But it really got me thinking the other day. We think so much about food. Pretty much my day is planned around my meals and what I am going to feed my family. Anyone else live for Taco Tuesday?!?
I actually follow an eating plan that has helped me so much. Not only with weight loss, but overall better health and relief from inflammation due to rheumatoid arthritis. Much of the emphasis is cutting out the things that are not whole and natural (you know like "you shouldn't eat it if you can't even pronounce it"). But there is also an emphasis on the time frame of eating. It takes about 2 1/2-3 hours for your body to digest and metabolize what you have eaten. They suggest waiting that long between meals or snacks IF you are going to change fuel type. If your meal is heavier on carbs, wait the 3 hours before you eat a meal or snack that is high in fat. And they suggest breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and maybe even another snack! Small meals, with a rest period in between.
When looking at our "plate" of life, do you have just one? Few of us ever do! Goodness! I spin a few: wife, mom, homemaker, pastor's wife, bible study leader, homeschool teacher, worship leader! Not to mention sometimes nurse, college application filler-outer, blogger, question-answerer, discipler, taxi, bill payer..." You get the idea! And I am sure you are in the same boat! And I rarely rest between going from one plate to the next. It actually is like spinning so many plates at once! But we would never sit at a table with 5, 6, or 10 plates at a time eating off of them all in succession. Right? I know I need to stop and re-evaluate often. I need to do that now.
We all need to ask ourselves: Is our activity plate healthy? Are we putting things on, or spinning plates that God never intended us to? Do we have our hands in too many plates at once? Do we load down the plates He has specifically given us with things that are not supposed to be on them?
Like....additives that have names we can't even pronounce?
When we do that, inevitably some plate is going to come crashing down! Which one will it be? Our relationship with God? Our marriage? Will our relationship with our kids grow cold? We have to ask first: What HAS God called us to?
Well, as women, He actually has called us to some very specific things! You know I'm heading to Titus 2, right? Don't blah, blah, blah me here. Let's take a fresh look at it regarding what really should be on our plates. And don't get defensive...snacks are perfectly acceptable!
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to too much wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled." Titus 2:3-5
Of course, all of the scripture is a tool for men and women to learn how to love, obey and glorify God, but sometimes a specific word is given specifically to women, men, children, etc. Titus 2 is a great place to start in figuring out what some of the basic things are that should be on our plate in order to have a well-rounded appetite for the things of God in His design for womanhood.
This is a blog, not a bible study(and of course we could go much, much deeper)....but I pray as we list a few of the things here, it will cause us to take a second look at our plates. That we will put as much, actually more, emphasis on our spiritual plates as we do our meal plates. That we will begin to prioritize by seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Older women are to teach younger women, and so all Christian women are called to these plates:
- Reverent in behavior (not foolish, not a gossip or a slanderer, but filled with the Spirit rather than too much wine).
- Know what is good so they can teach it! Devotion life, prayer life, bible study are key to be a qualified teacher of what is good!
- Training other women! Discipleship! Investing in the lives of other women in church, in your or their home, serving other women. Exhibiting genuine Christ-likeness so you can say, "Follow me as I follow Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1)
- Love your husband. Fulfill the role of wife that is designed by God. (What a great study that would be...hint, hint). On down in the verse it also says, "kind and submissive to their own husbands." Oh what wisdom and joy there is in doing just those two things!
- Love your children. Care for them, nurture them, teach them as you sit in the house and as you walk by the way. That is true love.
- Be self-controlled and pure. Walking in the Spirit day by day, resisting the temptations of the flesh
- Work at home. Hold on now...don't get crazy on me! No one says you can't have a job outside the home and I know some of you are single and are the only provider. I get that. The mandate here is to make your home a haven, a peaceful refuge for your husband and children.
- That the Word of God would not be reviled. That's the big plate, the main course and the dessert all rolled up in to one. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. All of our plates should be pointing to that one purpose: to glorify God! How we will then enjoy Him! That was Jesus' main goal as well: "My meat is to do the will of the one who sent me." John 4:34 And the Psalmist echos our heart cry, "How sweet are your words to my taste, yes sweeter than the honey to my mouth." Psalm 119:103. Not only that, but Job who had much trial reminds us of this truth: "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Job 23:12
Are you feeling over-burdened, burned out, stretched too thin? Sweet sister, take a look at the plates you are spinning! And be reminded that what HE calls you to, HE equips you for! The plates He designed for you are healing, nourishing, and energizing!
Are some of the plates you are spinning keeping you from what He has called you to?
May be time to put a few plates back on the shelf for now.
Once we are grounded in His calling for us, we can add some things on: some will be out of necessity, and some, after much prayer, an added blessing! A snack! Let's just be careful not to replace the necessary nutritional things, for the over-processed and false fillers.
