Taking Time To Clean Our Burners

I don't think our stove top has ever been this clean!

Last night as I was cooking dinner, I started to smell a strong burning smell come from the kitchen stove. When I looked close enough, I could see that something was on the bottom of the burner and was burning more and more as the food was cooking. This morning I decided that it was time to take the time to clean the burners on the stove top. I don't know about you, but it's a big enough blessing to have the time to cook dinner...much less, take the time to clean the burners. As I was thinking about this though, it clicked with me that there was a "life analogy" happening right before my very eyes. 

We often go,go,go...tons of great, fun, busy, exciting, positive, life-giving, blessed things going on, people we love to be with, sweet fellowship, wonderful occasions to be celebrated and so forth...but there comes a time when we have to be disciplined enough to step back and take care of ourselves before moving forward. The marriage moment of the week that comes to mind in all of this is the fact that we were planning to go out of town this weekend to one of our favorite places...Nashville! 

At the beginning of the week when we started talking through how busy we've been and how life doesn't look like it's going to be slowing down anytime soon (!!) ... we talked about committing it to prayer this week about whether or not we should go or stay here and have a chill weekend...just the three of us! There was no specific occasion we were going to Nashville for, simply excited about connecting with dear friends and enjoying a fun Fall weekend in one of our favorite spots. Well, the reality is that we need to take a step back and take care of ourselves...make time for those husband and wife moments of quality time on the porch that get lost in the hustle and bustle...have a cozy Saturday morning at the house as we make pumpkin blueberry pancakes and snuggle our baby boy...and take one minute at a time and not have every minute planned out. Whoooo! Much needed! It's hard to do though! 

So bringing it full circle...life is much like the burners on the kitchen stove. Sometimes you have to make the time to stop and clean the burners so that it doesn't smell awful each time  you cook in the future. In the same way, we are putting a halt to "our plans" and choosing to take a weekend to rest in the plans the Lord has for us and "clean our burners" so that we don't run on empty in these days and weeks to come...