My daughter plays trombone.  There is a rather large festival coming up in our neck of the woods and all the area schools have a marching band showcased in the parades.  Yes, plural.  On two different days, less than 48 hours away.

I was just looking at my schedule and feeling relieved that it isn’t as crazy as some weeks because I am currently fighting strep.  That’s another story for a different day.  My daughter informed me this evening that her slide on her trombone is bent because on the one day she took it home to practice for the upcoming parade, she bumped it off the couch.  That’s a kick in the pants.  The highest grade she can ever get in band is a B- because she doesn’t take her instrument home to practice. She’s not being defiant and she’s not competitive, so she’s not going for first chair or anything.  She just knows herself and knows if she takes her instrument home, she will not remember to bring it back to school the next day.  In fifth grade she had to start out with a recorder.  She forgot that so many times at home the teacher said, “In all my years of teaching there has never been a kid who has forgotten their reorder more than you.”  Therefore now, she doesn’t bring her trombone home to practice.  She’s comfortable with a B- and not looking to excel, so it suits her just fine.

So her trombone is broken less than 48 hours before two parades she has to play in for several reasons:

1) If she doesn’t, her grade goes down and she’s really at the highest she can possibly get right now, so that might be a bit of a problem.

2) If she doesn’t the teacher has to reconstruct the entire marching order and only has one day to practice the new formation.

There’s a lot riding on this broken trombone.

Therefore there’s a lot riding on my ability to get it in to get fixed or not.

Pressure.

I hate pressure.  It feels too much like a commitment for my taste.  But I am here to say that since we took our Year of Jubilee, learned how to Sabbath as a verb and vanquished the word “busy” from our vocabulary, we have come across crisis situations like this and been able to roll with it with grace.

I heard the trepidation in my daughter’s voice as she told me about her trombone.  She was testing me and wondering if I would blow up at her because four years ago, I would have!  I was that explosive mom.  Anything that caused extra work for me outside my normal to-do list would send me through the roof because I had zero margin.  I didn’t have space for the unexpected.  There wasn’t any room for life’s curve balls.

Thankfully, because of the things I learned during our year off, I am able to create margin in my life to handle the unexpected.  I.  Am.  Grateful.  I’m grateful that God put the Year of Jubilee found in Leviticus 25 and called His people to Sabbath rest.  I’m grateful that He wants me to rest – actually wants me to rest in Him so that my life can showcase His sovereign nature and my life can be richer and more well-rounded.

I am convinced that if Satan can just keep us busy enough he can keep us from God’s Word and can keep us self-absorbed.  We don’t have time for outreach.  We don’t have time for discipleship.  We don’t have time for the things that matter eternally.  How often are we running to and fro and don’t have the time to pause and minister to those God puts in front of us?  Too often, I’m afraid.  How can we pour ourselves out for others adn for the sake of the gospel when there’s nothing left for us to give?

I am so passionate about getting right with the Lord and reading His Word regularly right now.  Our nation, communities, school systems and homes desperately need revival right now but this will NEVER happen if we do not make the space for it.  We can’t  properly repent when we’re rushing all over the place.

This is why we have two free resources for you:

1) Manage Your Time Like a Boss: A Proven Technique to Take Control of Your Schedule & TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE!

This is my exact method that has helped me tame the crazy in my life.  This is how I create the margin necessary to bring my daughter’s trombone in on a drop of a hat!

2) Verse Mapping Master Course: The Busy Beginner’s Simple Solution to Bible Study on a Strict Time Budget

This is my exact method of Bible study.  It has saved me time, energy and headache!  Even when I only have 10 minutes, I can glean so much richness out of God’s Word!

Please, if your schedule is managing you instead of the other way around and you find studying your Bible difficult, take those two FREE courses and let us know what you think!