When You Wear Too Many Hats
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Welcome to you joining by finding your way here from my Proverbs 31 Ministries devotion today called Wearing Too Many Hats. {To read it, click here but be sure to come back for the giveaway!}
Tweet ThisDo you also wear too many hats? Are you a counselor, co-worker, daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother, aunt, grandma, neighbor, chef, nurse, counselor, referee, committee chair, and oh, yeah … a woman of God?
Maybe it is time you pressed pause and pulled back to refresh and refuel.
If you want to be entered to win one of three copies of my latest book Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Moms to Meet with Jesus leave a comment here tell us what hats you wear during the course of the week or why you need to press pause for a while.
It’s time we moms grabbed a little piece of quiet.
As a mom of 2 children under 3, wife to a first responder with crazy hours and having 3 part time jobs myself it is hard to find time to press pause. Thank you for this devotion, it was much needed.
I am mom, employee, wife, daughter, sister, chronic illness fighter and natural worry wart. I definitely wear TOO many hats!
Thanks Karen for this wonderful blog post.
So much truth in it. I can “copy paste” your words to my thoughts I had since last weekend.
One weekend a year I can leave with my husband and we choose a little house near the forest. (Ardennen – South of Belgium) And last Sunday we spoke openly about everything what’s going on in our lives. Busy for shore.
My husband is a fulltime missionary in our own country, leading a men movement called the 4th musketeer and joining the base leadership at YWAM Brussels. As well he is coaching young leaders in youth ministry. Together we’re in the leadership team of our church. I work as a teacher at primary school and I’m involved in Godly Play Flanders, bringing the Bible stories to children. Besides all that we have three wonderful children…
So my hats: wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, neighbour, collegue, teacher, church co-leader, worshipleader, coach for young couples, …
So time left??
I cried a lot last Sunday. How are we managing all? and how can we reduse our responsibilities and still be doing what we love to do and most of all doing what God wants u to do…
So your words today are a blessing and a perfect match with the sermon I listend on Monday.
I think God is talking and pointing towards His direction, time for me to sit down and enjoy His presence.
If you have more insides on how to manage a good Christian life fully engaged in society and still finding peace and rest…. I’d love to read your book!
With love, Ellen, a Belgian lady (an other hat)
Hats, hats, for sale . . . Sometimes I do feel like the man in that book, balancing all the various has as I go through the day and I’m so tempted to call out his same refrain . . . .hats for sale. Heck I’d give them away.
Your blog is so right that when we put in our crown first all else can seem manageable. I’ve experienced that and am amazed. Then the next day I’m just as amazed why I DON’T do that every day.
Chauffeur, meal planner, family organizer, guidance counselor, wife, daughter, comforting mother, teacher, designated reader, life coach, secretary / appoitment manager, travel agent, accountant, entertainer, encouraged, confidant, Girl Scout leader, and yes I could go on.
Striving to be a Proverbs 31 woman… wife, mom to 4 (ages 13 – 25), soon-to-be mother-law (wedding in three months), homeschooling with a husband who often works from home, and two yappy dogs…. :S
Thanks for the opportunity to win your new book. :)
Wife, Mother, Employee, Co-worker, Daughter, Grand-daughter, Sister, Friend…and Daughter of the King. I desperately need to press pause and put Daughter of the King at the top of the list! My heart has been heavy with this for a while now. There are several hats on this list that need to be freshened up as well. Thank you for your words or reminder and encouragement!
I need help with this!!!!! Thank you
I am a working mother of three active children. I am wife, working mom, mom, aunt, daughter, Awana teacher, Sunday school substitute, runner to get girls to activities, bible study attendee. I am never home. We usually have one night that we can sit down for supper all together. Thanks for your post today.
I’m not actually a mom yet but I do wear many hats. Full time nanny, part time babysitter, housekeeper, children’s church teacher, small group leader, significant other, best friend, sister, daughter etc. It’s hard to balance everything. But there is something to be said of the peace that God gives to those who are in His will. I try daily to seek God’s wisdom and guidance. It is only through His strength that I can wear any of my hats. ;)
Yes, as a retired widow I often find myself doing rather than being. I heard many years ago spending time with God is far more important than spending time for God. May I get an amen?
This devotonal resonates with me because I just made a difficult decision to remove one of my hats (11th Grade English teacher at a Christian school that I LOVE) to become a full time stay-at-home-mom. I have a two year old and another one on the way, and I just wasn’t sure that I would be able to juggle everything (or at least, juggle it WELL) if I kept my job. But I hope to go back one day! I also realize that my little ones will only be little once!
Oh boy! Do I ever! I think it’s part of life – and women especially for some reason. For me, the trouble isn’t necessarily all the hats … but trying to wear them perfectly, or all at once. I can’t be all things, to everyone, at all times. That’s God’s hat to wear. It’s something I’m still learning. But I know for certain, when I wear the hats He’s given me, with thankfulness and in submission to Him first, I’m much happier and able to wear them!
