Perils of a Nurturing Nature

I love helping others and sometimes I am overwhelmed by either agreeing to take on too many tasks and getting in over my head, or by volunteering and doing the same (sigh).

Anytime anyone ever asks what my best character trait is, most say "nurturing." Nurturing gets me in trouble for several reasons. Mostly, I cannot help helping.
Now this might sound like a good thing. But I worked and supported myself for well over 50 years. Most times, my efforts to help were seen as interfering or butting in. No matter how I soft-pedaled my efforts, there was bound to be one person who felt that I should not have offered the information I tried to share in the first place.

That is one peril.

Another one, a big one for me, is that I often am overwhelmed by too many things on my plate. I am slowly learning, at my ripe old age, to say "no." I have even learned to say it gently, and quickly. But I haven't learned to say it often enough.

I worry these days that taking on too much for some folks will cause me to neglect some promises to other folks. This is one of those things that obviously must be dealt with in prayer. I am so grateful to have the Lord to go to in this case.

Father, thank you for enabling me to help others; send me the wisdom and grace enough to know which tasks I should accept and which can easily be done by others, that I may honor your trust in me to help those you place in my path.