Revelation of a Simple Girl

Recently I had this revelation: I am a simple girl trapped in a warp speed society.

I mean there are so many voices that call out on any given day. Some are welcomed and others just barge their way into life. 

There is Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pintrest, e-mail, text, blogs (which I am thankful for), news, magazine, advertisements, and the list goes on...  There is no lack of information and no lack of opinion, and it comes at lighting speed. It also comes with contradictions and competition.  I mean seriously think about: For the fitness minded, do I eat my weight in protein or only consume .8g of protein per kilogram of my body weight?  For the business minded, do I pursue success without end or do I break for the moments that truly matter? For the relationship minded, does love and friendship have boundaries or is it to give without limit? And finally is the one who leads greater than the one who serves?

With so much information at such rapid speed there is a possibility of distraction and derailment from one's individual goals.  There is a chance one could be chasing the noise from all the voices that pour into the day rather than staying on track with the goals and tasks that line up with one's individual and unique life and purpose. 

I woke up one day and realized I was trying to be a high class city girl wanting to ride the subway,  wear designer dresses, attend Hollywood parties, book speaking engagements, write books, and be a master in all things. In reality,  I am a simple girl who loves outdoor adventure, sweat, workout clothes, traveling in my car, small gatherings, not a public speaker, I do love to write; however I will never master all things! So I guess I got lost in the noise and the contradictions and competition of all the different voices that fill my day.  Now let's be clear, I am not against ambition, learning, or growing but I believe that one should stay true to themselves and be honest about strengths, weakness, likes and dislikes. Then live in that sweet spot where passion and strength cross even if it means you forgo the "Hollywood life" for the "Simple life".

Shante

What's the Priority?

When I first had a thought of doing this post on priorities it was much different in my mind than it actually played out to be.
My initial thought was that I would look through my "work in progress" list, see which were functioning on a schedule of "process" (which was discussed in an earlier post), and then I would identify an order of importance of each and at that point my "priority" would be set. I could then write an informative "how to" post on priorities.

Surprise.... that is not how it happened. I read the following and it changed everything:
Psalm 42.11 NLT - Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

While chasing my "work in progress" list,  there was a feeling of discouragement. I looked at my list and was unable to find the thing that topped everything else, the thing of upmost importantance and therefore I had no real priority.  Not to mention that the size of the list and the size of the dreams that fueled the list seemed almost impossible to conquer.  Then I read the verse mentioned above.  I realized that my hope and joy had been shifted to the accomplishments that I could generate from a list and no matter how great those accomplishments are after a while they fade and leave the need for more. Then I realized something even greater,  I had been unable to identify my upmost priority because it wasn't included on my "work in progress" list. 

For me, when I read Psalm 42:11 it spoke to my discouragement and frustration and reminded me that my true hope doesn't come from how many items I accomplish on a checklist. It also reminded me that my real priority was to praise God through my life. I believe that in doing that all the works around me that are in line with my real priority will come to completion. Then I was reminded of this:
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

So maybe my list still needs a little work, but there is no doubt that my top priority has been set.