When it's time to make adjustments

It was June 6th. I opened the fridge. Almond milk, some turkey bacon, some apples. A few eggs.

That was it. Hmmm…

We do our monthly  budget from 15th to 15th, so that meant nine more days with nothing but beans and rice, almond milk, and some turkey bacon.

“Mommy, I’m hungry.”

We had company coming over the next night for dinner, and the following weekend family arriving from out of state.

“Do you think they want beans and rice?” I half-joked.

I checked my wallet again. Change, no dollars. This wasn’t going to work.

Time for adjustment.

Just then my cell phone rang. My friend, with whom we’re doing the Family Garden, gave me the news that we couldn’t do the garden in the soil, as planned. We’d need to build raised beds. I’d just posted this, about the lessons of redemption and sanctification through this new identity gardening process.

Time for adjustment. (This one was welcome because it would be way easier!)

Earlier that day I packed up the kids for a playdate at the park. We walked there, and just as we arrived, I got a call that our house was showing in less than one hour.

Time for adjustment.

Grateful for amazing friends who watched my kids and let me borrow a car to run home and hurriedly clean. I couldn’t do the top-notch job as normal, instead resorting to shoving all the laundry in the washer, filling a basket with all the random items and hiding it in the garage. But you know what, it was fine.

Knowing when to make adjustments. Isn’t that what wisdom is?

Grocery prices are soaring and our growing kids are hungry. Time to up the food budget to $250, give ourselves some room to breathe. Skip the back-breaking labor and build a raised bed garden. There are plenty of other things to break our backs over.  Clean the house a tad less than perfect, ignore the fingerprints all over the fridge, and trust that when the right person comes, they’ll love the house, fingerprints and all.

A wonderful, uber health-conscious friend of mine, a mom of seven, recently went on a women’s retreat. While she was gone her family ordered 19 pizzas.

And she was all smiles.

Because she’s a wise woman who knows how to have high standards, and when to let those standards *ahem* adjust.

Wisdom.

Sometimes we can be more committed to the idea of something than the good of something. I am committed to our frugal grocery-budget as long as it is good for our family (and sometimes going without is the greatest good there is!). I am committed to busting my behind cleaning this house for every single house-showing as long as it is good for our family (and sometimes the good is that my kids know how to beat feet and clean up their messes!). But I am praying for a heart filled with heavenly wisdom. A heart that knows when to stick to my guns and when to let it all go. A heart that sees things from His perspective.

A heart that’s not so blinded by my own ideals that I can’t see His ideas.

Like Peter.

God points to all the unclean animals and says, “kill and eat.”  Peter says, “Surely not! I’ve never eaten anything unclean!” (Acts 10)

Ha! Don’t you love it when our ideals contradict God’s ideas?

And His ideas are so far beyond ours. They are beyond our imaginations (Eph 3:20).

Yes, this is just about the grocery budget, I suppose. Adding $50 to our monthly tab isn’t earth-shattering news. But isn’t that the beauty of Sacred Mundane, that the details of life are the whispers of a Savior…

Because everything matters.

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Are there any areas in your life that may need some divine adjustment? Where are you tempted to stubbornly stick to ideals rather than humbly listening for His ideas? Thanks for reading.