It’s easy to fall into rote behaviors. To pray without thinking; to worship half-heartedly with our mouth singing one thing while our mind jumps to every task awaiting us. To read Scripture without personalizing and digesting the precious, intimate, life-changing Words of God.
It happens every year, it seems. Actually, more like every month, but admitting such would be far too self-disclosing. Somehow, my to-do list begins to grow, tugging at my heart, my mind, my worship. And when that happens, I’m left with two choices: keep going as if busyness is somehow normal and desirable, as if it’s perfectly okay to allow the temporal to crowd out the eternal–to keep me from the One person, the only One, who can strengthen, nourish, refresh, and fulfill me. Or I can stop! And make a conscious choice to slow down.
King David’s words to his son, right before assigning him a monumental task that would take decades to complete, really resonated with me this morning.
“…learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek Him, you will find Him” (1 Chron. 28:9 NLT).
Learn to know God intimately.
Worship and serve Him with [my] whole heart. An undivided heart. A focused and surrendered heart. And a willing mind, 
which means, I need to surrender my mind, and all those lists and agendas that run through it in a given day, to the lover of my soul. If I do that, if I intentionally seek Him, I will find Him.
Today, I need to unplug. Slow down. Rest and connect. And I plan to intentionally fill that need. This morning my sweet hubby and I are going to a lavender farm not too far from us, so we can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, a creation that naturally draws the heart to the Creator. We’ll listen to praise music. Pray. And simply rest.
What about you? When was the last time you set your to-do list aside and simply slowed down? What are some ways, when your heart and mind feel pulled in a thousand directions, that you still it and center it in worship?
Share your thoughts in the comments below, and have a happy, restful, worshipful weekend!
I’m taking time Sunday and Monday to do just that. Church tomorrow, Dog Days flea market Monday 🙂
Awesome, Jen! I haven’t been to a flea market in decades! We went to the local farmers market this morning. It was cold but pleasant. Now we’re headed to the lavender fields. Then friends for s’mores and games tonight. 🙂
Enjoy your Saturday, my sweet friend!
I’ve been unemployed since late last year and am still struggling with being too busy. At the same time I have slowed down and am savoring that. If I go ahead with retirement, I’m going to have to work at not having such full days.
Have a good weekend! Nice to have met you in Twitter.
Nancy
Hi, Nancy!
That’s interesting! So you’re sort of testing out retirement? Are you enjoying your time away from work? What do you find to be the biggest time zappers? (Wow, I’m full of questions today! Hahaha!) Enjoy your Saturday! It’s a bit rainy and chilly here, but I’m hoping the clouds will blow away! I want sunny pics of the lavender fields! 🙂
The biggest time zapper has been my husband and lately, the nice weather. My husband loves to talk. Breakfast has stretched to 2+ hours and often spilling over to sitting on the deck.
Also, the weather has been really nice lately. I always resented having to work inside on nice days, so even if he isn’t talking my ears off, I want to sit out on the deck and read or write and not be behind a computer.
My husband is an artist and works at home. The excessive talking has always been an issue, but with me home, he now has someone to listen to him instead of him trapping our daughter or his sister on the phone. I’ve often prayed that he finds friends who he could go talk to, but eventually everyone gets tired of the person who talks nonstop.
At some point, I will point out to him that we both need to get to work, but for the last six months this has been such a novelty for him to have my time that I don’t want to do so yet.
I totally understand. It’s hard to take time for a job that has no set hours, which is the case with writing. I initially had to lock myself in my office for a certain period, asking my family to not talk to me during that time. At first, this was hard for everyone, I think, as they were used to me being instantly responsive, but now we’ve all gotten used to it. And we still get to spend time together, so I don’t feel our relationships have suffered. 🙂
My hubby will retire in a couple years, and I’m wondering how he’ll handle it without growing stir crazy! I’m hoping he’ll develop some hobbies. 🙂 Maybe your hubby could join a Facebook group with similar interests that he could chat via the keyboard with? Though I can understand if suggesting that might be hard.
The weather has been hit and miss here, but I totally understand wanting to enjoy the sun when it comes out! Do you live in an area with hard winters? I do, and boy, am I ready for sun! 🙂
Best of luck finding quiet time to write!