I don’t know if you’re like me, but I often find myself running around frazzled, defeated, overwhelmed, and most days just plain tired. Part of it is the stage of life I’m in, but part of it is this driving force to work harder, do better, accomplish more. Somehow, I’ve convinced myself that if I just try harder, I can have it all—a clean and organized home, perfect homeschool days, fitting in my writing every day, having people into my home, ministering to others…on and on the list goes. The simple fact is I can’t do everything, not all at the same time. Sometimes, I just need grace. I’m reading Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley right now and loving it. I love all her books! They are so filled with practical wisdom and advice for a mom trying to do it all.

Feeding My Soul

A few days ago, I read something in her book that really made me stop and think about what I’m feeding my soul. Our soul is what makes up our character, thoughts, feelings…who we really are inside.

If our well is fed by a stream of comparison, anxiety, and stress, guess what we will have to give to our families? Sharp words, headaches, and impatience will brim to the top. Nothing good can come out of that poisoned well. But what would we have if we let our wells be filled with things like rest, laughter, confidence, good tea, hugs, and adventure? I want to overflow with that sweet water.

from Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley

What Comes Out of the Heart

Jesus taught this same message to his disciples when he talked about fruit. He taught that a good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. Then he talked about our hearts—how what we say comes out of our heart.

 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

Luke 6:45 NLT

Pulling from a Poisoned Well

If we constantly fill our soul with social media, carefully curated images of other people’s homes, comparison, anxiety, stress, feelings of not enough, overwhelm, shame, and guilt, what’s going to come out?

First, there’s the emotional toll—anger, bitterness, gossip, the need to put others down. Then comes the physical toll—headaches, body pain, sleepless nights, heart racing, and more. Just like Emily said, it’s like pulling from a poisoned well.

Why would we do that to ourselves? Why would we fill our minds with things that don’t bring us peace, hope, and joy? I think it has to do with the fact that it’s easy; it’s mindless. In a world that’s filled with stress and decisions and work to be done, it’s easier to just sit and mindlessly scroll.

Filling Up With Joy

Instead, we need to find opportunities for joy. Do more things that make us smile, that fill us up. Spend more time doing the things we love with the people we love most. I’m not good at this, at all; but it’s something I want to do better with.

This last week, we got a chance to do this. We got to spend a few days at the beach with my parents. We spent time together eating good food, laughing, playing games, and just spending time together. We also fit in a few sunrises because that brings me incredible joy.

What can you do right now in your present circumstances to add more of what you love, what brings you joy, what fills you up? How can you spend more time doing things with the people you love and putting into them instead of into things that don’t matter. I’m challenging myself to find ways to spend more time doing things with my kids, creating opportunities for love and laughter, and finding ways to just add more joy to my life.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, My Reminder from a Heart in the Sand.