Sometimes I can look back and see that God gave me a pivot-point; a place in my life where I came to a corner, and turned, and things changed because of it.
I'm at a pivot-point right now. After a very long season of being busy, with a crammed schedule, hurried days, and a 'to do list' that was never very doable, I'm sensing a call to S.L.O.W.D.O.W.N. a lot.
Right now I'm reading Breathe, by Keri Wyatt Kent - all about putting margins back into your life, with God at the center, rather than having him pushed to the edges of the paper of life. I think it's going to be a life-changing book for me.
Also, Overcoming Overload, by Steve & Mary Farrar, Seven Ways to Find Rest in Your Chaotic World, and it's gotten me thinking about taking a Sabbath rest, once a week. This will likely be a work in progress, as I shape some things to make this possible. It sounds silly, but a start for me is to declare one day a week a 'no-painting zone'! I'm hoping to include more dog walking, cleaning out flowerbeds (that's play for me), naps, reading. I'll let you know how this shapes up.
Last, A Simple Christmas (a faith-filled guide to a meaningful and stress-free Christmas), bought this past January. DH and I are planning to do some things very different this year, starting with not exchanging gifts because we don't need anything. Really. We're thinking rather than taking away from the holiday, it will make it more special. I'll share more on this as I go too.
In the meantime, it's Sunday - my first Sabbath rest. It started with getting up early to enjoy the sunny morning. I'm heading into the kitchen to make blueberry waffles and bacon, then we'll spend some time raking the leaves together. When DH settles into his recliner to enjoy the football games, I'm going to spend the rest of my day doing whatever feeds my soul. Not sure yet what that will be, but it sure sounds nice to figure it out.
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9 comments:
Bev,
Great post. I think the Sabbath is as hard as tithing at some points. I was talking to someone this past week about these two things... how we love to say we tithe at times but we're so far in debt that a better step might be to pay down debts so we're free to give more to God.
I think its the same with our rest. Not many people are left today who actually practice the Sabbath, but most of us are too busy--maybe indebted to busyness. Blessings as you figure this out. Rest well and you will be restored well.
I am here from BigMama blog. (Congrats on the win!) I love your post and I'll be back...after I buy "Breathe"....
Yes, congrats on winning at BigMama's!
Reading this post you actually sounded more relaxed than you usually do. And it made me feel relaxed too.
I am writing down those books. They sound so good.
I want to read A Simple Christmas. Our family has Sabbath rest on Saturday and worship on Sunday. Having that margin of time to rest and reconnect is one of my favorite things about our family.
Simplifying Christmas and slowing down both sound like a wonderful thing to me. I like the example of putting margins back into your life with God at the center.
I need to slow down too. Its hard to at times though. Esp with the holidays fastly approaching...I do however pace myself...my hardest part is staying healthy during these times....
We're simplifying Christmas this year too, and admittedly, it's as much out of necessity as it is, I just don't want to feel completely worn out afterwards, like I do every year.
I love it that you seriously plan to slow down.
Love it. Shouldn't we all have breathing space and put our margins around God? Well said. Since I'm "unequally yoked", it's hard to declare a complete Sabbath day, but I do let DH know that I much prefer to rest after church and do our "big" meal with company on Saturday night instead of Sunday (if we're going to do one). It's nice to take Sabbath moments throughout the week. Whenever I find myself dropping into legalism, I take a breath and remember that preachers work on Sundays, right? Surely God is flexible, as long as we lay our heart before Him and allow Him to feed us as we rest.
Sounds like Congrats is in order, too. :)
My soul is a "be-er" and the world says be a "do-er," so I have struggled for years that I'm not doing enough, lazy, etc. I am finally realizing I should accept who I am.....and just "be." I love being home, having lengthy QTs, walking the dogs, piddling around the house, etc., etc. I never lack for something to do and am never bored, but I definitely need my "down time" to just sit and "be"....and I don't want to feel guilty about it. I'm getting there. I do have to be careful about wasting time, though...which can be tricky.
Christmas for us will be reduced to its simplest elements as my husband will be recovering from cancer surgery.....puts things in perspective, to be sure.
Enjoying every "normal," "simple" moment is such a wonderful blessing, as you never know when the normalcy or simplicity will be replaced with problems, big and small.
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