This mama needs chocolate cake and blueberries. I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, and right before I sat down to begin writing, I cut myself a generous slice of vegan chocolate cake. While I normally would not indulge in chocolate cake anytime before 6pm, I figured it is still my birthday weekend so chocolate cake at 3pm is allowed. To give a little insight as to how my brain works, I chose to top it with a handful of blueberries to balance it out. Now, blueberries are a perfect topping to cake, but I am more interested in exploring why I tossed those blueberries on. I honestly did not even feel like eating blueberries. I really just wanted my leftover vegan cake, but internally that felt too indulgent. This is a small and silly example, but in a similar vein to my post last week on rest, I too often find myself adding something to what alone is perfectly good and acceptable. Why is it so hard to just eat the cake?
Reflecting on this further, maybe adding the blueberries is a good thing. There is something incredibly valuable in balance. It probably would not be the best to eat cake alone every afternoon, but cake with some antioxidant-filled blueberries every once and a while is a good thing. I need to start living my days more from this cake and blueberry mindset. By this I mean that I need to incorporate more balance. My Mondays and Sundays are in stark contrast. For me, Mondays are cleaning days. I spend basically the entire day cleaning. Sundays are resting days. Especially recently, I have tried to be much more intentional on the ways we spend our Sundays. While I don’t think there is anything wrong with having days dedicated to specific things, there needs to be balance. On Mondays, I usually end the day so burnt out because I spent the majority of my time cleaning. Continuing with my metaphor, Mondays are all about the blueberries, but even Mondays need a sliver of cake. Sundays are all about the cake. No laundry. Crockpot dinners. No agenda. However, a day full of cake is not good for us either. We need protein. We need vitamins. We need color. As I am currently learning, Sundays also need blueberries. It can’t just be cake. Balance is needed on a daily basis, but that balance is going to look different with each day. Certain days, work will outweigh play and rest; others the rest will be the focus. I think we can get into ruts when we forget the importance of balancing our days out. We forget to add the blueberries to the cake.
Will the Sabbath be ruined if we sweep the floors? Will the Monday cleaning day be ruined if I take a nap? I have a habit of functioning in a black and white mindset that does not leave room for in-betweens. It is either all or nothing. I am learning this is not a healthy way to live. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with occasionally having a big slice of cake on its own, I hope to better strive at creating my days with greater balance that makes room for both the cake parts of life and also the blueberries elements because the truth is- they both are sweet on their own and even sweeter together.
This Mama Needs Grace 