and daily things that cause me more grief than the big ticket items because they’re harder to see.

So I was reflecting all last week about this need and process of setting your burdens down each night and giving yourself some rest before you pick them back up. I was pondering on the importance of keeping what really matters at the top of the list. Or as a good friend of my once shared, “The MAIN thing is to keep the MAIN thing the MAIN thing.”

Today I received the sad news that a friend’s little girl passed away yesterday. I was instantly heartsick for the couple who had gone through so much with her from her birth. I remember when she was born about 3-4 years ago how many discussions we shared with her parents about the personal hell of sleep deprivation. Our son had serious issues with this for the first two years of life and they were experiencing it with the many surgeries with their daughter who had some heart problems. There was a connection in talking about something someone else had experienced during a date night reprieve. When we moved from that neighborhood a year ago the little girl was doing well. This news came a total surprise to me today and I know the only thing harder than losing a child is losing a child who you have come to bond with so personally through such major struggles. Instantly I am taken back to what matters.

My husband shared the thought today of how easy it is to forget or dismiss the simple things we pray for. The things you take for granted…good health, safety in traveling to and from work each day, that things will generally go well, etc. These prayers, whether they be vocal or in our hearts continuously, are answered so much of the time that we fail to recognize them as answered prayers. We come to expect that this is just the way it will always be, the way it is meant to be - that we are just entitled to these things. And then something happens that reminds us all that every day is a gift.

Tonight I have a renewed determination to set down my burdens and worries before I go to sleep. I want so much to cherish and treasure that gift each day. I don’t want death to be the reminder it takes to help me keep what matters most at the top of my list. I send my heartfelt prayers and love out to this family who has just lost their little one. I pray that they may have the comfort they need to get through this and to remember their angel the way I know she’d want them to remember her with smiles and joy for the good times they had with her.

Here’s to setting aside the things that don’t matter and replacing them with the things that do. Here’s to making ourselves able to carry the load by remembering to put it down once and while. Here’s to things that matter.

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