But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
That's it. I give. I'm saying it. Remember when your mean, older brother got you down on the ground and wouldn't let you up until you said that dreaded five-letter word that meant you were a total sissy and weak? I am shouting it now for all to hear.
I have decided to do what I can now with the stacks and stacks of pictures and forgo scrapbooking the pictures into cute, clever and crafty scrapbooks, using all the cute, clever and crafty scrapbooking supplies I have been addicted to purchasing. And I have a plan.
For the next two weeks (and I actually I did a test-run last week) I will be going to the Dollar store (as if I haven't spent enough money on this project already) and purchasing their cheap $6 200-picture photo albums. I will be putting my ever-growing collection of pictures into these photo albums. I will not label them yet, but I will do my best to put them in some sort of chronological sequence.
My long-term goal is to then take those already-put-together photo albums and look for pictures of events I would like to scrapbook and then work on that particular event. I think I have overburdened myself with the fairytale of scrapbooking every single photo I have ever taken. I don't even want to start a scrapbook because just looking at that mountain of pictures makes my head spin. Because I am so overwhelmed by the vast quantity of pictures to thumb through and organize, I have totally turned from this project. And quite honestly, at this time in my life, I really don't have the hours it will take to scrapbook each and every picture.
And it made me think of our walk with Christ or lack thereof. Sometimes don't we feel so overwhelmed with life or overburdened by tasks that we just turn away or bury our head with our fingers in our ears and try to hide from God? When in fact, this is the very time we should be running to him. You know how it is, if I just skip church, youth, prayer time or my devotional and try to tackle this or that during that "free" time, I'll feel so much better. Ha, don't fool yourself, you won't feel better...because you're pushing God to the side, because you're letting something else get in the way of being closer to Him, because you're allowing a little project (in the big picture) bring you down and cause you to feel less about yourself.
I am pretty confident I have never asked God to help me with the scrapbooking project. I thought that might be silly. But I have developed a new plan, and I believe it will work because I've added something, something that will help me to tackle that humongous tower of pictures that stare at me every day. It will cause that little voice inside my head that tells me I'm a failure because I can't even finish one project to disappear. I am ready. Instead of believing that God doesn't care about my mound of pictures and my unfinished project, I have asked God to help me stay focused, enjoy the process and accomplish this simple task. He will give me the strength and gumption to finish.
I think there comes a time in each person's life when they have to just give up and shout "UNCLE"! Sometimes it is a major deal and sometimes it is as simple as a mound of pictures that is dragging us down. A point is reached where we must simply throw up our hands and surrender to ourselves and to God. Today I am shouting "UNCLE" and diving into my new project.
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