Getting Back Up

I stopped making New Year’s resolutions a  few years ago.  Now, I do like to dream but the resolution thing never seemed to work out for me.  At the turn of this year, however, I decided to get more organized…with meal plans and grocery shopping in particular.  I didn’t call my new, stay with the program, don’t try to figure out dinner at 5:30pm plan – a New Year’s resolution.

 

But it was.

 

I made my lists.  I asked input from my family about what dinners they would like.  I made a two week menu plan and posted it inside a kitchen cabinet.  Ta da!  And it has helped!  It has. Mostly.

 

Until a week or so ago when I got bored with the menu.  But hey, it lasted more than a month!  That’s at least two weeks longer than any of my previous “get my life under control” plans.  And I am not scrapping it.  I’m just taking a little break.  Really.

 

The line from the song  Only Grace by Matthew West that goes“and if you fall, get back up, get back up” keeps playing in my head.  I love that song.  All those coachy, pep talking, life affirming messages of how it’s not about how many times you fall…it’s the getting back up that counts.  They’re true!

 

Exercise programs, skin care regimes, regular quiet times, nutrition protocols, getting rid of clutter, no more late fees, scripture memorization…don’t we all have such good intentions?!?  They are good!  And we are human.  We fall.  We fail.  We don’t return the phone call.  We misplace the tax receipt.

 

We’re going to be alright!

 

The falling and failing in the tiny ways and in the monumental ways really are teaching us important lessons if we will be open to learn them.  Even before the phoenix rises from the ashes and is still covered in soot, there is good happening!  Think mercy.  Think grace.  If we can be kind to ourselves when we don't live up to our own desires, we will be much more able to be kind to others when they don't.  Or can't.

 

Think of diamonds.  Formed far beneath the earth’s surface (get it – you can’t see it happening) and under the perfect circumstances of pressure and heat…they rise to the surface through volcanic eruptions.  Sheesh.  I’m thinking there’s an analogy here.

 

I’m not motivated to make dinner tonight.  It is just not going to happen.  I’m sure I can find some spaghetti in the pantry and boiling water is going to stretch the capacity of all I can muster.  But I will try again.  In every area where I seem to continually fall and find myself back on the ground…for what may feel either like a moment or a millennia.  Diamonds are being formed.  Formed in the beauty and context of grace.

 

Getting back up.  Really soon.  ~Stasi

 

Comments

[Caroline Sory]

Love this one A LOT! I am in the same boat and it is wonderful to be reminded that all we can do is keep getting up and trying again! Thank you! <3

[Marie]

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes it costs too much to get back up.

[Cherise]

I totally know what you mean. Getting back up is the story of my life. I wonder if you've heard of Saving Dinner. It's a service designed to help busy people get dinner on the table every night, and it's awesome! I hope it will help you get back on this wagon. :-)

[Michelle]

A word I probably need to have rammed into my head every day for the last 4 years and counting, haha. :)

Oh, and about resolutions, my hubby has an interesting take on it: He makes a list of things he'd like to do (usually small things), and if he gets the opportunity, he'll do it. No pressure, just an "if it happens, it happens" mentality. Whatever he doesn't do gets carried over to the next year. In a sense it's kind of like a bucket list.

[Jennifer]

Wow, you sound like me. I love the Toby Mac song Get Back Up!

[Melissa Pickens]

Whoa...thanks for posting this. I needed it more than I realized when I clicked on the link from fb. I really tend to beat myself up over what doesn't happen or doesn't last. And the ending...the diamond analogy...though God has given me a few names, the most recent was..."diamond in the rough." I must get back up again. But not by way of condemnation or self-contempt, but by way of love and grace.

[Carrie]

I just started chanting in my mind "ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up in the morning!" (I use to annoy my daughters with this chant to get them up in the morning in a "medley" that included "Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory...") Maybe the chant should go on to say "His mercies are new, His mercies are new, His mercies are new in the morning!" You, Stasi, are a life affirming messenger<3!

[Stasi]

:-) 

[jill]

Marie, It does cost a great deal to get back up. And sometimes it does indeed feel like way too much work. The other option, however, is chilling and brings death not freedom. Jesus speaks "Get up" but not in words of "buck up and just do it!" but in the tenderness that says "YOU will not be alone because I will never leave you. It is worth it to get back up." And if you were talking groceries and meals...then bless you and I read alot into it. :-) If not, may you be doubly blessed and doubly redeemed in your pain.

[Jennifer M]

Thank you , thank you for posting this. Sometimes, hearing someone else say, it's OK to be gracious to yourself so long as you get back up makes it easier to stop beating ourselves up. In a season of too much on my plate and not enough energy, this was a welcome bit of grace. Thank you.

Off to add the Matthew West song to my playlist...

[Wayne Shaw]

Smiling as I finish reading this. Nothing to add here. I love that Matthew West song too. It's one of my favorites.

[Angie Chandler]

Thanks for this. I really needed it too. I have been having anger issues lately, especially with my 11 year old daughter and my husband. They deserve better that what I am giving them. And I am very encouraged now to keep trying.