Oh my goodness… I’m a mom, chef, chauffeur, caretaker, maid, referee, wife, daughter, and friend. I would love this book!
I need/want to press pause – I am the single mom of 2 teenage girls who are growing up WAY. TOO. FAST!!!! I have tossed a few hats off in the last 2 years to be able to do that. Still working on a few more. Thanks for your wonderful post! I too love the mental image of the crown on my head first, then the rest of the hats!
Thanks for the reminder. My hats are piled high and toppling…I love the visual of making sure the crown is on first.
Thank you so much, Karen! I have the blessed situation of being able to press pause by retiring EARLY! I currently am the Gammie to 6 grandkids under 4 and I’m looking forward to having more time to love them. I have my list of “what I’m looking forward to” and on the top is TIME with God, then husband & family. I would like to get your book for my daughter, Sarah, who is raising 2 of the 6 and is looking for a mom devo that has scripture printed right in it. Thanks again for blessing us.
Thank you for the reminder to put God first. During my shower every morning, I pray to God to use me for His purpose, as He sees fit. I go into each day with an open mind. It seems though, as soon as I am in my car on the way to work, I forget my request and start piling on thoughts of all I “need” to do that day as a wife, mother, employee, daughter, sister, friend, grandmother and just like THAT, I am overwhelmed. Your article today put me “back in the shower” where I give myself permission to let God lead me today, rather than trying to forge my own path.
Thank you so much for this devotion. I always try to limit activities in our family but even with that we are too busy. I have been wrestling with eliminating a few things and I keep talking myself back into doing them so this was the affirmation I needed to step away from a few things.
Wow! So many hats are on not only my head, but others as well! My mom is still running us kids around, teaching, working out, writing, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, dishes, and through it all she can smile at the end of the day, month, or even year!! She has Jesus in her heart, and wants to slow down, but it’s hard with busy 16,14, and 12 year old children!! I think that if we stop and press pause for time with Jesus, it reflects out whole day. If I won this book, I would read it as well, but I would give it to her! Happy Jesus time!!?
How many hats to I wear? TOO MANY! I’m a mom of two young boys, a wife, a daughter, sister, friend. I work full-time, and I volunteer with several organizations. I often want to hang up one of my hats, but I’m encouraged by others to keep them all in my box and keep the course. All the work I do, I feel is important to the well-being of our community so it’s hard to choose what (if anything) to let go of.
Today, I snoozed my alarm and skipped my 5am workout. I was late for work. I had to get one ready for golf lessons and the summer babysitter; the other had to have bottles made and taken to daycare. I’ll run my errands on my lunch hour, so I can go straight home after work to start dinner. I’ll spend some time playing with the kids and getting them fed, before I rush off to the afternoon workout class (since I slept in this morning)! My husband will get the boys bathed and to sleep while he’s tending to the yard and other home repairs. I’ll return to eat dinner, straighten the house, and prep for the next day. I’ll crawl in bed and get a few minutes to read before I doze off to sleep.
As you said in this lesson, oftentimes the last hat I don, is the ONE I need to start with – the daughter of the King of Kings.
Mom, teacher, wife, friend, personal taxi service, accountability partner, and all that goes with the above.
Oh the hats! Different hats for different parts of life. At home the hats are of wife, mom, grandma, housekeeper, laundress, cook, shopper and chauffeur. (At least those are the ones I can think of right now.) At work, I am co-worker, friend, operator, receptionist, administrative assistant, classified ad poster (and editor), date entry specialist and publication proofreader/editor. In general I am daughter, sister, aunt, niece, friend, counselor and confidante. There may be even more, but they escape me right now. But one to not forget is daughter of the king.
As a wife, mother, Mimi, daughter, co-worker, church secretary, housekeeper, chief cook, dishwasher and so on…, I feel that I do need to press pause. Great devotional today to make me and all women think about what hat we need to put on first! Thanks for sharing.
This really spoke to me today! I got up at 600 to exercise, came home and woke up my kids and got the boys ready for basketball camp and got my daughter ready for swim team. Made breakfast for them while I was still in a towel from my shower after working out! Made breakfast for hubs and cat, got myself together and then I took on the role of bus driver as I dropped them off to their activities. Picked strawberries, picked kids up, cleaned the house, laundry, cooked dinner, watered the flowers, and got ready for the evening’s activities..baseball and baton lessons. Last week we had golf, vbs, and swimming. Travel baseball is going to be part of our weekends for the next two weeks. Summer has been fun but it has been really busy! Time to press pause!
As a brand new mom, all my hats have taken on new meaning as there just isn’t the time there used to be. I’m feeling stretched in many ways but feeling the call of my Saviour to spend a few minutes without his each day to recharge my perfectionist/worrier/introverted self. So many things to learn but mostly learning anew that I can do nothing apart from Him.