All I Need Is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl's Search for Grace by Susanna Foth Aughtmon Page A

beware. You thought when you got out of school, when you had that college diploma in hand, that your homework days were over. Not so. When your kids have homework, once again, you have homework. People need to tell other people these things so that people can prepare themselves for the devastation of having homework again. There are three meals and thirteen snacks to be made each day. And thirteen snacks is not that many. Sometimes kids want fifteen snacks a day. There are books to be read, games to be played, and friends to have over.
    And there is work busy. I organize other people’s lives because, goodness knows, mine is a mess. That entails scheduling and childcare and organization so that I can leave my unorganized house to go organize someone else’s house. And there is writing. Somewhere in all my craziness, I must find a quiet moment and a clean table to put my computer on so that I can try to pull together some semblance of order out of my scattered brain and write with wittiness and hope.
    Then there is church busy. There is house prep for gatherings at our house. There is setup at the theater on Sunday when everyone meets for our large gathering. There is worship practice. There is Sunday school prep. There is the actual service. There is the occasional mom’s group and ladies’ night out. There are retreats and denominational meetings. There are missions trips and community outreaches. We don’t play around when it comes to church.
    Now, really, tired supergirls, must I go on? I didn’t even mention trying to set aside time for dating my husband, one-on-one time with the kids, getting together with friends, planting flowers, doing the bills, or sleeping. Did I mention sleeping yet? Oh, and Jesus. For goodness’ sake, how could I forget to mention finding time for Jesus? I guess it would be because I am so very busy that I frequently forget that I must make time for the Savior of my soul. And somehow, some way, he seems to be the one person I don’t ever write down in my organizer. When I’m actually using my organizer. Sometimes I forget to use it when I am so busy.
    Supergirls everywhere are struggling to find a balance between work, family, church, friends, and Jesus. We are cramming our lives full to overflowing and we can barely breathe. There are so many good, valid, important things to be done along with the fact that we just don’t know how to order our lives, how to maximize our potential, or how to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished.
    That’s when Miz Do Good enters the picture. She is the rules-and-regulations gal that lives in your head. She likes to help you out in your Christ-following journey, saying things like, “If you read five chapters of Scripture, then you’re good. Three? Not so good. No Bible reading this week? You’re on the fast track to the fiery pit of destruction.”
    Or she’ll mention church attendance. “Wow, so you think you’re doing okay with just Sunday mornings? That’s interesting. You may want to rethink that.”
    And she also likes the saying “How can you say no?”
    She can be very encouraging about your acts of Christlikeness. Reminding you of all the goodness that you are already pouring yourself into, like that time you spent with your grandma at the nursing home or the run for cancer you did with your group from work. But then she just likes to ask little questions like, “But what about the orphans in Ethiopia? You should probably go on that missions trip. How can you say no to something that important?”
    Or she’ll mention something like, “You’ve been doing a fantastic job reading to your kids, but what about your friend Rita? She needs you to be more available. You better figure out how to spend some more time with her.”
    But that is where the direction ends, because she likes to be vague. She doesn’t seem to know how you will squeeze in three more things onto your be-more-like-Jesus to-do list. But she knows that you can