In my last post, I wrote about my own tendency to bow down toward my idols of self-sufficiency and mini-Messiahship. This week MSNBC.com posted an article about the impact of the “superwoman syndrome” on today’s women.

As women, we are beginning to recognize that abandoning family to chase after the American feminist ideal leaves us with an unfulfilled God-given desire. However, in this arena we are doing the same thing we do in other parts of our lives– we want it all. We want to fulfill our God-given desire for family life and motherhood AND have the full time job and maintain the lifestyle to which we have grown accustomed. Trying to do it our way and God’s way leaves us exhausted. Feeling as though everyone else expects us to do it all leaves us feeling hopeless.

This article highlights the stories of a few women who met their need to do it all through medicinal assistance; none of them had medical reasons to take the medication they took and they admit it was generally for an extra “boost” to get done all they thought they had to do.

This article brings me back to a question I have struggled with myself; when your To-Do list requires you to take medication in order to get it done, is your To-Do list God-imposed or self-imposed? I’m not talking about medication required to cope with trauma or those who have chemical imbalances that require medicine while learning coping skills. I’m talking about taking medication to give you the extra “boost” needed to get done what you want to, not just what’s required.

How do we as women in 21st century America know when we have crossed the line from using the blessing of God’s general revelation found in medicine to help us better serve Him, to abusing it by using it to enable our worship at the alters of busyness and self-sufficiency?