Ten Days A Week

THE • IDEAL • IS • RIGHT • WHERE • YOU • ARE

Thanks to the relentless messaging of social media, we are bombarded with ideas about what the perfect life might look like, the perfect job, the perfect week, the perfect home, the perfect family dynamic. I have squandered so much mental energy on envisaging the perfect configuration of all of these circumstances, that I often forget God’s promises about what ‘perfect’ looks like. That usually ends in dissatisfaction and resentment.

My latest Substack post is up. Link is in my bio 👍🏻

My latest Substack post ⬇️

The ideal is right where you are. They say that comparison is the thief of joy. So let's stop comparing our current circumstances to our imagined perfect life.

Flying solo with Smallest Ward this weekend. Grateful for the sunshine, fresh air, slow afternoons. M is grateful for sticks ❤️

solo

GOD • IS • NOT • FRUSTRATED • WITH • YOU

If, like me, your daily life is a juggle between work, drop offs, pick ups, school runs and mealtimes and homework and bedtimes and housework, life admin and remembering dates, it’s easy to get to the end of the week and feel frustrated with yourself.

Frustration with the complaining I tended towards at work. Frustration over the impatient words that came tumbling out of my mouth when trying to persuade two slightly reluctant children to put their shoes on in the morning. Frustration, and guilt, for feeling a bit ungrateful for it all at times.

This is not a post about how to appreciate the struggle or count your blessings, although those mantras are often true.

It’s a post to say this: God is not frustrated with you.

It’s so easy to think of God is human terms. How frustrated he must be with my wayward heart and errant words. How he must look at my feeble efforts each day and sigh with disappointment over how far I’ve fallen short of his expectations.

But this is not the case. Because when he looks at me, he sees Jesus, and his finished work on the cross.

He knows me. He loves me. He cares for me and shepherds me with patience. He is for me.

My frustrations are not God’s. This is not an excuse for apathy or to stagnate, but to get up and get going each day knowing that God is for me in a way that neither I, nor anybody else, could ever be.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” - Hebrews 4:15

Edinburgh ❤️

Thousands of steps exploring Edinburgh so far. Such a beautiful city ❤️

If you don’t go for a walk to ‘blow away the cobwebs’ over the next 24 hours, are you even British?

Thanks so much to and for inviting us to your wedding. It was beautiful, and the girls had an absolute blast. Wishing you a lifetime of happiness 🥰

Sweet afternoon ❤️

• SLEEP • DEPRIVATION •

I joked on my stories earlier this week that I feel like this account has become primarily about M’s sleep patterns, but in all honesty it does feel like our lives are centred around the sleep deprivation that’s resulting from it at the moment. Apart from the newborn stage, I can’t remember ever being this relentlessly tired. I know that exhaustion pales in comparison to the sufferings and struggles of others, but it’s the season that we are in, and it’s hard.

Sometimes it’s difficult to understand why God doesn’t remove or lessen some of the things we are battling through, especially when we think we’d do a much better job at home/ work/ church if He did. I’d love to tell you I have some eloquent answer, but I don’t. Except this: the answer is always to lean further in to God, and not further away.

I really struggle with this. I’m prone to irritation, anger, giving up, wondering what the point is of trying. Sulking like a child who isn’t getting what they want.

But I have to “take every thought captive” (2 Cor 10:5) and return it to the Lord as heartfelt prayer - however counterintuitive I sometimes find this - knowing that if God has given me this season, He will also gladly give me what I need to get through it.

I’m too tired to do anything but the bare minimum practically speaking at the moment, so my priority is this: “cast your burdens upon him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

•AUTUMN-ING•

“But perhaps autumn, and the anticipation of winter, are the perfect opportunity to re-learn rhythms of rest and practice leaning into God. Instead of continuing at full-pelt, what if we made changes to our expectations and our lives so that autumn became a season of embracing our limitations and rejoicing anew in God’s omnipotence?”

My first post on Substack is up - take a look, and if you’d like to subscribe I’d love to have you!

Link in bio.