Chill Out!

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All Work …

Rest. I’ve been working with a Life Coach this year and that’s the word she gave me a couple of weeks ago. Rest. You’d think it would be easy during this shelter in place to rest but, honestly, I’ve been working harder than ever. If I’m not working at my desk, I’m cleaning house or doing yard work. (Not fun yard work but back-breaking shovel kind of work.) I’m just finishing up my e-course on evangelism, starting my second book and migrating my first book to Kindle Direct Publishing so it will be available on Amazon to name the top three projects on my agenda. Most of what I’ve been doing has required a huge learning curve in some new area of technology. I love learning but ugh!

What’s so hard anyway?

I have a hard time “resting.” Partly because having experienced so much loss in such a short time, I want to make sure I say everything God has given me to say and do everything he has given me to do while I’m still alive. I want to clean out closets and the garage and rooms and cupboards so my kids aren’t stuck with the mess should I die. I think that is one of the worst aspects of loss – combing through their crap, I mean stuff, and deciding what to keep or not. Feeling guilty over what you don’t keep.

The other part is that the two most influential people in my life were basically workaholics. My husband and my mom didn’t really know what take a day off meant and if you were chillaxing while they labored, well, you were just a lazy slacker. I often tell myself (yes I talk to myself) that stopping at 4:00 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. does NOT mean I’m lazy.

So Rachel is stressing to me that I don’t have to complete everything yesterday and I need to take some time to relax to stay in balance. We’re not talking Amazon Prime Video kind of relax (which is really only brain candy to keep me company once I sit down for the evening) but being purposeful to take a DAY to create an atmosphere that increases my awareness of how close God really is. Finding ways to relax and not turn it into work has been challenging in a good way. If you know me, you know it’s hard for me to “be still.” However, I love being creative and it’s relaxing for me so I’ve been trying new ideas in painting, working on mosaic projects and other forms of expression through creation. I’ve found that spending time creating “just for fun” actually helps increase my sensitivity to the spiritual. I come back to my desk inspired instead of with a get ‘er done mentality.

In the Beginning …

Rachel is a great life coach but she’s not original in her directive. God thinks rest is important too. That’s why he created humanity on the sixth day and made the seventh day a day of rest. He wants us to have our priorities in order. Again in Exodus, he establishes the sabbath. He clearly wants us to be self-caring worshipers not beasts of burden. If we set aside time to rest and be aware of his presence then everything we do will flow from that place. I heard a speaker say recently, “We don’t work so we can rest. We rest so we can work.” AMEN. I’m shifting my priorities.

I know this pandemic has been frustrating and/or fear inducing for many of us so please don’t misunderstand when I say RELAX. Relax so you can hear the voice of your beloved better. Relax so you can re-focus. Relax so the work you must do will be pleasurable and not labor. Art may not be your thing. That’s OK. Relaxing for you may look like a coloring book or putting a puzzle together or puttzing around the flower bed or whittling (now that’s a lost art). Whatever it is don’t make it too difficult or intense. In other words, don’t turn it into more work!

Think of Bob Ross with his happy little trees kind of mentality and breathe.

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