teaching them limits

i'm in a new season.
in parenting. in motherhood. in LIFE.

i'm realizing my limits. and i'm choosing to listen to them as i act.

actions speak louder than words, right? isn't that what they say.

i trust that my actions have taught my kids lots of lessons along the way. but right now, my actions are teaching them it's ok to have limits.

the night i took this picture, we were at joshua's soccer practice. they wanted me to play football with them. i told them i would for 5 minutes. but that i needed to sit after that and read so that we could finish our day well when we got home. i knew my limits.

so we played. we laughed our heads off. sawyer pouted because lincoln scored an amazing touchdown. i reminded him how no one likes to play with a sore loser. his smile came right back. then i read, and they played.

and you know what? they were totally fine. they weren't devastated that i had limits that evening. their lives weren't worse off. and, at the end of the day, i was glad that i had made that choice. i didn't regret it. it was intentional and good.

i spent a lot of my life having no limits. it's still my default. and i know when i'm operating there because my insides start to whir and i can't hear God's voice.

when i'm operating inside my limits, i don't let my life get so busy that i can't hear His whispers.  and the peace and joy i'm finding here are beautiful.

actually, maybe living "inside my limits" is the same thing as "inside His will?"