[Mashawn Hepner]

Stasi, I just started following your blog, tho I have read your books Captivating and Love & War (and many of John's also). Thanks for the encouragement! Really needed to hear it today!

[Melody Schrock]

Stasi, you don't know me, and I don't know you. But this post encouraged me so mush. I struggle with not having the courage to get back up after I have fallen. I fall SOOOO often! Just as I make a resolution not to yell or say discouraging things to my siblings, or be disrespectfull to my parents, I do it. Thanks for the reminder that God will continue to pick me up after I fail!!!

[Sallie]

Ken spoke of this on Sunday, how when our kids are toddlers and they walk for the first time-- they fall. We don't respond with "Dumb kid!" We don't write "Junior fell" on the baby calendar. No,we cheer, and we applaud, and we pick them up and ecourage them to try again, with joy and delight in our eyes. So it is with our Father God.
Thank you, Stasi, for en-COURAGING!

[Danielle]

I'm down. Down for the count. The ref is on number eight. Divorce is brutal. I read somewhere that divorce rips hearts apart and blood spills out everywhere. I feel like I'm drowning in my own blood and my children's. I used to plan meals and shop for the week but these days the dinner dilemma is which restaurant to eat at because I don't have it in me to cook. I understand God's grace and mercy now in ways I never have before. I'm keeping my heart fixed on Jeremiah 29:11 and Joel 2:25. God gave me these verses as my "theme" for 2011. Two nights ago my kids and I were eatin dinner in a little burger joint after their Tea Kwon Do class and the song "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray was playing in the background music as we ate. Don't ask me how I remembered that Anne Murray sang that song because I have no idea! But somehow I did and I found it on iTunes and downloaded it onto my phone. That song and those verses is why I will be back up on my feet before the referee can count to 10. My life is living proof that God's grace and mercy are sufficient.

[rita schulte MA LPC]

stasi, my name is rita schulte and i'm a therapist in no va/dc. i have just finished a book on loss which is in the publishing process. i am hosting a podcast show called heartline and have some great guests lined up like dr john trent, dr everette worthington, jr. dr joshua struab and lots of others. i can't even imagine how busy you are but i would LOVE to have you as a guest on the show to promote a new book, talk about an old book, or anything you'd like. it would be an honor to have you. the interview would be done by phone and take only 25 minutes. you can contact me by email or check my website at siftedaswheat.com thanks for your consideration

[Johnnie Sanchez]

I Love you Stasi Eldredge! As a young woman (only 19) I just adore you, and I always see your spirit in your writings. I think you and John need to write a book specifically for younger people.. it's such an untapped field that (I think) really needs massive addressing. Thanks for all the real blogs!

[Stasi]

Wow, thanks Johnnie!  What a lovely encouragement to receive today!  Love you back!  (and will pray about your suggestion...)

[Johnnie Sanchez]

You are so welcome- so odd to have a personal hero of mine write a comment back! Hope you're having a lovely March day :)

[Amy]

How did I miss this Gem of a post? I love you Stasi!

[freelance writing]

it's can't be a miss!! New year this the best day all people is so good!

[Janis]

Dear Stasi,
I can relate to this post so much! Thank you! :)
Also, I'm 18 and I really agree with Johnnie Sanchez- a book for young people would be absolutely amazing.
I live in the UK and religion has 'gone out of fashion' here. It's confusing to be a Christian when your family isn't religious and the vast majority of your friends, teachers and the media talk about Biblical ideas with either polite or open derision. One particular dilemma is that education is the 'new currency' these days and unfortunately education and religion are thought to be incompatible by so many people.
For example, I went to a talk recently to hear James Watson speak and when he expressed his opinion that all religion is nonsense, everybody in the large lecture hall cheered loudly. And yesterday I turned on the TV and came across a BBC program called the Bible's Buried Secrets. The presenter was making a lot of assertions about how new archeological evidence contradicts Christian interpretations of the Bible. The arguments were unconvincingly researched and presented but they were still somehow discouraging.
Most religious books I’ve found helpful are aimed towards people who are going through mid-life crises. The problem is, I’ve already started my mid-life crisis but I’m only 18.
So yes, I am sorry I went on a bit of a rant there but I hope that made some sense!
Lots of love,
Janis
PS I love your books!

[TL]

In the end, life abundant is more than cooking a great meal and having sparkling glasses. When I was a young bride in my twenties I wanted to be a great cook because that is "what wives did". It was fun for a bit even when I used that red pepper spice for garnish by accident. :)

But eventually, I had to find who I was in Christ. Knowing that I am growing more every day into the maturity of the Messiah, that is where my joy is. And that is where people around me are blessed as well.

[Jeanine]

I just love you. You are so normal, transparent, real! Like a white, christian Oprah. That is a compliment. I struggle with the same thing and think it is so lame that I can't manage this task every day, and I AM a certified professional organizer!!!! ugh, but human and fall and fail too.