Busy…Unplugged

Pumpkin spice lattes, cool weather and a cloudy mornings all beg for a fuzzy blanket, pjs all day and introspection.  Suddenly I realize what it is.

I slowed down.

You may be thinking how silly that is, but for this girl this is a most uncomfortable place.  A place where I am alone with my thoughts, void of distraction and a space and time begging for some serious attention to my soul.

Someone gave me a plaque once that read “Stop glorifying busy”.  I laughed at the moment to cover the serious jab to all I was but truth be told, it continues to rock me.   In a world of more, higher achievement, faster pace, productivity and goals, glorifying busy is one of the most true statements of the day.  The ending of one day is closed out making a “to do” list for the next.  Sleep sometimes does not come easy as thoughts of what was not accomplished that day and all that remains for the next haunt us like little gremlins vying for time and space in the already complicated life we are living.  Then there are the unexpected things, the unplanned that now must be added to the planned…the illness, the repair, the crisis of the moment.  One day rolls into two then it’s a busy week, month, year, life.  Our soul is screaming to stop the madness through our aching shoulders and tired minds.

But yet the world, myself included, continue to GLORIFY  this busy.

It’s as if busy is an identity we carry, an excuse we use and a goal we set for ourselves.  Thus being still, slowing down is it’s antithesis, quickly becoming the thing that we shame ourselves for.

Truth:  The soul CRAVES stillness, quiet and slow when growth and alignment must occur.

Yet from a carnal place we have adopted the belief that WE are in control of our growth and that only comes with work, fast and busy.  Now I’m not alluding to adopting a mindset of laziness;  we have a part to play in all this.  There IS work that must be done, there is an element of “do” on our part.  I believe what I am continually learning is the lesson of balance.

Between the “have to”, the “need to” and the “want to” it feels like a constant dance with no consistent tempo.  Yet we ARE wired to dance, just to the tempo of one partner.  When I give my soul the moment to rest with my creator, the clarity begins to come, the alignment will happen and with that the rhythm of the dance my life was created for begins to flow.  It is there that I hear not only those things begging my attention, the busy in my life, but a louder voice of peace.  Not a voice I was ever familiar with most of my life, but one I’m learning to hear.  That still place, that whispered quiet that begs my attention above all else.

Balance happens.

So again today, I sip my coffee, hear the wetlands awaken and the wind rustle the trees.  The reminder of who is in control returns and the whispered quiet begins to balance an out of balance week and life.  It’s a dance whose steps I am still learning yet one my heart yearns for.

So if you’ve fallen under the weight of busyness, lost yourself in glorifying what was never meant to be or your just tired, then stop….for a day, an hour, a moment.  Get still, stop spinning both internally and externally and listen…to your heartbeat, to the wind, to the whisper of your soul and just be.

Let the dance begin….

Peace be yours,

Dee

 

Moments, Words, Life

Restoration, redemption, faith, blessing in the moments, words of life.

My pondering this morning…

The sunlight streams across the page , the air is cool and crisp, the birds and squirrels alive in their morning hallelujahs.

Songs of a new day that is born, seeking the blessings and abundance before them for just this moment, this day, no worry for what’s next.  Working with the surety that the Father has provided, with no effort, all they need.  They only awaken with the wonder of the sunlight.

Sunlight…that’s a funny thing….all is silent until the  sun streams in.  As if there is such new life in the sun.  And not a small amount…but an abundance of life, joy and excitement!

What a sweet reminder of all that is given to me today.  The provision, the abundance is there daily.  You Papa just want me to see the joy in the new day, in the daily.  That unexpected blessing that can only come from You.  There is such peace and ease in that surrender.

You lead me here to the still, peaceful, quiet waters of your Presence.  A place where perfect peace casts out all fear, a place where there is surrender.

Making me lie down,

To stop,

To be tucked in that secret and quiet place You hold only for me.

Here, in this still place, I can drink from where you have me, drink from the love and grace you offer, from the healing you died for  and for the comfort this safe place provides.  You give me a respite from life, from stress, from the world.  A place where Your voice is louder than the chaos I call life.

