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

 

Airports and Endless Adventures

That wanderlust thing…guess I’ve always had it.

The discontentment was never with life as I know it, but the discontentment of being in one place for too long.  What a realization as I walked down the long corridor toward the gate…I was meant to do this the rest of my life…I was always meant to do this.

Purpose.

“We are each born with a purpose, but we choose our destiny.” – Paula White

That truth rings in my ears, yet the fear silences it with the whisper of, “What if you choose wrong?”  Thus, keeping my feet planted all too often, forsaking purpose and the choice of an amazing destiny laid before me for the safety and security of a life well lived.

What is going on?  Sell it all?  Leave it all behind?  For what and for where?

A life of adventure, only to visit…never to stay.

So many cultures, so many people, everyone going somewhere yet many going no where.  Amid all the wealth and success, the bigness of it all, there is a dark, hidden, opposing factor of lack.

Heartbreaking how we can be asleep yet fully awake.

Fine lines are drawn between our opinionated right or simple choice to ignore and tolerance, acceptance and truth that loves bravely and does not speak judgement. Lines that separate and lines that can become walls, lines that rob us of a plan far bigger than ourselves keeping us stagnant yet seemingly walking forward.  I ponder those and closely examine the walls I’ve surrounded myself with first.

Appearing awake, yet really asleep.

Funny how being in the middle of a crowd you can feel completely alone, endlessly connected but in a cave of loneliness.

Noise everywhere but the loudest noise is inside me.  And if in me then it’s likely in many others.

Where do you find yourself today?  Fully awake?  Alert times 10?  Or when you really look at yourself, are you missing what is right in front of you and going on around you because of the chaos and discontent within?

Appearing awake, yet really asleep, walking toward the next adventure, yet having no where to go.

In a world of striving for success, for the next big thing, the next business deal, the next investment, the next big adventure are we missing what is placed right in front of us?  Are we missing the simple in the midst of a complicated life we’ve created for ourselves?

Funny how an airport can spur such thoughts that have evolved into ramblings.

Then, as I settle into a few moments of simple quiet to muse over and pen my thoughts, the voice comes across the table.  Random comment concerning a physical attribute leading to a conversation, leading to a connection, leading to an opportunity to plant a seed.  How easily I could have missed it.  How easily I could have brushed it aside and ignored what was right in front of me for the sake of being distracted by something I thought so important at the moment.  How easily I could have checked my phone, gone back to typing and missed a moment…one that would be lost forever.  But response birthed conversation and we left better than we arrived.

How many times has the rush and the wanderlust caused me to miss what is right here? Yes there are conversations to happen, connections to make and purpose to fulfill.  But this traveler needs to enjoy the journey and not just look at the destination.  Every step, however small, is one more opportunity, every kind word a place to show love and impact a life.

Yes, I was purposed with a wanderlust, a yearning for more, a restless spirit never to settle.  Yet, on the journey toward the path called destiny there is even more!

Purpose?  Have one.  Destiny?  Moving toward one.  Journey?  The joy in both!

Here’s to living one moment, one day, one experience and one simple, kind word at a time. Here’s to seasons and change and death that brings growth.  Here’s to a Papa that loves enough to never leave us even in the valleys and who celebrates with us on the mountains.  Here’s to friends, conversations, tears and journeys….most of all, here’s to the fabulous, fearless, unique you….love big, live loud and laugh more…it’s all good for the soulife!

From a heart in overflow…Lots of love…Dee

 

Today I Choose…

I hate choices….

By nature I am indecisive.  Some will call it free-spirited, creative, innovative but basically I can call it what I want but… I’m indecisive.  And this does not work well in real life, and especially not in my life with Jesus.

Making a decision for some comes very easy.  That’s who they are…organized, decisive, goal-oriented, sensible.  But for people like me who are emotional, compassionate, who desire to be goal-oriented but just can’t decide what to do next this is the daily struggle. These days God is trying His best to teach me a few things about choices.  You see, the God who created us created us with a will and the ability to have a choice.  That’s what separates us from every other living being…choice.  We choose who to love, choose who to serve, choose what to do next, choose to run or to hide.

