Have you ever wished the world would just stop spinning for a moment? Your world is full to the brim. Too many things to do on your “to do” list and you are short on time? People loaded you down with more and more, until you start to feel the burnout and begin to fall back into a retreat position and wave your white flag; “I surrender!” you want to scream- and sometimes you do.
We simply are not created to go full speed ahead for hours, days, weeks, months and years. We need time to rest and reflect. To restore our overwhelmed souls. Sometimes we push ourselves to the point of physical exhaustion and sickness. At that point, we finally admit we need to stop and regroup.
Rest and pause might seem like a luxury if you are busy at your job or with your family. You might think that those around you- whether your boss or your kids and spouse will fall apart if you take time for yourself. But, let me reassure you they won’t. And if I can add; they might be better off without you tending to their every need. They can learn to do for themselves and build their own skill set. Bosses might realize how much you are needed and grant that raise you wanted.
Does rest look like napping all day? For some, maybe, we all need proper amounts of sleep to function properly. But, it can be a deliberate time to read, pray and reflect on God’s goodness in your life. Too often, our busyness keeps us from enjoying all God has created for us. Forcing ourselves to stop and smell the roses, benefits us mentally and spiritually. We can de-clutter all the noise in our minds from over thinking and find that we have more time to think about God and His goodness. We can ponder our dreams and goals. We can stop and listen to God’s voice leading us, instead of forging our own paths.
Pausing takes sacrifice. We might have to miss something on our busy schedule. But the space we make is worth it all. Life will keep moving forward at breakneck speed and we can get caught up in its speed, or we can pause, restore, and re-calibrate our speed and trajectory to find a slower, quieter, more peaceful speed in-sync with God’s plan for our lives and not with the frenzied rate of the world. And then we can hear that “Still, small voice” of God, calling to us. (1 Kings 19:12) – God Bless You – Nancy
Moving Forward 