The Beauty of Naming What Matters

What’s the state of affairs in your sock drawer these days?

Are you a planner? A scheduler? An organizer much? 

In order to stay on top of life while homeschooling four kiddos who also live in my house and call me “Mama” (and expect meals at regular intervals), I’ve built some systems and patterns into our life that have helped me run hard at this Mama gig without feeling like the wheels are gonna come off at any moment.

So when Kendra Adachi’s new book, The Lazy Genius Way popped up on my radar, I kind of wondered: do I need help with my system or do I have a good thing going? Should I leave well enough alone? 

Her book is an invitation to “Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done.”

When I decided to crack open the cover and step in, I realized there was one important step my systems often seem to be missing: Naming What Matters.

If you’re anything like me, you might think just about everything matters. And because I think everything matters, I kind of try to do everything right – and then feel like I’m sort of failing a lot of the time.* 

*Except maybe sheets. My sister asked for recommendations for new sheets on Facebook this week, and people were passionate about the subject. I quickly realized: hmm! I’ve found something that doesn’t really matter to me!

Want some examples in the “this matters” category? Sure thing.

I think I’ve had five or less bottled waters this year because I’ve been on a personal mission to reduce the amount of single-use plastic I consume. Might be weird to you.

I’m a little bit over-the-top about finding recipes that triple so that I can freeze ⅔ for future meals and spend less time in the kitchen. Also…maybe odd to you.

But the step that comes before those choices is the one I need to zoom in on: the bottled water thing has to do with caring about the planet. The batch cooking thing has to do with wanting to fill my hubs and kiddos’ tummies with home-cooked meals without working myself silly.

It’s up to me to name what matters, and then choose the next steps accordingly. 

For many of us, this is where the challenge comes in: what matters to me and what matters to you are probably going to look different. So who’s got it right?

We were created differently, right?

I sat still and pondered Psalm 20:4 this week, “May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose.”

We were created with different missions. We were created for different purposes. Our lives are but a breath – but God has plans for these breaths, and no two will look the same.

So I get to name what matters to me, and you get to name what matters to you. We both get to stand before Jesus, and hold out our hands and say, “This is what I did, because this is what I thought mattered.”

Neither of us is going to get everything right. There is grace.

But if I eat sour grapes, my lips will pucker, right? Not yours.

So in the midst of our frustrations with our neighbors, our concerns over political choices, and our preferences about everything from loading a dishwasher to choosing a new set of sheets, it’s important to remember that we were created differently, and different things are going to matter to each of us.

You’ve heard me say it before, maybe? Each of us has our own calling to faithfulness.

We can allow that truth to help us choose wisely how we are going to spend this blip of a life we have on the timeline of eternity. And we can also allow that truth to remind us that different things matter to others – and that’s okay.

Is there hard-and-fast Truth that is never gray? Absolutely. His Name is Jesus – and He’s also the Way, and the Life. He’s the Word we should cling to. He’s the Anchor for our souls. I will keep talking about Him because He matters to me.

But even the way we choose to worship Him and live into that Truth is going to look different for each of us, and rightfully so.

Let’s take a deep breath and make space for our differences this week. 

If you’d like some help discerning what matters to you, I highly recommend The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi.

If you’d like some help dealing with people who are different, look back at Psalm 139 and remember: we were created in different ways for different reasons… but we all, all, ALL bear the image of God.

Let’s Stay in Our Lane, and keep being faithful.

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