Enough.

Hello, my name is Kori Yates and I struggle with time management.

Now you know.

It is probably no secret to you if you know me or have read more than two entries of my blog. Time management has forever been a struggle for me, but not in the way you think. It is a challenge, but not a physical one – except for the fact that I have to sleep periodically. The challenge comes in my heart.

I get to the end of a day and wonder, “Is it enough?”

Have you asked yourself the same thing? Did I do enough? Enough for my husband, enough for my children, enough for my extended family, enough for my friends, enough in ministry?

I wrestle with this very thing. I make a list and attempt to accomplish the things on the list. Some days it works and some days, not so much. But regardless, there is always still more to do. We hear those words often, “Will He, your Heavenly Father, say ‘well done.’?” Well done means I actually have to do something. “Something” translates in my world to “everything.”

No doubt you all have those days as well. I gave it my best shot and still finish the day wondering if I gave enough. This rang quite clear in my world just recently. As the kids and I finished a day, they had tears. We had spent the day doing things I felt were important, all of it we did together. But at the end of the day, they felt they had gotten jipped because we didn’t do all of the things they had wanted.

Parenting without my hubby present for a time, I was simply doing the best I could. I was tired and had thought our day was successful. Apparently, other’s opinions were different.

We have all been there. With bosses and co-workers, parents, spouses, children, random people at the grocery store (okay, maybe that is just me), we have all had a time when we gave all we had and still more was expected, finishing our day wondering if it was enough.

As I prayed through it last night, I came to realize again that the voice wondering if I gave enough was really asking me if I was enough. Am I enough? Not a good question to ask yourself late in the evening when you are exhausted.

Why? Because the truth of the matter is I will never be enough. I will never measure up to my own expectations, nor will I measure up to everyone else’s. I will even make God sad by my behavior at some time. I will never be enough, ever.

This realization hit me like a ton of bricks again last night. I gave so much, and yet it was still not enough. Then the voice of truth whispered in my ear, “You don’t have to be, because I am enough.” Oh, my Jesus. He had rescued me again.

He is enough – enough for my husband, my children, my co-workers, my ministry partners, my neighbors, my friends. HE is enough. I don’t have to be. How thankful I am.

My life is about Him, not about me. I don’t have to be everything for everyone or do everything. I follow Him, answer His call, give my best to what He has called me to, and leave the rest to Him. He is enough. He is God.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:24-27)

I am so very thankful for His reminder to me. He is enough. Do you struggle with being enough? How do you change your focus from doing to more of being with Him?

This past week I got to share on the Bible Study at Planting Roots where we are talking about being instead of doing. Feel free to drop in!