Frustration and Fulfillment

by Cheryl Merrick

My days sped by
uncontrolled and full of guilt.
Constantly, I felt a failure.
I forgot so many things.
I never felt that I was managing my life well.
Important things were not getting done.

Moreover, I felt frustrated.
I was rarely getting to any writing.
Poems withered unexpressed.
Business letters needed to be done.
I had to push just to get out the missionary letters,
and the visiting teaching thought.
What was happening to my days?
I seemed to be getting so little done.


Slowly, the Lord has been helping me to understand
that creative projects need to come first.
Details will tire me so much that
I will be not be able to do anything besides rest afterwards.
Therefore, I must delegate all details possible,
saving my limited energy for planning and writing.

Also, I now see that writing requires
far more time and energy than I had realized.
Now, though I’m structuring the late afternoon for details,
I’m reserving the rest of my day for creative projects.

Knowing that if I do not use my talents,
they will be taken from me,
I’m striving to express my gratitude
for the gifts the Lord has given me
by using them to inspire and uplift
those in my sphere of influence.