Faithful Friday 12

Finding Peace in an Empty Calendar

Hey friends,

I hope your week has held more mercies than messes—but if not, grab that cup of coffee (or a glass of wine if it’s evening) and settle in for our weekly chat.

Let me set the scene: it’s fall break here. (Yes, we started school a month and a half ago, and we’re already on break. Makes perfect sense, right? 😉)

Last week, the panic started to creep in. We have a beach trip planned soon (always fun when these things don’t align), but this week? Our calendar was wide open. While most of our friends skipped town, we stayed home. My boys usually look to me to be their cruise director, expecting entertainment on demand.

But this time, I resisted the urge to perform. I sprinkled in a couple of fun things, but left some days empty, other than heading to the park. And you know what? Something miraculous happened in the space we created. They made up their own games. I found them digging through the toy bin, rediscovering old favorites. I offered a few simple ingredients for a “science experiment,” and it bought an hour of engaged chaos. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t always quiet, and complaints were definitely heard! But the miracle was this: I did not need to be the entertainer at all hours. We all breathed deeper. In the unplanned space, we found a peace that a packed schedule could never provide.

“Careless in Your Care” by I AM THEY

I am careless in Your care

I can be myself when You are near

There’s no need to hurry

You take my weight and worry

I am careless in Your care

I’m at ease when I’m with You

I find a peace I never knew

Where Your love has washed

Over all my anxious thoughts

I’m at ease when I’m with You

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I can overthink all things motherhood. Anxiety has been a steady struggle since my little humans arrived, and it especially flares in situations like... oh, I don’t know... a wide-open fall break schedule with two energetic boys to entertain.

This week, I am letting this song wash over me, just like it suggests above. Friends, how incredible it is that Our Father lets us be careless in his care. He’s got us. We don’t have to pack every moment with perfection. We don’t have to perform for anyone… not even our families.

When we feel the urge to rush, worry, and control, we can choose a different path. And that path is exactly what Paul points us to in the very truth I’ve been chewing on this week…

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7

As someone who has struggled with anxiety for a while, this verse has always been one I lean on. There are a ton of places in scripture where I get tripped up on the meaning and want to scribble a giant question mark in the margins. But this is not one of them. When I read these words, I feel as though Paul is sitting right in front of me, holding both of my hands in his lap and speaking directly to me.

One thing that really stuck with me this week is that within this verse, Paul tells us something NOT to do and something we SHOULD do.

He tells us NOT to be anxious for anything. Now, this isn’t a scolding. His brows aren’t furrowed, His voice isn’t stern (at least not in my mind). Instead, he is reminding us that we have the privilege of not having to worry about every little thing. Because Our Father is in control, and if we allow Him, He will walk us through it all.

Paul also tells us what we SHOULD do instead of being anxious. He invites us to bring those worries and lay them down at the feet of God through prayer. Sidenote, he doesn’t say, “drop them and run.” He tells us to bring them, ask for what we need, and always come with a thankful heart, remembering who we are speaking with.

Now, when we give God our worries through thankful prayer and supplication… He gives us His peace in return. Does this sound like a fair trade? Absolutely not. It’s the best deal we’ll ever get. We hand over our jumbled, exhausting worries (the ones that keep us up at night) and in return, He gives us a peace that doesn’t even have to make sense. It’s a peace that shows up right in the middle of the chaos, guarding our hearts from our own thoughts, like when a simple worry, “this week will be boring,” tries to snowball into “I’m failing to give them a good childhood.” His peace guards the door to your mind, telling that lie it can’t come in. We get the better end of the deal every single time.

Okay, confession: this verse did not just pop up out of thin air. And to be honest, I rarely have to go searching for verses to dig into each week. When I keep my eyes open and my heart tuned, I can see Him pointing me towards different scriptures.

Interestingly enough, these verses were my son’s memory verses at school over the last couple of weeks, AND our preacher spoke about these verses at church. Do you ever feel like God is shouting for you to pay attention? haha, this was one of those moments for me.

And it is really helping me focus on the things directly in front of me and how I can handle them, specifically, by showing me the direct link between handing over my anxiety and receiving His peace.

Here’s what I mean: When I started panicking about the empty calendar, the first step wasn’t to make a better plan; it was to pray a simpler prayer. It was to lay ALL those things clouding my mind with worry at his feet.

I was holding two warring emotions: thankfulness for this break with my people and anxiety over my performance as a mom. I finally just handed Him the tangled knot, trusting He could hold it all when I couldn’t.

That act of “making my request known” was me choosing to follow our song’s advice and be “careless in His care.” And the unplanned, creative week that followed? That was the “peace that surpasses understanding,” actively guarding our hearts and home.

It wasn’t magic. It was a promise. A promise that He really does take our weight and worry.

I mentioned above that these verses were Jones’s (our 8-year-old) memory verses for school last week. And one night, when I climbed into bed next to him to snuggle before bedtime, He asked if he could find it in his bible and read it out loud to me. Heart swelling and tears threatening to spill over, I said, of course.

After he read it, I asked what he thought it meant. When he said he wasn’t sure, we took a few minutes to walk through it together. We talked about how handing our worries to God means talking to Him instead of letting them roll around in our brains. We talked about how amazing it is that God wants to be right in the middle of our worries with us.

This was only possible because of a decision I made last Christmas: I bought both boys their own Bibles… not children’s versions, but real Bibles for young men. I wanted them to have access to God’s Word in their rooms as they grow. My favorite part is highlighting verses for them with dates and little notes. And that is exactly what I did as we read Philippians 4:6-7 together.

As I get to know their hearts, certain scriptures pop into my mind that might help them one day. I love being able to pop in and highlight a passage, praying that one day they’ll treasure these pages filled with our little talks and the truth that they can always find their answers here. They won’t always have me to walk them through every situation, and they may not want me to. But when they open these pages, hopefully they will see the example I hope to set by seeking the truth in God’s word.

Lord,

I am constantly worried about whether I am doing the right thing as a mom and wife. Anxiety balls up in my chest, and sometimes it feels like I can’t breathe.

Instead of letting it continue to get wrapped into a tighter knot, I am bringing it to you to untangle.

I am so thankful for the gifts of my family and my children, and I love watching them become who you are shaping them to be. Thank you for letting me partner with you in raising them.

Being a parent comes with so many expectations and responsibilities. Sometimes the weight of it all can feel overwhelming. Instead of trying to fix or control everything, help me bring it to you.

I ask that you help me be strong in teaching my children that it is okay not to always be entertained. Help me show them that we can find joy in the simplest things. Help me teach them to see your beauty and goodness everywhere, even in the quiet, simple moments, not just the loud or flashy ones.

Help me be patient when things don’t turn out the way we planned or when a science experiment gets splashed on the floor. Help me hold space for big emotions and unmet expectations.

And please Lord, as we hand you each worry, place a guard outside of our hearts that stops the lie that these worries are true from ever entering.

Amen

Until next week, Blair

Because Motherhood is hard. But you? You’re held.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

{Mathew 5:7}