It’s quiet save the steady swoosh from the waves.
Quieter than I expected.
The clouds hang low and the dolphins make their appearance jumping above the waves as if to bridge the distance between the sky and sea.
I wrote yesterday about how my tightly wound self completely unwound this weekend at the beach with a dear friend. I rested. A rare find this year.
There’s a fair amount of blogging and authoring about rest these days. Leadership writers, I among them, emphasize the need for self-care. Christian writers post pictures of corners in fields where they quietly commune with God.
I love the idea of rest.
But I have grappled with how to incorporate rest when you are called to action.
I’ve been in seasons of solitude and waiting. However, I am now in a season of ACTION. A call to get up and do the things I’ve been designed to do.
I’d starting asking myself if there was something wrong with this flurry of activity when there’s a cacophony of voices calling for rest.
Then I remembered the words of a wise friend.
Everyone has a different set point. Some people have set points with a greater tolerance for pressure or intensity or activity. Some people need more rest and downtime and unplanned spaces in their daily calendars.
Where we get into trouble is when we start judging whether what’s right for us is right for another person. I have had friends actively discourage me from pursuing an opportunity because it would be “too much.” But I’ve judged others by wondering what they do with all their time.
You are only responsible for what works for you. Not what works for other people. Not what other people think works for you.
I have two checks, on a good day, I make before committing to more. First, I pray. Watcha think God? This a go or a no-go?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
(Prov. 3:5-6)
I believe He has a very specific purpose for me, and from the tiny bit I glimpse for right now, it requires a decent amount of activity. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
Second, once I believe I’m stepping out in the direction He has for me, I talk to my husband. We are each other’s partners forever after and my decisions impact him and our children. No moving forward until he agrees it’s something our family can absorb.
Once I’ve cleared those two hurdles, not minor ones, then I go forward. It may look incredibly busy. It may not be a season with much rest. But with an anchor like God and the love of my life, I won’t come unmoored.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Heb. 6:19)
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