Quote of the Week: “Life is not an emergency”

“I’m just so exhausted,” I confessed to my older sister.

We sat in the Culver’s parking lot, eating frozen custard despite the thirty-degree weather. Winter coats on. The car’s heater blew in our faces.

Exhausted. Exhausted from working overtime with kids, who hit, kick, and scratch me. Exhausted from the painful cold that never seems to end. Exhausted from failing to be happy all the time. I have a million gifts to be grateful for, but I’m tired.

As I sat venting to my sister about all that was “wrong” in my world, I remembered a quote from the devotional I had been reading.

“Life is not an emergency.”

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional

It never was. It’s God’s gift. To wake up every morning and breathe is a blessing. To have a job that challenges me is a present. To be able to feel the freezing air against my skin and cry sometimes and laugh other times. It’s all a gift. So, rather than living life like it’s an emergency, I should live in the moment, trusting God with each breath.

Slow down. There’s time to be still. Be grateful. Be at peace. God holds the whole world, so we don’t have to rush.

I probably need this message myself more than anyone, but I hope it can bless you in some way. Have a beautiful week filled with contentment, rest, and laughter.