No See 'Ems

They have these things in South Carolina that we call "no see 'ems" they are these super annoying gnats that buzz around your head, but they are too small to do anything about.  Throughout the summer there are always a couple in the vicinity of ones head, but on occasion you find yourself unfortunately amidst a swarm of the critters and its quite maddening :)

I have realized lately that I have alot of guilt about stuff ..more than I need, and more than I think God wants us to carry around..."This then is how we know that we belong to the truth and we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.. God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. " 1 John 3:2

I have tried to be a little more atuned to those little things that I have unnecessary guilt over ..and try to get rid of them. I have found that there are alot of things that are like the no see 'ems of good ol' SC. They are buzzing around my head, small enough to not be 100% on my radar but annoying my spirit just the same.

It may be stuff like projects that I started but didnt finish, something someone gave me that I dont use or want or have a place for, it may be a book I need to read, or a pile of stuff in the garage that needs going through...these are little things that in and of themselves are nothing. They are just annoying and add to the overall guilt that we already carry in abundance.

For example ...(this requires a little back story) I am most blessed to be part of an annual Ladies Retreat for my church family. As one of the planners it is my role to help take care of those last minute little changes ..like when the speaker sees the agenda a few days before the weekend and mentions that she needs four sessions, instead of three and the whole agenda needs to shift and change to make that work. That is fine ..except that we just printed and cut 100+ of the cutest 4x6 agendas to be placed at each person's place.  SOO..those all have to be reprinted, and recut. 

My sweet friend, Tiffany was cool with that and did a great job to get that done in a short amount of time and to me so I could get those set out before all the girls got to our "retreating" place (If I recall, we also may have done the math wrong and printed 800 instead of one hundred of them and cut them all before she realized it ..).

When everyone arrived, it looked great! So cute. Unfortunately, I didnt noticed until we were well underway that I had accidentally picked up the WRONG agendas, and placed them at everyones spots. I felt HORRIBLE. All that last minute work under pressure and I didnt even use them! Argh!

Those agendas have been sitting in my guest room for three years now. No lie.

I feel sick to my stomach everytime I see that sweet little stack of love from Tiffany.  Stupid no see 'ems.

So, this week I ceremoniously threw that stack away. It was a little sad, for the same reason I hadnt done it before ..guilt. But, I feel that Tiff would think this was hilarious and not want me to feel this way, and really ...how does that help either of us?

ANYWAYS ..that is a long way to go to say, I would encourage you to keep an eye out for those things that cause you just enough guilt to be annoying ...those add up. Employ the Stress Strategies ...get rid of it, get over it ..whatever you need to do. They arent worth the resources we give them!

Stupid no see 'ems :)

{Welcome ifellowshippers!}