“Resist the temptation to take on more than you can effectively handle. Any over-extension could deplete your resources physically, emotionally, financially or spiritually. Exercise sound judgment when making choices and you would do well to be conservative. The enemy would love to stretch you beyond your abilities.” I read this on a friend’s Facebook status a week or so ago and it struck home so much, I wanted to write about it.
Mostly when we think about resisting temptation, it covers things like, fornication, lying, stealing, cussing folks out, gossiping, adultery, gambling, over eating, giving folks a piece of your mind…you know things like that. But do we often think about the temptation to take on more than we can effectively handle? Probably not so much. As women we can easily find ourselves in the predicament of having too much on our plates, and the culprit for the overload is usually us.
Any over-extension could deplete your resources physically, emotionally, financially or spiritually, and it can make for a poor testimony for God. One important thing a Believer should be is a person of their word. An overextended person can find themselves not keeping up with what they said they would do. They often find themselves not meeting deadlines and are late with things across the board. It is important to do what we say we are going to do and in the time frame we said we would.
Speaking before we think is problem for many of us. I just did it. On Friday I made a commitment to do something before I really thought about it and found myself overextended this weekend. And to tell you the truth I was really upset with myself. At this point I should know better! Well, the truth is, I do know better. But I had a laps in poor judgment. If I had just taken a moment to think I would have remembered before hand that the day I made the commitment was already very full. I felt stuck and a little overwhelmed that day. But I knew how important it was to keep my word, so I made sure to do what I had committed myself to. Wasn’t happy about it though.
Over-extension can be a commitment that affects everyday of your life, or just one day. But either way, it is not good.
I wonder how many women at the Women of Faith Conferences have committed to sponsoring a child after their plea for World Vision, who later found it a strain on their budget? I’m sure there have been some. Because it is easy to get caught up in the emotion of things. What about that last thing you were asked to help out with at church and you said “Yes,” before counting the cost and you now find yourself in a bind trying to keep up?
I think in many cases we find ourselves overextended simply because we want to help. We have a need to nurture and we want to be doing something for God. But the trick is to “Exercise sound judgment when making choices and do well to be conservative.” In other words, take a moment to think about the small things and pray about the big things.
Why does the enemy love to stretch us beyond our abilities? Because he loves to see us fail. It brings him great pleasure when we become known as a person who does not keep her word. He is very satisfied when we are frustrated and cranky because we can’t get it all done. And if you’ve ever experienced working with an already tight budget and do something to make it even leaner, then most of you know—that is a recipe for an unhappy camper.
Sisters, it is wonderful to want to help, and feel needed. But be careful in overextending yourselves. It is better to do one thing and do it well, then to try to do two things and come up short on both of them.
Love & Hugs
Ponnie
See you tomorrow!
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