I Can Breathe!
Sometimes our lives are full of just doing things. We are only doing and not being. Getting something(s) accomplished is the only aim of our existence in those moments. These times happen, they are to be expected occasionally, and we really shouldn’t feel guilty about them.
Most of the time, if we are healthy, there is some sort of balance between doing and being. Of course there are important things to get done, but there is also the vital reality of who we are. When I want to accomplish something I do it with the understanding that who I am is just as, or more, important.
But sometimes we need to take time to simply be. This means we do nothing: Nothing that produces anything for us, nothing that helps us get to the next step, and nothing that distracts us from our loved ones, ourselves, or our God. The Lord told His people to open themselves to this nothing time at least once a week—He called it Sabbath.
But for many of us it would be amazing if we stopped ‘doing’ even once a month. For many of us it might just happen once or twice a year on vacation or when we are Tramadol sick…or maybe never. To intentionally learn to embrace the life that includes Sabbath (doing nothing productive) would probably make many of us feel guilty. But it shouldn’t. Think of being and not doing as a way to make up for all those times when you are doing and not being. Think of it as a time to slow down and get back on track with the pacing that God intended for your life. Think of it as a regular (can we dream of weekly?) opportunity to reconnect your heart with who God created you to be before you got your identity all mixed up with how much you could do.
The picture on this post was taken by a friend of mine: Rachel Fesko. She and her husband happened to be spending some time at the place where I have been living a few days of Sabbath (where the photo was taken). I’ve been doing nothing, and in the process have started to have some ill-fitting armor stripped away, and I have started to be reminded of who I really am, what my soul looks like, and what it feels like to hear God whisper to me about just me again…