Decisions, decisions

I am struggling a lot right now trying to make wise choices about how to use my time and energy. (Who doesn't, anyway?) I've been asked in the past several weeks to: bring meals to families with new babies (no one needs to tell me how much it will be appreciated, but still I feel like I need to be the one receiving meals); help with VBS (fun, worthy cause, but also draining); and teach a beginning Spanish class for homeschoolers in my area of town (right up my alley, but again, very time-consuming and draining). I also have a big long list of people that I'd like to have over and get to know better, but haven't because I'm exhausted all the time, and I feel like I'm doing well just to make dinner for the three of us. And I feel like I've let the few relationships that I do have start to disintegrate, because I simply don't have the energy to call or write to people.

I know I have very limited energy, and it's hard to judge in advance how much I'm capable of (not as hard to judge in retrospect). Do I agree to do things that I feel obligated (and want) to do, and then just hope and pray that God will give me the energy? I've tried this before, and sometimes it works and sometimes not. Or do I say no to everything until my body is healthier? My energy level is not improving at all, but I don't want to live the rest of my life waiting to serve others until I feel better, because I'm not sure I ever will. Sometimes when I serve others, it helps me get the focus off of myself, and I end up feeling energized, happy that I was able to help someone. Other times, when I attempt to serve others, I feel worse because I end up stretching my limited energy too thin. How do I know beforehand which it will be? Is it better to commit to something and then back out, or not commit at all? How do I walk the line between taking care of myself, and taking care of others? I'd love to know if anyone knows anyone who is good at this, and how they do it....

Presidential Candidate Calculator

My MIL just forwarded me this interesting "calculator" that helps you match up your beliefs and preferences on various issues with presidential candidates. Of course, I suppose this assumes that all candidates would actually act on whatever position they currently say they hold once they get into office; I would have liked it better if it had included "history of consistent voting record" as part of the calculation.

While there is not one candidate that I feel completely comfortable voting for at this point (for one reason or for many), this was a quick way to figure out who the candidates were that I could most likely (and least likely) support, although I think I already had a rough idea about this before I used the calculator. I liked that you could plug in not only "yes," "no," or "unsure" for each issue, but also that you could rate each issue according to how important it was to you. The calculator also has a two-or-three-paragraph explanation of each side of the argument for each issue, in case you are unfamiliar with any of them.

I will not necessarily vote for the top candidate that was returned to me in the calculator, but I think the candidate I end up voting for will probably have been in the top 5 (out of about 20) results that the calculator gave me after I plugged in my answers. I don't want my blog to turn into a political one, so I'm not sure I want to post my specific results; but I'd love to exchange emails if you want to know, or want to tell me what answers the calculator gave you.