Hurry And A Life With Margin

  Whenever I consider the very idea that Jesus never rushed, I can’t help but get a tiny grin on my face.  Somehow with all Jesus did, knowing he was never in a hurry, just somehow blows my mind!

I admit there are days when I have a slower gait, slower mind set and am seemingly in no hurry at all to get things done.  But I really don’t get much done on those days.  That wasn’t case for Jesus.  He always accomplished so much—at least it seems so.  

I suppose it depends on what ‘accomplished’ means.  For me, it’s staying busy and getting all those things on my usually, way too long, to-do list done so I can cross
them off.  But am I really accomplishing anything….important, or am I just being ‘busy’?  Would it matter at all if those things on my list waited for another day, week or never get done at all?  Who would even care?

Depending on the ‘thing’ I would eventually care, because I like things neat and tidy.  But I wonder…do I get so preoccupied with getting my ‘list’ done, that I hurry through my early morning devotional and time spent with God, ------just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing my 'to-dos' off my list?  If this is true, my priorities are totally off! 

I’ve been reading about how Jesus never rushed!  ….Never in a hurry.  Even when he knew Lazarus was sick, he didn’t hurry to help him.  But he did have a plan.   Mary and Martha were hard pressed to imagine why Jesus, in their perspective, came too late to heal Lazarus, since he had already died.  Jesus’ plan of resurrecting Lazarus was way better than just healing him.  The impact of that miracle resonates with us even today!

Along with not rushing, is the very idea of resting.  Now that’s a tough one.  Resting for me means taking five minutes for a meal (especially now since I eat alone with Charles’ passing), and getting right back to it!  It’s so very difficult for me to just sit down and ‘be’.  I seriously struggle with that.  Somehow the idea of doing ‘nothing’ seems wrong.  I’m not being productive; I’m being lazy, I’ve got idle hands—what am I to do with them?! — Especially since in Proverbs 10:18 it talks about not having idle hands!

But God calls us to rest, because we are human and need rest.  Even He, on the seventh day after all the creating he did, six days before, took a day of rest.  What’s interesting is the idea of spending time with Him when we rest.  Even if it’s just going out and enjoying a walk in his creation!  I’m a quilter, and one of my favorite times for prayer is when I’m quilting.  It’s often quiet and a wonderful time to ponder thoughts and relax in the ‘presence of the Lord.’

What a gift that is.  Can you imagine what a life lived at the pace of Jesus would even look like?  I think it would be incredible!  We live our lives, it seems, in continued constant motion.  It rarely stops.  It inhibits growth within ourselves, it stunts relationships, devastates marriages, confuses children and exhausts the best of us to utter burnout sometimes!

As mentioned, I have a hard time s.t.o.p.p.i.n.g —just taking time to rest!  Once when I sit, I feel guilty because there are still too many things left on my list to do!  Perhaps the place to start is to make a smaller list!  Some have suggested to choose three things — only three of the most important things that need doing in any given day and do just those.  

       I’ve found, honestly when I do that, I’m a much happier (and less tired) person!  When I can finish the ‘work’ on my list by 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and then just enjoy myself for the rest of the day, it’s delightful!  I can actually sit down and read a book, study if I choose to, paint a picture, play music, write a letter, call a friend, and on and on.

I understand not everyone can finish their day’s work by mid afternoon.  But the idea is to deliberately set aside time to just be!  Do something that is relaxing and pleasant to recharge your tired mind, body and soul.  Now that’s a great gift!

Photo Credit: Slowing Down

Photo Credit:  To Do Lists

Photo Credit: Stopping For Rest 

Photo Credit: Living Life Slow

Photo Credit: Enjoying Life Slowly  

Less Noise; More Jesus

          There are times when I climb into bed at night, and it’s like the sun is shining brightly in my brain!  It’s awake and alive and motoring at 90 miles an hour! I flit from one place to another and in a moment can’t recall what I was thinking of before this last thought!  The topics were as random as spaghetti sauce and snow! Sometimes they are worrying or anxious thoughts, other times ideas and things I hope I remember in the morning.  Other times, there seems to be no logic to the places my head goes at all!

SLEEP REFUSES TO COME

I toss and turn, trying to dim the blazing light that refuses to settle in my brain.  I try counting sheep (that almost never works!). I pray over every one I can think of.   I try to recall alphabetically all the names of Jesus, (this one works most of the time, but not always) but finally I fall into a restless sleep that seems to overtake me all night.  Ultimately this often causes me to wake up as tired—or sometimes more tired, than I was before I crawled beneath the covers the night before!  

Am I the only one who deals with this?  Somehow I doubt it.  Our world is moving at a frantic pace and it’s hard to process it, even as we move through our day.  By the time we want to go to sleep, it’s like our brain keeps running in an effort to catch up!  

We’ll replay regrets, rehearse and relive our worst-case scenarios, dissect everything we did during the day—what we missed, what we wish we’d said or did, what we hope no one noticed, and imagine all kinds of absurd things we think people either saw or think we did! And then add all the social media posts we saw or read during the day, the news overload, and what we didn’t accomplish that’s going to make tomorrow even more difficult, our financial crisis, and on and on!  

TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT

We struggle to sort through fact and fiction while trying to focus on truth, but the lies interrupt because they shout louder!  We confuse our thinking with what we know and even have control over!  

                                                                              A SPIRITUAL WAR

Drowning out the noise, and surrounding our minds (and thoughts) to Jesus can be literally an all out spiritual war, because that’s the last thing Satan wants to have happen.  Mental clutter steals peace!  We are told in God’s Word that renewing our minds is important.  But it’s how we renew them that matters.  

We’ll never  have any kind of mental peace if all we hear is negativity from TV or read all about all the nastiness, back biting, downright hatred and other forms of evil on our computers!  Even newscasts are a huge measure of everything bad that’s going on all over the world!  We are urged to stay on top of all this nastiness because we need to be informed!

On top of this is the very graphic, weekly shows we can watch, which will lead our minds down diabolical paths!  It’s an anomaly to actually find a show which promotes goodwill.  Add to all the fake news about stars and events that haven’t even really happened, we can easily see, ‘ugly news sells!’

Renewal of our minds can only be found in the scriptures!  When we know God’s Word, we can ‘rightly divide’ the truth which comes from God and the lies which come from darkness—from Satan!  

DROWN OUT THE NOISE WITH JESUS

When we drown out the ‘dark noise’ from the world, we let in the bright Light that is Jesus!  Our attitudes will change, perspective, mindsets and perception!  We grasp onto optimism, courage, clarity, and possibilities!  We cling to joy, empowerment, and calm.  

Open your Bible on the nightstand.  Reach for the one on the shelf.  Slow down and spend time with our Creator.  Less noise and more Jesus means we are changing our lives from darkness, to an authentic relationship with our Creator. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Photo Credit: Trying to Fall Asleep 

Photo Credit: Waking Up Tired 

Photo Credit: Drowning The Noise In Our Heads 

Photo Credit: Renewing Our Minds In Christ 

Letting Go to Just Live

  De-cluttering is a huge theme in our lives these days.  In an era of ‘never enough’ we find ourselves faced with filled storage containers to simply contain all the ‘stuff’ that does not fit in our houses or the garage!

CONTAINERS OF MEMORIES!

A friend shares the story of how she had accumulated five large plastic tubs in the corner of her apartment, containing mementoes of her family heritage and history.  These containers had traveled across country several times, when moves were made and had become so large and heavy, physically moving them became a challenge! 

The goal had been to sort through all that was collected over the years, organize
the contents and then create well documented insights using the photos, slides, relevant documents, and other elements to give to each of her children.  

As the containers continued to ‘grow’ she opened one and discovered some of the contents, including an old family Bible, beginning to mildew.  She was mortified!  

CHALLENGES IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES  

It’s not uncommon that our Spiritual lives feel much the same.  We keep ‘stuffing’ things in our hearts and minds to come back to later, and often we forget what we’ve stored there.  We haven’t taken time to just ‘sit’ with the Lord in quiet.  We consume the information, but life is calling us, so we rush about doing all those things that ‘just have to be done!”  Life in essence is crowding Him out!

As things pile up and our minds are trying to process, we are slowly disconnecting with God.  Our prayers feel rushed or mechanical, or even non-existent because subconsciously we’re ashamed of where we are.  To talk with Jesus, would require a bit of repentance and who wants to feel guilty?

JESUS COMMUNED WITH THE FATHER

Jesus was all about withdrawing to a private place to commune with the Father.  He didn’t do this because he was weak, but he knew that ‘closeness’ can only come from intimacy; that private time to surrender, and just be still and listen!  

If this was important to Jesus, who was human, but also all God, how much more important should it be for us?  

MAKING ROOM FOR GOD

Un-cluttering our souls begins by making room for God.  Life is loud and busy.  Our world (and Satan) is intent on making us so busy we have no time for anything but activity.  

        With activity comes fatigue.  We become so tired that all we want is to go to sleep, so even prayer becomes an effort we choose to forego!  So we plan for the morning, but we went to bed late, and haven’t caught up with sleep yet, so we hit the snooze button and by the time we are out the door, we’re late….again!

God is not going to ‘invade’ our space with demands for time with Him.  He’s waiting for an invitation --to let Him know we want him there.  Our intentions are good, but they don’t always work out.  Suddenly it becomes a vicious cycle.  Finding time with our Creator just doesn’t seem to happen.  Sometimes we just have to 'let go' of something, just to live and be able to cope with all that's going on.

IN THE STILLNESS

To have an un-cluttered soul isn’t about intentions that don’t bear fruit.  It’s about actually s.t.o.p.p.i.n.g. and engaging with him, along with listening to hear his voice.    It’s in the stillness, when we are quiet, that this unique, sacred interaction, will happen. 

Photo Credit: Storage Bins full of Stuff 

Photo Credit: Clutter

Photo Credit: Fatigue