{"id":20397,"date":"2021-01-21T11:26:34","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T17:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=20397"},"modified":"2021-02-16T23:37:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T05:37:00","slug":"note-to-self-you-dont-need-to-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2021\/20210121-20397.htm","title":{"rendered":"Note to Self: You don’t need to finish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Somewhere along the way, I picked up the idea that if I’ve started something, I might as well finish it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in, “I resisted the temptation to eat my emotions for a while, but now that the bag of potato chips is open, I might as well finish the whole thing.” Or “I know I’m not supposed to yell at my children, but now that I’ve got the TIRZAH MAE!!!!! out, I might as well finish my tirade.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, I feel guilty afterward. I swear that I’m NOT going to do it again. But then the staccato (and much too loud) “LOU-IS!” springs forth from between my clenched teeth and there we are again. I started, so I might as well finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Tirzah<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Louis\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Beth-Ellen\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

But I’m coming to realize that’s not at all true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, if I want to have any success at not starting, I need to start by not finishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “BETH-ELLEN!!” bursts out. I feel immediately guilty – and I stop. I take a breath, check my tone: “I’m sorry. Mama shouldn’t have yelled. Beth-Ellen, you may not…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more practice I get at stopping and repenting, the sooner I remember to stop. The sooner I remember to stop, the less frequently I start. I get into the habit of obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit instead of ignoring him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my home becomes more and more peaceful, reflecting the fruits of the Spirit: peace, patience… gentleness, and self-control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental note: just because you started, you don’t need to finish. In fact, it’s much better that you don’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somewhere along the way, I picked up the idea that if I’ve started something, I might as well finish it. As in, “I resisted the temptation to eat my emotions for a while, but now that the bag of potato chips is open, I might as well finish the whole thing.” Or “I know I’m … Read more Note to Self: You don’t need to finish<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[828,1658,1657],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20397"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20397"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20407,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20397\/revisions\/20407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}