Here I can breathe in deeply, filling and expanding my lungs with clean air, air that pushes out fear, shame, regret and anxiety.  Air that brings fresh new life into dead and dying places, air that truly restores.  Pushing the oxygen of Your life-breath into my bloodstream to flow to my mind and body…life-blood of healing, recovery and transformation.  As if now, in this place, my heart beats easier and stronger.

Bravery and boldness begin to rise.

Dense fog that has clouded my vision clears and I emerge from this resting place, sun in my face, with a new awareness of its warmth and light.

My heart is so gently stirred.

Move..move…move

Ever so slightly at first, but now the move is confident and sure, full of faith, knowing and trusting the Director of the direction.  Clearer understanding of the peace of faith, the journey, not the destination, of faith.

A clearer course now set

Today…be thankful for the journey, for the never-ending love and grace, for the unexpected blessings and even unexpected trials for in all the goodness of the Father’s heart is there.

Psalm 23:6 “Your beauty and love chase after me everyday of my life.  I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.” (the Message)

From a soulife overwhelmed with Papa’s goodness today….Dee

Sleepwalking

Against my normal writing style I’m going right to the point.

In this life are you really awake or just sleepwalking through it?  Silly question?  Maybe, but really think about it.  If we were totally awake every moment would we see things differently?  Or are we sleepwalking, just going through learned motions of life that bring us comfort yet lead us nowhere?

In light of this contentious world we live in today, I believe this is a valid question we really need to ask ourselves.  And and when we get to the root of the answer, it can get quite scary and raw.  At first response we all want to say yes, I am wide awake.  I have a career, a family, responsibilities and I’m doing just fine.  But if you’re really wide awake then your lens of life just got expanded far beyond those surface realities.  Are you really fine or going through the motions of the comfortable, safe life you’ve created for yourself?

You see, a life fully awake sees beyond whats immediately around you.  There is a larger picture.  And in that picture WE are not the focus.

Yes, thats the raw part.  This culture we live in today is about getting all you can, look good on the outside, do good as long as it makes you look good and doesn’t cost too much.  Today is about me.  Of course we say its about family and helping others, but what happens when that interferes with our plans or doesn’t agree with our way of thinking?  Or what happens when we just don’t get our own way?  Or if the cost is too high?  Let the tantrum begin!

We don’t call it a tantrum.  We see it as sharing our opinion, protesting, writing an opinionated social media post, irregardless of who it hurts or what the fallout is.  It’s our right to share our opinion, right?

Or is it?

Sleepwalking is autopilot, doing what the crowd does, following the norm.  Wide awake makes us see more that what’s in our immediate space.  We see communities, diversity, feelings, emotions, creation and all the things that stir our soul.  Sleepwalking walks right past the wounded, the different, and the lonely as it’s not on OUR path or OUR agenda.  Sleepwalking is the state of busy we live in and the self preservation and exercising our rights to everything we deem necessary even if it crowds out others and only makes way for us.

Sadly, I’ve realized that it’s the sleepwalking that is revered; that is the norm.  And sadly I find myself many days in that trap, centered around the wrong thing but thinking it’s all okay.  I fight the wide awake and the raw, transparent vulnerability it brings.

Yet in that raw, vulnerable, face-down surrendered place is where the breakthrough happens and one wakes up.

It is this place which I challenge you as God has challenged me.  It’s a place we dare not go as the vulnerability is like a thief ready to snatch all that we are.  But it is also this place where one will find rest for the soul.

The true soulife begins here, but never ends here.  You see the art of living wide awake takes us back to this place again and again, to shake off the world, our own self and the pride that daily life brings.  We are brought back to the place to see with a new lens, a wider lens and a window to life that is limitless.  I want to live wide awake and never miss a moment that God has in front of me.  So perspective adjustment is necessary, as always, and stepping into the next season.  And I realize that here, at wide awake, I am truly free and learning the rhythm of grace and love that I can then extend to the world around me.

So where are you, sleepwalking or wide awake?  That is the question posed to all of us daily and the one again this morning I ask myself as I’m brought back to center, face-down and humbled but so empowered.

The change begins with me…learning to love from the inside out.  Raw, vulnerable and yet so fully alive.

Here’s to your soulife my friends…the end of you and me is the entrance to life abundant!

3 John 1:2 (NKJV)  “Beloved, I pray that you may proser in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”