April 2025

Do you like to “dot your I’s” and “cross your T’s”? Me too. I love a good list. So I can cross things off of it. I like to make sure that I have done everything I am supposed to do. And I like to make sure I have done everything when I am supposed to.

Besides my compulsion to take care of everything, I also have a tendency to want perfection in whatever I do. And because I have such high expectations, I also have the tendency to do things myself rather than asking for help.

As you are reading this, I know many of you are recognizing yourselves in those scenarios I just described. When I visualize this in my head, I see a hand clenched tightly around a chicken’s throat. And the chicken dangling in defeat.

That’s a pretty tight grip wrapped around that throat. And that is often how I feel when I get embroiled in my own tasks and jobs. In my zeal to do everything and do it well, I get wrapped pretty tightly. And I’m not a lot of fun to be around when I get like that. I get snappy, testy, and impatient. And it is all self-inflicted because of an imaginary expectation I have placed on myself. And I am not the only one affected by this type of behavior. My shortness ripples out to those on the receiving end of my tasks. And they are unfortunately the recipient of my attitude issues without even doing a thing.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we set the bar so high on our worldly tasks that do not really matter in the grand scheme of God’s plans? What if we put that kind of zeal into our relationship with Jesus? Into our study of His Word? Into changing the world to be the place God intended?

We’ve been studying grace and this is one of the reasons why grace is so important to us. We prioritize incorrectly and we push for worldly pleasures. And God knows that it will burn us out. So Grace is there for us to rest in when we burn out. Grace is there when we hurt others because of our priorities. Grace is there when we put ourselves above the Kingdom.

I’m getting ready to go on vacation and hopefully loosen my grip on my life a little bit. I will be praying for God to fill me once again with His joy and hope and I will return ready to live in His Grace.

Take Care,

Pastor Lisa

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9