Come Up for Air and Find Your Vision as a Single Mom
Today I worked on next week’s downloadable Mother’s Day program. As I put together a module, I suddenly realized I did not know what I was doing. I knew what the pieces in front of me were but not how they fit together with the overall purpose of the program. I had lost the big picture. I had gotten sidetracked and lost the module’s connection to the goals I had hoped for. I had no vision. I am not sure how it happened, but somehow I realized I had lost the focus of the program.
I was up to my elbows in research – something the geek in my loves doing! I knew I wanted to give overwhelmed and overlooked moms a program that rejoices in them. This is especially important for moms who feel they have no one to celebrate them – like single moms often do.
Each module will have a short talk on the day’s theme and present these beautiful moms with practical ideas for bringing joy, rest, and purpose into their every day. I’ve planned journal prompts, activities for moms and kids to do together, and self-care help. I want it to be valuable and affordable. I want it to be accessible to moms who want to embrace God’s goodness in their messes but don’t know where or how to start.
I got caught up in perfecting the minutia but forgot to come up for air!
I worked on all those individual pieces of the program but forgot to be sure that those pieces flowed flawlessly from one step to another gently and reassuringly leading women to a more positive outlook.
Come Up For Air
Forgetting to come up for air is a common danger in single mothering. So much falls on our shoulders. Sometimes we fear poking our heads up and looking around. We fear stopping and resting. We fear acknowledging how alone we are on this journey. We fear pausing. We fear letting a ball drop in case we can never pick those balls back up again. We fear that by being less than perfect we will prove the negative that has been said about us true.
Phew!
I was emersed in research and determined to plow through without thinking twice. Then I sat back to consider notes I’d just jotted down. I pulled back to better view the yellow post it notes scattered across my desk and realized…
I have no idea what I am doing!
I had gotten so caught up in the DOING, that I had lost the vision of how beautiful this program (and these moms!) is/are meant to be!
Ugh! I scrunched up my nose and frowned my brows in half amused self-exasperation! Here I am putting together a program on celebrating motherhood and somehow I had forgotten to celebrate too!
It actually made me laugh.
And then sigh.
And then sit back and reconsider what I was doing. I zoomed waaaaaay out and looked over the pieces of the program again.
Ahhhhhh!!! Now I see it!
From a wide angle lens I see more clearly the peace and grace and joy I had in mind when I began dreaming about this program. I pondered my work as a diamond with many glittery facets. Prisms of brilliantly refracting light invisible when the nose is held so close to the grindstone!
I am not yet 100% clear on how this program will look when it is released next week. There are parts I need to work on, but I now look at those parts with renewed vision.
I sat back and breathed. I came up for air. I allowed the sun to dance and play in the modules I had overshadowed!
And now I can modify what is presented and hope to make this program more powerful and more beautiful and more fulfilling for moms who deserve so much!
I had not realized I needed to come up for air today, but perspective shifted and lightened when I did.
I probably need to do that more often too. Not just in programs I release but in my personal life as well!
I am looking forward to some solitude and creative soul searching this weekend. It’s been a long time since I re-examined my vision. I think it’s time for a vision shifting weekend!
What About Your Vision?
What do you face today? What do you keep pushing through using sheer willpower?
How might your vision shift, change, and lighten if, instead of pushing through, you sit back and breath a bit? How might perspective change if you allow yourself to dream BIG?
Jesus tells His disciples the poor will be with them always but that they should make the most of each day with Him. He might have said this about work too. Work will be there later, but moments of joy must be nurtured. Enthusiasm flourishes with airflow. Direction becomes clear when your vision does too.
Work will always be there, but your children’s laughter may not be. Your sense of self may not be.
How I wish I had listened to this message years ago!
How hard it is for me to listen even now when I am naturally 100x more busy Martha than peaceful Mary!
I cannot go back. You cannot go back, but each of us set aside time now to come up for air and live out our vision daily.
This is a reminder for me to do this, not just for a program I will release for others, but also for myself! As I sat down to write today’s reflection, I started thinking of how long is has been since I sat down and crafted a vision statement for me, for my family, for my career, for my life and my hopes and my dreams!
It’s been too long!
And you? What about you? When was the last time you came up for air? When was the last time you wrote out your vision? When was the last time you bravely shared that vision?
If you would care to share it with me, I would love to hear it! If you have no vision, this is your invitation to sit back, pray, be still and then write out your vision too.
God Bless…
Kerri
Check out this week’s Single Mom Smiling podcast & upcoming release info – Share with someone you care about!