Choice…

I have realized that every choice I make comes at some sort of a cost.  This can look like giving up time, or finances or even, here lately, relationships.  I have also realized that since in the kingdom it is people that are it’s currency, it is the price of relationships that seemingly are the most costly.  My time can simply  be a  rearrangement and the finances can be recovered but the relationships lost actually leave a cavernous void.

Choices, both in and out of God’s will, cost us.  When choices we know are in God’s will cost a relationship that creates the place of questioning, of doubt, and of confusion.  Why would obedience come at such a high cost?

But then there is Jesus…

I guess it always comes back to this place.  In the intersections of choice I often respond, react and question as if Jesus doesn’t understand…I know, silly, right?  But my humanity wants to function on feeling and what “looks” right or not right, what’s fair and not fair. Yet stepping back to the place of surrender, I then see that no relationship, no thing, no money, position, or even my time is my own or is a guarantee in this life.  Then in that place of surrender….and I realize that too is my choice, hold on or let it go.

Full circle…God gave us the choice to love Him, the choice to serve Him, the choice to be obedient.  He knew that it would cost us to belong to Him.  And at times that cost would be very high.  That’s why he sent Jesus…the perfect example of the high cost of the call.

Today these lyrics ring true…

“My heart beating, my soul breathing…I found my life when I laid it down.  

Upward falling, spirit soaring…I touch the sky, when my knees hit the ground” (Hillsong United “Touch the Sky”)

Upside down God-life, upside down choices, things that make no sense and cost so much in our finite mind but with God it’s just part of a much grander plan.  Choices, sometimes hard choices with high cost.

The constant, decisive, pivotal place in the Jesus life.

So my friends, choose well today, choose surrender and find your life…your true soul life.

I find my life….when I lay it down…

Counting the cost yet trusting the reward today….bless your soulife!

Dee

 

P.S.

Enjoy this….take a moment and breathe!

Touch the Sky – Hillsong United

What is the Soulife?

Is it well today?

The question that is often raised in my mind as I reluctantly open my eyes to face the day ahead (reluctant is an understatement for this non-morning person).  I check the time and the gears begin moving in my head (yes slowly at first, but they do speed up a bit)

Mind racing…

To do list forming…

Feelings all over the place…

Sound familiar?  Probably all too familiar to most.

Soul wellness.

We hear much about physical wellness, mental wellness, even emotional wellness. There is a system for them all and a remedy (multiple) for anything that ails us.  We are a quick fix, give me a pill and let’s move on to the next thing culture.

But what if, rather than isolated elements of our life, compartments we try to manage, they were actually all connected?

Well they are…and there, my friend, is your soul.  The encapsulation of the mind, your will and your emotions.  One big jumbled up, crazy place for some (a lot) of us.

So, is it well?  Your soul I mean?

The answer to that question just made some of you shut this down and will never read again!  I know I would have.  But if you will humor me a bit, join me on a little blogging journey.  Call this a free therapy session, a chat, or just a friend to a friend but I want to journey with you into this idea of a well Soulife…yep I know it’s misspelled but that’s really it, all meshed together into one life.

A couple of thoughts…

Are you conscious of the you you were created to be?

What do you think about, want to do and how do you feel?

And finally, how does all that effect the “real me” I was created to be?

Well, those are the questions on the table.  So grab your coffee (0r tea), I have mine, sit in that big, comfy chair and let’s ponder these things and chat.

This is a journey, one for soul-wellness if you will, but more than that, one for wholeness.  You see, that’s been mine for a few years now (more about that later) and I hope to share my heart and you share yours as we dive into some “soul food”.  What a better thing for friends than food with many benefits and no calories!  I’m in!!

So before I leave you today, a little about me…

I’m a wife, mother, friend, business owner and simply a woman who loves life and wants my life to live beyond me.  I’ve had multiple careers and now am sitting in a new beginning in my life…a do-over or u-turn of sorts.  A blessing, a gift,  but I didn’t always see it that way…hence a not-so-good soulife!  But here I sit some years into the journey, with lots of experiences, successes and failures and MANY journaling hours!  So here is where I’ll share those journals, my heart and my soul journey.

And here is where I hope you will share yours as well.  Let’s start some dialogue and let’s explore a magnificent, incredible, exceedingly abundant Soulife together!

Until next time…

Dee