Mid-Year Check-In Bonus Blog: When is enough, enough?

Turned over mug with liquid spilling out and letters that read "Doing my Best."

At the end of last week I had an “aha moment”, and I couldn’t want to wait to share it with you. So I’m interrupting the planned mid-year series and sharing what God placed on my heart for this week. 

My women’s group at church has been doing a study on Galatians–on freedom. Of course our study has gone over the scriptures in depth, and explored all the ways Grace frees us from trying to prove our worth to God. But we’ve also talked about what it personally means (and what it looks like) to Live Free. 

It has been eye-opening to see all the small ways we put ourselves in bondage, carry loads God never designed for us, and hold ourselves to unreasonable standards.  

That last part -“hold ourselves to unreasonable standards”- was where I found myself last week. I was working to meet a client project deadline and was stressing myself out about how much I needed to have prepared for our biweekly meeting. Then something clicked. 

I looked at what had to be done, and what I wanted to be done to be a little ahead of schedule. As I went through the list of “had to be done” items, everything was checked off! 

And I heard God say: “That’s enough.” 

“Enough.” Excel, achieve, accomplish. Those words were much more familiar, but enough? It felt like foreign language. 

Now I don’t mean slacking off, or not giving your best. I mean having reasonable standards for how much you can produce in a day, week, month.

So I sat with it for a moment. 

I thought about what I had prepared and how it would feel to let that be sufficient. To get to bed early. To enjoy our nightly walk with our puppy. To rest and resist the urge to let the stress and fear of perfectionism dictate yet another evening. 

At that moment I suddenly understood God’s invitation to “enough”. The freedom it could bring. And how much I had been carrying that I didn’t need to. How much stress I had added to my plate–and to my body–over the years from letting worry, self-doubt, and fear keep me working longer and later than I should have, instead of doing my best and letting God handle the rest. (Watch out I’m rhyming! lol)

I had allowed perfectionism (fear dressed up in a pretty outfit) to dictate how I approached my work. 

I had been working to excess, instead of allowing working with excellence and integrity to be enough. I had forgotten moderation. I had forgotten Grace.

But God hadn’t forgotten me. 

He sent a gentle invitation to embrace the freedom of “enough” - keeping my word, delivering my best, and making space to rest. A real life invitation to live out Proverbs 23:4 (NLT)

“Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.”

So I accepted God’s invitation. And the relief I felt was immediate. I had a wonderful evening. The next morning I felt refreshed, energized, light, sharp, and ready for the meeting. It was one of our best yet!

That whisper was the gentle reminder I needed of the principle of Sabbath. In Mark 2:27-28 God tells us that He made sabbath specifically for us. It was designed to be a routine of embracing rest, as a lifestyle and a practice. 

It is another way our relationship with God deepens, because every time we rest we tell God we trust Him to cover us, and to provide when we pause as He instructed. It is our hearts telling Him, “God, I trust you.”

We realize it is not all up to us. We have a part to play through our obedience, but God always determines the outcome. 

That experience was a perfect reset as I go into the second half of the year. It’s helping me better manage my capacity, expectations, schedule, and energy, and reminding me to celebrate the blessing of rest in God. 

Now tell me:

• Where can you practice the principle of “enough”? 

• How could embracing “enough” make you feel lighter, refreshed, and energized?

• What would it look like to let go of perfectionism and replace it with the peace of “enough”?

Click here and let me know where you’re going to give it a try in your life or business.

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