SIGNS OF NEGLECT!

Ever played 'Jenga'?  I remember playing it as a group exercise at some training once. When it was my turn to pull out a log, I felt so overwhelmed and cranky I had a strong urge to pull a log out without thought, bringing the whole tower down!  

My reaction really surprised me, and I felt it was a bit of a lightbulb moment.

What turns a normally enthusiastic team player into someone that wants to sabotage the whole activity?

"Don’t stare at me because I am dark—

    the sun has darkened my skin.

My brothers were angry with me;

    they forced me to care for their vineyards,

    so I couldn’t care for myself—my own vineyard."  (Song of Songs 1:6 NLT)

If someone could have seen past my good manners, and into my soul that day at Jenga, they would have seen my soul was 'dark'.  

I suspect a lot of our feelings of overwhelm and cranky come about because like the writer of this verse, we have been so busy caring for the affairs of others, we have neglected our own.  

When we begin to hear our inner voice scream, 'no!' while we are verbally saying, 'yes'.

    When we have to fight the urge to give up or to sabotage...

        When we stop caring about people we should care about ...

Then its time to ask ourselves the question, "Have I neglected my own vineyard?"

Could it be that we have neglected our own soul, our own health, our own family, our own home?  Are we so busy taking care of business for others that our own lives are in a state of neglect?

We've all heard about the brilliant plumber, whose own home has leaky taps or blocked drains!

I found myself feeling this sense of overwhelm, and it began to show up in feeling unwell.  I politely extracted myself from planned activities that day for rest and gave attention to my soul, my home and my family.

The result?  My soul lightened up a bit, my urge to hide from responsibilities eased, and feeling physically better!

We are told to work for six days and rest on the seventh.  That isn't just an old fashioned religious rule, it's great self-care.  Maybe we don't need that big holiday, that TV binge session, or whatever it is we run to or wish for.  

Maybe what we need to do is take that regular time off and take care of our own souls and our own business!

It is a posture of faith and humility as by the actions we are admitting, "I'm not God, I'm not indispensable, and the world will not end if I take a break and give some care to my own 'vineyard'.  

In that way, we can sustain a fruitful life, keep loving - and become much easier to live with!

Until next time, 

Love, Lynda x

SONS OR SERVANTS?

One of the things I remember and love about my father is that he has a habit of taking the scenic route.  He loves to show us the world.  

A treasured memory I have was of an evening in Gibraltar, early in our time there.  I was about six or seven.  There was a storm raging, and dad invited me to stand on the verandah to watch it.  The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, the wind raged.

    I've loved storms ever since.

Another time was when we were on a family holiday at the beach.  Dad and I decided to climb up a cliff.  It was precarious, to say the least.  Rocks were at the bottom, and the cliff was not really there for climbing.  As we were climbing up mum was watching on, worried.  I was thinking, "I can't give up or dad will be on his own."  He was thinking, "I can't stop, or Lynda will be on her own"

    I think wisdom got the better of us both in the end.

When I was two, we moved to Singapore from England.  When I was four, we moved back.  I still remember chattering to dad pretty much non stop through the night on that flight! 

I think those experiences with dad mean that I love to 'be on a journey with God', sometimes even out on a limb.  

Your experiences with your dad will most likely be very different.  I hope they are good.  But whatever your experience with your earthly dad, God is the perfect Dad.  He doesn't get it wrong.

Why am I telling you this?

Because sometimes when we are following and serving God we get bogged down with the sense of duty.  We forget that before we are His servants we are His children.  We forget that our first call is to love and enjoy Him forever.  

When we start from this place, this place of rest, our labouring is not so ... laborious!  Our serving Him becomes an extension of our journey with Him, rather than stuff we do for Him. It comes from a place of love and delight.

I love what Jesus said to the seventy-two disciples after they came back from a successful missions trip... "When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”  (Luke 10:17,20 - NLT)

So I have entitled this 'son or servant?'  The answer is both.  It just the order it comes in that matters, the serving flows from the loving.

A HAPPY STUMBLE

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my new blog.  I hope that you will find it a source of rich encouragement.  Feel free to comment - I want to hear from you as well!  If there are some questions concerning faith and life you would like me to comment on, shoot me an email.  I'll do my best!

I've titled this first post, "A Happy Stumble".  That is because today I determined that I was going to cross off some tasks, including creating this new blog!  In order to turn it from a frustrating and exhausting stumble, I made a few choices.  Hopefully, these ideas will help you to 'stumble' along - happily!

1.  I decided that I was going to be OK with being clueless!  I can't learn anything new if I hold onto the illusion that I know what I'm doing!

2.  I decided that even though it feels like I'm wasting time... I'm not.  It takes time to learn new things, and time spent learning new things is always time well spent.

3.  I had a shortlist of what I wanted to achieve today.  If I nail that shortlist, then I've won!

4.  Connected to my shortlist was giving myself permission to put off till tomorrow a lot of other things.  

5.  I have my favourite kind of music playing and make a nice cup of tea as I go along.

6.  Last, but certainly not least, I listen to my soul.  I find that this stumbling along learning new skills and then writing creates a deep sense of satisfaction in me, so I know I'm working within my God-given giftings.  

I hope this encourages you to step out and, and if necessary, stumble along - happily!

Much love,

Lynda xx