When You Feel Like You Can’t Do Enough

A note from the editor: This is a guest post by one of the most amazing women and mothers I know about her struggles of feeling like she can’t do enough.

Life can be overwhelming and it is easy to feel as though there are more things that we “have” to do than we could ever get done in three lifetimes. We are trying to work a job or keeping a home while running kids to different activities and practices. We are trying to help a friend in need, drop off a meal or freshly baked bread, and minister to those around us. It is easy to get swept up trying to do it all and still feeling like we fall short. But we can’t do every good deed that everyone we love could use; it is impossible.

We came here to earth to learn, and part of that learning is how to prioritize and sometimes say no. Even as I write this, I cringe. Saying no has always been hard for me; it feels selfish. After all, we are consistently asked to go that second mile and taught that we can be the hands of God as we go beyond and edify our callings. I didn’t want to somehow miss something that God expected me to do, I didn’t want to let Him down, so I tried to do it all, everything I could possibly do. But I recently learned something when reading in John 21 that helped me to gain some perspective.

After Christ was crucified, some of the disciples (fishermen by trade) went back to what they knew and started fishing at the sea of Tiberias. They worked all night long casting out and pulling up the nets, but they caught nothing. Then someone came to them and asked if they had fish, to which they responded “no”. Then that person told them to cast their net on the other side of the ship and so they did. They caught so many fish that they were unable to pull them all up. That is when the disciples realized that they were speaking to the resurrected Lord. After a full night of work and no fish, they were able to catch a bountiful one-hundred and fifty-three with a single cast of the net. Later, the Lord tells his disciples to “Feed my sheep.”

Why do I share this story? Because we are like those disciples. Sometimes we are so busy running around working and trying, but it does little good. In fact, we can be so busy and distracted that we don’t even recognize when the Lord is standing right in front of us asking us to take specific action. We may be up all night, serving and casting our net and matter how hard we try, there is no “net gain” from our actions. We can thoroughly exhaust ourselves constantly looking for doing all the good things we think we should do. But in the story above, something changes when Christ appears and directs the work. He tells the disciples to simply change where they are casting their nets, and the result was completely different.

When we are doing what the Lord wants us to do, the same action, the same amount of effort, the same casting of the net becomes powerful and yields many more fishes or fruits. So many, the net is full to bursting. So the trick isn’t to do more work or more service. It is to do the service He wants you to do. It is to be purposeful in your efforts and be led by the spirit so that the work you chose to engage in is the one led by the Lord. It might not be where you naturally think you need to put efforts. But the spirit will ultimately lead us to places where our efforts are most needed, we just have to listen, trust, and take action.

Part of this means we must eliminate distractions, even good things (yes, maybe even that freshly baked bread) so that we have time for those quiet moments that prepare our minds so the spirit can guide us to what really matters most. So now my question every morning, when I wake up and kneel, is “Lord, where shall I cast my net? What would YOU have me do today?” It is not possible for us to do all we think we “should” do in a day, so it is necessary to make sure we are intentional and choosing, with the spirit, the very best. I know that if we do this, the Lord will magnify our efforts and turn even a meager offering into a bountiful one.

“We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”
Dallin H. Oaks