Dumping Rocks

I am currently participating in a Bible study with two other women in similar positions in life at this time. We chose to work through a book (combined with scripture study) that focuses on balancing a life which may or may not include a husband, a full-time job, church committments, etc. The whole point is to make sure that the quiet time we need with God is still present in our lives or working to bring it back into our lives when the need arises. I think that this quite possibly could be the first Bible study that I have participated in that has truly met me where I am in life.

The last chapter that we met to discuss was titled "The Cure." The scripture focus was Luke 10:41-42, which reads, "Martha, Martha. You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed." This is found in the story of Mary and Martha. Point taken...I am often like Martha.

The chapter opened with a metaphor of pulling a wagon with a few rocks (responsibilities) up a hill, picking up more and more as we go, in order to help other people out who we meet along the way, until we are physically unable to go any farther. If God's promise to us is true, that his burden is light and that he will never ask us to bear more than we are able to, does this imply that we sometimes voluntarily burden ourselves in an attempt to be pleasing to God or to others? I think so.

Two of the reflective questions asked were, "What rocks has God asked you to carry?" and, "Which rocks have you unwisely and sometimes unconsciously volunteered to carry for someone else?" When I really spent some time thinking about it, I came up with the following list that I believe God has asked me to carry:
1) Being a participant in a faith community (not necessary participating in every single event) and investing in my own spiritual growth.
2) Maintaining a healthy relationship with my husband.
3) Commitment to a job in order to help provide for our needs as well as the needs of others (not necessarily the pressures and deadlines that I place on myself related to my job).

Three things, and that's it!! Perhaps some of the other things I take on need to go, including some of the things that I have taken on for other people. If I don't have time or energy to do any more or to regularly spend quiet time with God, something is certainly wrong. Therefore, if you are anything like me, we must regularly take time for rock dumping, and we also must be aware of the fact that lack of commitment from others for "activities" that we do at church may be a healthy thing for an individual at any given point in time. I believe that as churches (particularly small ones with a lot of ambition), we sometimes get too busy trying to provide something for everyone and end up weighing ourselves down instead.

At least two of the three of us Bible study participants feel that there may be rocks in our lives that we may need to dump or perhaps throw away from us at this time in order to return to a place where God has called us to. There is a huge part of me that feels so much relief that there is confirmation of how I have been feeling lately, and it was brought to my attention at such a perfect moment in time.