Letting Go

The past week or so, I've been like a child who takes each one of her toys off a shelf and looks each one over and then has the painstaking decision of whether to keep it or give it away.  As I pull each activity off the shelf and lovingly look at it, I find some reason that I should keep it and put it back up there.  Each one provides a special memory or invokes an emotion and it's difficult. 

And yet, I know that I need to let go of some things.  What stays and what goes?  What is good, but not the best?  Which activity or talent do I keep doing and what needs to be cut out?  This one or that one? 

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! 

The problem is I love doing it all.  Through my sewing and soap business, I've met wonderful people.  I've gotten involved in our community.  I've made contacts.  As a woman in ministry, that is the goal.  So I don't want to give it all up yet, but obviously, need to streamline some things.

Business

I've decided the following that I need to eliminate some of the things I do because I'm just overwhelmed with the sheer amount of different types of crafts I make.

• When I've used up my soy wax, I'm not going to be making candles anymore.
• I'm cutting out the card making, other than for myself.  I don't really gain great pleasure in doing these.
• I'm sticking to one type of soap (goat's milk).  Out of the regular soap and goat's milk, I think the quality is better with the goat's milk.  But even the soaps may end up going altogether, depending on whether I can manage all of this on top of some new upcoming ministry responsibilities.
• I will continue to do salves because they sell really well but am getting rid of the scrubs.  Again, continuing this will depend on my busyness.
• I'm going to be extremely picky with the type of custom orders I do.  Some things I make money on but others, such as napkins, I make very little.  If I do custom orders, I need to do a better job of charging what my time is worth.  The other issue is that custom orders eat up a lot of time whereas I'd rather make some items and then just sell those.
• The jams and jellies are just going to be seasonal.
• At the end of this week I will be taking my things out of the local antique store because I just haven't made back my fee in the past 3 months and I also have to work 8 hours a month.

Ministry

This is a little harder for me, but I'm working at it. ;-) 

• I have two helpers for children's church right now so I'm not having to do it every week. 
• I spoke with our worship leader and told her I only wanted to sing once a month. 
• I've asked a friend at church to teach the bible study portion of our monthly women's group. 

The reality is that we are in a very spiritually healthy church here with many people willing to step in and do things.  My main role, as I see it, is to support my husband and be available to visit and minister to people with him, and also to focus on the children's ministry. 

I really wanted to branch out into something else when we came here but the one area that was lacking was anything for children and I think that is necessary for church growth.  Since I love kids, am good with them, and think it's a priority, I'm going to keep involved with this until God sends someone else to step in.

I'm still pretty involved with things (doing the bulletins and church calendar and I'm also a deaconess).  But I truly enjoy these activities and they are not a burden to me. 

So my weeks have been all about evaluating and tweaking and letting go of those toys! ;-)