Are you Doing Too Much? Not Enough?
- Maggie Wallem Rowe
- Jun 23
- 3 min read
We’re on similar voyages, but not in the same vessels.
What kind of boat were you built to be?
AUDIO LETTER
HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN TOGETHER with a group of friends who share an affinity group—maybe you’re all connected through a community organization, church, or neighborhood—and wondered privately what some of your buddies do all day?
Truth be told, it’s tempting to feel a bit judgy sometimes. You’re constantly on the go, never enough hours in the day, while others seem to have lots of leisure time.
Or maybe you’re aware of a friend’s timetable of travel, family responsibilities, work, and volunteerism, and you wonder how on God’s green earth she does it all. Just hearing about her schedule is exhausting, and you’re concerned she’s either overdoing it or that you simply aren’t doing enough. Compared to an over-achiever like that, your life seems a little diminished.
Doing too much? Not enough?
Decades ago, a spiritual mentor taught me a principle that sprung the latch on the comparison trap more than anything I’d heard before or since.
In the late-90s, I was attending a women’s leadership conference at Elmbrook Church near Milwaukee where Jill Briscoe, now 90, was the keynote speaker. In her lovely British accent, Jill cited a verse from the gospel of Matthew with which we weary leaders were quite familiar.
“When Jesus said, ‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,’ he used a nautical word for laden meaning ‘overloaded,’" Jill explained.
“Around every boat is a waterline that determines how much weight it can carry. Every one of us women, and men too, are like a boat; we each have a waterline. If you load us beyond the waterline, we’ll sink. If you do not allow us to carry the burdens we’re built for, we’ll drift. We need to help each other discover what kind of ‘boat’ each of us is, and what our carrying capacity is.”
Jill went on to offer several examples. One of her friends was like a cargo ship, built to carry heavy loads of responsibility with competence. Another was a skiff: “She’s a lovely little thing who can manage only one thing at a time, and she does that one thing very well!”
Another friend was a cruise ship who seemed to sail through life with equanimity. Still another was a ferry (“She carts half the neighborhood around!”).
And as for Jill herself?
“I think I’ve become a bit of a battleship,” she laughed. “Perhaps one must be to manage a lifetime in the ministry!”
I’ve never forgotten that metaphor.
At times, many of us are tempted to think that we’re simply not enough. Not smart enough, strong enough, no-longer-young enough to take on certain responsibilities. The truth, though, is that God’s grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9) for those tasks that He has designated for us alone. The rest may well belong on someone else’s cargo deck.
And if we’re doing too much? Our bodies keep the score, don’t they. When the boat-we’re-built-to-be starts to sink below the waterline—when it’s too “heavy-laden”—it’s time to return to the harbor for the rest God knows we need. Comparing ourselves with others only clouds the course. We sail best when we trust the Builder.
We are one Body, but many boats. Sail on, my friends!
IT’S YOUR TURN. Please add to the conversation by responding to one of these questions: Does this metaphor resonate with you? Are we designed to carry different loads of cargo at different times of our lives? What kind of “boat” do you think you are in this season?