Knowing When to Turn Loose

Psalm 32:6  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ESV

When my son was about 5 years old, he was a walking, talking, living, breathing cowboy phase of his life.  Boots, hat, and a rope were part of his existence.  One morning, we were out in the field feeding the cows.  He was doing what little boys do, being more in the way than helping, but he was giving it his very best shot.  For some reason, he decided he was going to rope a calf.  He had tried this many time, but on this morning, his loop connected and went right around the neck of a young calf.  I don’t know who was more startled, my son or the calf.  My son started yelling, “I got him! I got him!” which in turn startled the calf more.  The calf took off down the pen with my son hanging on for dear life.  That calf drug my boy all over that pen.  Soon his elation turned to cries for help.  All I could do was laugh hysterically and yell, “Turn the rope loose, Jake.”  Thankfully, it ended well and we have a story to tell of a little guy who caught more than he could handle.

When I find myself overwhelmed in my life, I think about this story.  Most of the time, I can relate to the little boy because I have taken on more than I can handle and feel myself being drug around my current world yelling for help or being totally grumpy to people around me.  So often, we get ourselves into situations like this because we feel that we should say “yes” to projects that we have no desire to be involved with in the first place.  As women, we are helpers, nurturers, and caregivers.  We are people pleasers.  Deep down, we want to feel appreciated, so we say yes when a friend or family comes to us for help.

You know what?  There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying “no”.  Nothing.  The world will not stop if you decline to take on something else in your life, especially when you know that a project would take time away from your family, or more importantly, it would take the few precious moments that you have for yourself.  Your guilt meter in your brain may be saying, “yes, yes, yes”, but you know in your heart that you simply cannot take on one more thing. Pray before you make a decision. Jesus loves you.  He wants you to be the best you that you can be.  Don’t be the kid on the end of the rope crying out for help.  Turn to God.  He will guide you in the way that you should go.  He will give you courage to say, “Thank you for thinking of me, but I cannot help at this time.”