"Cross-training"

~I wish you could see me right now~

I am sitting on my floor in my bedroom. My lamp is on, and I'm burning a Bath and Body Works candle, so my room smells like "Frosted Cupcake." To my right is my Bible study, open to today's lesson. On top of it is The Greatest Salesman in the World open to today's chapter. To the left of that, in front of me, is my FranklinCovey planner open to today's list of things to do covered by letters I have to mail. Next to it is my cup of coffee. To my left is my Bible, notebook, and The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management. 

This is what I call "cross-training." In the mental, spiritual, and personal sense, not really physical.

What a scrambled mess. At first I thought it was foolish to have all these things started or open at the same time. But then, as I studied my morning and how I let each of these tools speak to me [yes, coffee has a voice. Mine has a British accent, and usually says something along the lines of "you don't need much more of me today." :)] I discovered how beneficial this cross-training is. 

In the front of my planner, it has a section called "Renewal: Sharpen the Saw." It points out that along with time management, it's also important to keep one's self refreshed and renewed in the physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual areas.

Interesting.

Because my Bible study this morning [I'm studying the Proverbs 31 woman. Vicki Courtney's The Virtuous Woman: Shattering the Superwoman Myth does an excellent job of showing me scripture and helping me form habits that teach the attributes we all are envious of in the Proverbs 31 woman. This week is about becoming "A Woman Who Surpasses Them All." Today was entitled "Tomorrow's Another Day" and was about trust, laughter, and contentment (Prov. 31:25).

~Her contentment in life was not dependent on outside circumstances, but was a result of her trust in God. Can we really be content in life, regardless of difficulties? We can't "laugh at the days to come" unless we at least chuckle at today...

...One ailment that prevents women from looking to the future with joy and confidence is the "if-only" syndrome.

The problem with "if-onlys" is that it makes the abundant life contingent on circumstances that are many times out of our control. There is certainly nothing wrong with aspirations, but it becomes unhealthy when our happiness is tied to fulfilling them.

When playing the trust/fall game with God [the Proverbs 31 woman] didn't preoccupy herself with whether or not He would be there---she knew He would because He had always been there. With confidence, she never glanced back.

Interesting how this ties in with my reading from Greatest Salesman.

Never will I allow any day to end with failure. Thus I will plant the seed of tomorrow's success and gain an insurmountable advantage over those who cease their labor at a prescribed time...I will persist until I succeed...Nor will I allow yesterday's success to lull me into complacency, for this is the great foundation of failure. I will forget the happenings of the day gone, whether they were good or bad, and greet the new sun with confidence that this will be the best day of my life.

And in The 10 Natural Laws, the first law is "You control your life by controlling your time."

And in my Penn Foster book, the chapter I just finished was on "The Role of the Consultant," all about how to organize your time and other priorities to make sure you accomplish everything in order of importance...but also how to "de-stress" so that you can be the best you can be.

Theme for the day? Greeting each opportunity with confidence, knowing that "I can do all things through Christ" and resting in the fact that "He restores my soul."

Thank you for reading. I hope you are encouraged to examine your own life, how you spend your time, and what you place your confidence in! It is time well spent.

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