I’m grateful for this life I get to create. I still feel like sometimes I have the hustle mindset, that I have to work to be worth something. That my day has to be so full of things. But if my day is full of love, connection, and presence, isn’t that worth more?
The to-do list is long. Being a family of growing boys keeps the calendar full – check-ups, orthodontist appointments, sports practices, cross country meets, counseling, meet-ups with friends. There’s always food to think about as they consume more than ever to keep up with the previous list.
From the moment I wake up, I feel this tug to make the most of the day, to write out an ambitious to-do list that will leave me feeling accomplished by the end of the day. As a homeschooling mom, I spend a large portion of my day at home, and it’s like my brain refuses to recognize that this alone is hard and holy work. Instead, I need to prove myself by checking off all the to-dos I can fit into a day.
This hustle mindset that has taken over the business world has taken over my heart too, and if I’m not careful, it will choke out all the good things in my life, leaving me an empty, tired shell of myself.
I’m learning more and more each day that my worth isn’t tied to what I accomplish. Life is not about how much I do. This is my heart looking for a cheap and easy way to say to the world: “Look at me and how much I’ve done! Validate me!”
That validation never comes. Any praise from those closest to me quickly fades in a flash and I’m hustling after it again.
The truth is, friends, our worth doesn’t come from what we do, but is already built in us. We’re looking to the wrong places to remind us who and whose we are.
When the world says do more, God says rest.
When the world says prove yourself, God says you are worth everything to me just as you are.
When the world says you aren’t enough, God says I am enough, and I am in you and with you.
When the world says you aren’t contributing, God says I’ve created you for just where you are.