Happy Friday! and other thoughts

If you hadn't guessed it yet, I love celebrating Fridays! Not only is it the last day of the week before the weekend (which means two heavenly days without my current full-time job), but I always seem to be energized more on Fridays than any other day of the week and I always seem to get more done. It's just always pretty much a happy day for me, no matter what happens. Makes me think I need to pray for that same kind of energy every other day of the week - just think of all I could get done then!

Today, I am contemplating many ideas for blog posts. I just can't seem to find the time to do all that I want and need to do, including blogging. A friend was talking on his blog about being attentive to the ordinary, which has resurrected some thoughts in my own mind and I'm hoping to expand on more eventually. Another friend has been processing through some of her thoughts in relation to church, callings, and ideas that have been brought up recently in our community. I have to say, she's quite a thinker! I guess I am still processing all my thoughts and am hesitant to write them down. After Sunday night, I honestly feel a little overwhelmed and like my brain is close to being fried on the subject since I've participated in nearly four conversations about it.

I also have thoughts of my own that have been brewing in my heart and mind of late when I have been thinking about my upcoming entrance into full-blown motherhood as well as the situation I currently find myself in as a stepmom, stepgrandmom, and wife (not to mention all the other roles I'm currently in). I'll just be honest and say that even though it's been more wonderful than terrible, the introduction of two children into our home - ages 19 and 2 - has still been extremely hard and a lot for me to take in. Sometimes, I feel that the task God has placed before me is more than I can possibly handle, even knowing that I have God's help! And to be pregnant on top of still being in the process of adjusting to life with two more family members only adds to the stress. When I think of the four of us all sharing time and attention with each other, particularly the attention of my husband (which has been all mine for nearly three years as a married couple), and then think of adding another one to the mix in six months, there are times I just think - what could I have possibly been thinking?! I'll share more on this later, but this can give you an idea of what's been on my mind.

In the spirit of what I posted yesterday and how I'm feeling today - overwhelmed, like I just don't have time to do everything I feel I should and need to be doing, and that sometimes I honestly just don't know about this whole four-way stepmom, stepgrandmom, wife, and mother-to-be thing - I was reminded of this quote from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring -

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.

Sometimes, the task God has given me seems overwhelming and impossible and I'm not always sure I really want it. I think it's meant to be that way - as were the tasks the characters in this incredible story faced. But, like Gandalf, I believe there is a Force - namely God - and a reason behind all the tasks we face. We are meant to be here for whatever purpose God has designed and in light of that, the only remaining choice we have is to decide what we will do with the time that is given to us. Sometimes it's a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other-thing, but it's those very steps by which God leads us and builds our faith, whether the steps seem to us ordinary or extraordinary. When I think that Frodo could not have completed his task had he not taken the steps to get to Mordor or given up in the process, that is an encouraging thought to me. One step, one day at a time, Janiners.

Maybe now I'm just rambling, but that's not anything new. I hope everyone reading this has a very Happy Friday - celebrate it in whatever way you wish because if nothing else, it's another day closer to our real Home!

UPDATE: In relation to this post, I just read this incredible blog about "plodding." Go here and read it. You will be encouraged and challenged! Thanks, Lindy!