Five Minute Friday: Limit

This week the topic for the Five Minute Friday link-up post is Limit. What is a link-up? Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. You can head over to Kate Motaung’s page to check out other entries from inspired bloggers. Here’s my five minutes of uninterrupted, unedited writing on this week’s topic:

Before you begin to judge me for posting a Five Minute Friday post on Saturday morning please hear me out: I have limits.

For so long, I tried to convince myself of alternative truths, but the reality is that I cannot do everything.

There are days when I will mess up as a mother. I get angry too quickly or maybe allow my toddler to have too much “screen time.”

I may take an unpleasant attitude toward my husband.

My kitchen floor may not be clean. Laundry baskets may be overtaking entire rooms. Dishes may be piled up on the counter.

I could potentially go a couple of weeks without working on my novel. Or fall days behind on my blog.

I may slack off from spending time with my friends.

I will definitely drop the ball when it comes to grading an assignment for my students on their expected timelines.

God forbid, I may even miss a day or two in my journey through God’s Word.

All of these things have happened to me recently, but I’ve been learning my lesson about how to let these things affect me. I’m only human and weaknesses are part of the package deal along with skin and bones. Like many others, somewhere through life’s journey I fell prey to the idea that some women can do it all. For the longest time I measured myself against those who I thought had things all together. Their ducks always seemed to be in a row while I was chasing my ducks around the lake without knowing how to swim.

But here, friends, is where I learned that we all have limits. Limits are also part of being alive. No one is super(wo)man. She doesn’t exist for a reason. If we were capable of doing everything we wouldn’t need God and we definitely wouldn’t need other people.

In Exodus 3, God chose Moses to fulfill a great calling. Many years before, Moses had murdered an Egyptian in his anger and fled to Midian to escape the consequences of his actions. As Moses was hiding from his failures God called out to Him and revealed to Moses his purpose:

“I have come down to rescue them (Israel) from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, and land flowing with milk and honey…“(Exodus 3:8)

The first words out of Moses’ mouth in response to God’s calling are coated in doubt. He responds by calling out his weaknesses, and how does God reply? His reply is a simple, yet profoundly perfect promise for each of us no matter where we are in life.

God said, “I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:12)

Although Moses’ questions should have stopped there he continued to question his calling and his God. He began to interrogate God further with the question, “Who are you?”

And again, a short, but perfect answer from God, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

In that statement God was stating to Moses that He would be sufficient for all that Moses would need. This statement was God’s assurance that He would be exactly what Moses needed him to be. And that is a truth that doesn’t end with this story.

Like Moses, we all lack in several areas of our lives. We mess up and we fall short all of the time. But, instead of beating ourselves up over the fact that we have limits we should cling to the promises of God in those moments. When you are tempted to get down on yourself or to sell yourself short remember the promise that God is with you and God is all you need. When we are pressed to our limits we have a God who is ready to take over the reigns.

Will you trust in God and allow him to empower you despite your limitations or will you continue to try (and fail) at perfection?

The Ameri Brit Mom