Impossible Task? You May Just Need to Slice it

My kids love being given an entire apple. Every time we're going to eat apples, they beg me, "Mom, PLEASE don't cut it! Give it to me whole!"

Inevitably, I know what will happen. In ten minutes I'm going to have two apples with their surfaces covered in tiny teeth marks... but no substantial eating done. The novelty wears off, it just seems like too much fruit for them to finish, and they walk away, leaving them to get brown, soft, and yucky. Then I feel guilty throwing so much food away two hours later.

To better accommodate everyone, we've made a little switch. I still give them a whole apple each. Now I just require them to finish it. When they tell me that it is too big, I offer to slice it up for them. Although they'd rather die than have a sliced apple initially, once they've enjoyed a shiny round orb for a few minutes, they are willing to have it cut. When the apple is divided into nice, manageable pieces, they can usually finish it up pretty quickly.

The other day as I was slicing yet another nibbled over apple for my son, I thought about how his apple is so much like many of life's difficult tasks. Presented as a whole, a job can seem overwhelming and impossible.

I might peck and peck, here a nibble, there a nibble, and see very little progress. But when I look at the goal, determine how it can best be divided, and attempt it one little slice at a time, it suddenly becomes more manageable.

I'm finding this to be true of running a smooth and orderly home- one little load of laundry done from start to finish every day, making sure the dishwasher runs every evening after dinner, and cleaning up a few minutes at a time as I go about my day makes my home far less overwhelming.

It was true of compiling my ebook- I wasn't able to get it together as fast as I wanted to, and I still have behind the scene's work that I'm doing spread the word {that I wish I was already done with}. But I made a list- sliced up that seemingly mammoth goal into one step at a time pieces, and I still can't believe I did it!

Whatever might be overwhelming you today, one of the best things you can do is stop staring at the giant apple and telling yourself how impossible it is. You've tried before with so many bites... now it's time to just get out a sharp knife and cut it right up. One manageable bite at a time.

By God's grace, you can do this!