Encouragement for Today
Principle 4
“Regulation is Delegation”
Lysa TerKeurst, President of Proverbs 31 Ministries
Key Verse:
Psalm 121:1-2, “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (NIV)
Devotion:
Do you need a little help today? When drastic times call for drastic measures, my all-purpose solution has become delegate, delegate, delegate. As women, we have a tendency to be such caretakers, that we naturally gravitate to trying to do everything ourselves. God created us to be helpers (Genesis 2:18) for our husbands and families, but too many times we end up obligating ourselves to so many tasks that we become the one desperate for help!
Often, we women will get into a predicament and find ourselves saying, without thinking, “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of it.” Or, we’re simply perfectionists who don’t believe anybody else is able to do the task right or as well as we will. But if we cannot get everything done that is required of us, we must take an honest assessment with a solution in mind. My solution is to ask for help.
Ultimately, our help comes from God above. Sometimes God will supernaturally swoop down and smooth over a stressful situation in our lives. But more often than not, He will strategically place certain people around us to help out. He knows our limits even more than we do. The wisdom comes in recognizing that we must be willing to give away responsibility of those things, which do not necessarily demand our foremost attention.
In order to make this possible in my life, I usually divide my tasks into three categories. Knowing the difference between these three categories is life transforming!
- Only I can do this (Watch out all of you perfectionists, this will not always be the case!).
- Someone else can do it under my guidance.
- Or, I can hand this off to someone else freely.
The first category implies that only I can do certain things. For example, no one else can spend time with the Lord for me. No one else can exercise for me… (Oh how I wish they could!) No one else can write my books for me. This first category is things I make time for by giving other tasks away.
The second category is things that someone else can do under my guidance. The important thing here is to clearly communicate your expectations to the person you are giving a task to and train them to do the job the way you want it done. Once you’ve successfully done this, you can then hand the task off to them.
This is where my kids come in! There are lots of household tasks that if trained properly the children are perfectly capable of handling. Also, I have a sitter that helps me run my afternoon carpools. For my sanity’s sake, our family gives up other things in order to have the finances to make this possible.
In Psalm 96:10-13 we are reminded that all things fall under the authority of God. As their Creator, they all must obey according to His will. This order and authority brings me great peace and comfort. For I know that nothing happens in my life that has not been first filtered through the hands of God. Each day, I must call on Him to be my portion as I submit my plans, ideas, and desires to His ultimate authority. It brings me comfort and joy to know that no matter what, I can call on God for help because He is in control.
My Prayer for Today:
Dear Jesus, I acknowledge that You are in control of each and every activity of my day. Thank You for being my Helper and sending other helpers to me. I want to be the best helper I can be to my husband and family, so I ask that You give me the wisdom I need to know when to call on those extra hands. Teach me the benefits and joy of working with others through the blessing of delegation. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
If you’re feeling overloaded, spend a few minutes evaluating the tasks in your day. Give my method a try and list them under one of these three categories:
- Only I can do this (Watch out you perfectionists, this will not always be true!)
- Someone else can do it under my guidance.
- I can hand this off to someone else freely.
From there, don’t be afraid to enlist the help of the following people:
- Kids – they can do simple chores around the house that you don’t have time to do.
- Husband – have him pick up a few needed groceries on his way home from work.
- Outside help – one creative solution is to look for a home schooled helper. I found a family of teenaged home school girls that were looking to make some extra money who would come over and help me with whatever chores I couldn’t get done on my own.
Reflection Points:
- Are there tasks in your life that can be delegated to others?
- Are you willing to ask your husband and kids for help?
- Do you need to look outside your home for a helper to delegate some of the things that might be bogging you down?
Power Verses:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” (NASB)
Luke 14:28-30, “Suppose one of you builds a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (NIV)
Acts 19:20-22, “In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to
Additional Resources:
The Bathtub is Overflowing, But I Feel Drained; by Lysa TerKeurst
Home Management Tips for Hot Food & Clean Clothes. ETC Corner
Tips for Avoiding “Ministry Madness, ETC Corner
Originally published Friday, 29 September 2006.
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