Put your oxygen mask on first!

This is a line that all of us hear from the flight attendants before we take to the air on a plane. I have always listened to what they are saying and I have actually thought about it a few times as they were saying it. But those times I was thinking of it as actual oxygen.

I thought about it a little more and maybe even on a deeper level when I recently watched the great movie 'Mom's Night Out'. I'm sure many of you have seen it, if you haven't then please do- it's GREAT! Well, I have seen it multiple times, but for some reason when I watched it with a couple girlfriends this week and I heard the lines again, something hit me. Not really for just the 'mom' parts of my life, but in so many aspects of it.

In the movie, the main character Ally has reached a breaking point in her 'mommy' life and her husband reminds her that she needs to put on her oxygen mask first. She needs her oxygen before she can help anyone else.

You need your oxygen first!
I need my oxygen first!

Again, this does not just apply to those that have children. It applies to a marriage, a friendship, to work, to an opportunity, to ministry, to mentoring, to pretty much anything that you have going on in your life.

My oxygen first..... what is my oxygen? What do I need first before I can help anyone else? What do I need to be full of before I can help others?

Well I pondered this for a little while. I'm not done pondering it actually and I pray that God continues to reveal more to be about this. But I did realize that when I am not where I need to be with the Lord, when I haven't been in His Word, when I haven't filled my heart with praises to Him- these are the times that I find it difficult to help others. I can't fulfill my part of a ministry, it's harder to be the wife I need to be, it's frustrating to tend to my children, it's difficult to help out a friend when I've got my own stuff to work through, it's hard to tell a teen how to grow closer to God when I'm struggling myself, the list could go on and on.

So that's what I feel that my oxygen is at this point in my life- it's God! I need to be filled with God before I can help others. This is something that I personally struggle with- I tend to put myself on the backburner in so many ways. And taking time to spend with God is not an exception- unfortunately.

I pray that God will help me continue to work on this. Help me Lord to fill myself with the oxygen I need- YOU!

I pray that each of you give yourself the oxygen first! Fill yourself up, so you can pour out to others!

Blessings,

Jamie