Being Human is Hard

This week, my to-do list was a mile long. Between copywriting, grading, teaching, and trying to feed my child, life got hectic. After several nights of only a few hours sleep, I laid down on the grass at the park per my daughter's request and was tempted to stay there. And this morning, after a thirty minute fight to get Charity to use the potty, I was ready to give up. My apartment, which I had paid to have cleaned the night previous, was a wreck. My child was screaming. My to-do list still hadn't been completed, and to top it all of I couldn't find the shin guards, and our soccer game was in an hour.

Just a few days ago, I was teaching a lesson in my Bible class about how God calls us and equips us. He never fails to provide the means for us to do what he has asked us to do. He not only gives us all the unique talents and abilities that we need to fill the purpose that he has set out for us, but he also gives us tools after he has called -- tools that allow us to accomplish a specific purpose.

But why does God so often call us to complete tasks that aren't -- seemingly -- within our skill set? I've often wondered why God gives us talents and abilities, only to call us to do something that has nothing to do with those talents and abilities.

For example, you can put me in a classroom, a non-profit, a planning committee and I'll exceed your expectations. My intuition will kick in, and I'll be able to solve problems without any stress or frustration, but give me a home to manage, and I'm breaking out in a cold sweat. The fact of the matter is that I'm not very domestic. I am easily overwhelmed by domestic tasks. Planning menus, figuring budgets, cleaning, and doing all of this wile simultaneously spending quality time with my child seems impossible -- now throw a career on top of that.

Yet God not only called me to be a mother and a wife, but he called my husband to serve in the Army Reserves, leaving me now in the initial six months of what will likely be many absences. My initial inclination to this was to say, "Why? Things were working out well the way they were. I had help. I was able to operate in my strengths and still follow my calling as a mother and a wife."

But I see two flaws in my logic here. First, following God shouldn't be something we squeeze in. We shouldn't treat God like a vegetable -- choking down what he wants us to do so we can get on to the good stuff.

Second, when I really look at the situation critically, I realize that things weren't really working out well the way they were. Sure, I was getting to "have it all" -- the career, the family -- but it was more stressful than anything. I felt like I was constantly trying to simply keep us together. I was in constant panic/disaster mode.

And this is where the "being human is hard" comes in. Unlike other species, God has given us the capability to play multiple roles. In fact, he has charged us with this -- he tells us that sometimes we must play roles that we are not used to or that we are just starting to understand. Yet, in all these roles, he calls us to follow him -- we are required to play multiple roles but all for the sake of the gospel, for the purpose to which he has called us. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul says that he has been called to be all things to all people -- but not to advance his cause, not so that he can "have it all," but for "the sake of the gospel."

The multiple roles we play cause stress -- or rather, discord among the roles we play cause stress. Psychologists also often point to something called cognitive dissonance, which causes stress. Cognitive dissonance occurs when we say one thing, but do something that is contrary.

What I want to suggest applies to my life and perhaps others is that stress comes not from multiple roles but multiple roles in discord. Stress occurs when we have different roles and when all those roles aren't focused on the same thing -- "the sake of the gospel." I don't think we always know why God gives us certain talents and then seems to call us elsewhere. Maybe we needed those talents to develop the talents he would eventually equip us with. Maybe we really used those talents and weren't aware of them. Whatever the reason -- he does equip us, but we have to be open to that equipping.