I know I’ve been pushing lately, rather than flowing. I can feel the difference. I’ve been trying to work, to “make it work.” So I’m going around to spots where magic has happened before, longing for it to happen again. Lord, I need to stop doing that. I need to instead move back into the current, where I sense, and then go. I have so much to say thank You for. I feel that as well as know that. So, what’s my problem?
Your problem is, you live in a body. Your body can tire and ache. So can your mind, and so can your spirit. Sometimes one carries the other: your body is tired, but your mind/thoughts or your spirit/feelings are buoyant, and they help carry your body. Sometimes physically you feel that sense of energy, and that helps energize your thoughts in a positive way. And sometimes all three aspects of your life need refreshing all at once. That is where you are now. Rather than trying to figure out why, which only tires your mind and spirit further, just bring your whole self to Me. It’s okay to say, “Daddy, Abba, I am so tired.” Crawl up into My lap and rest awhile. Sometimes “work” energizes you. Lately, it drains you.
This was supposed to be your rest, relaxation, restoration, rejuvenation time. Ssshhh. No “buts.” Just hear what I said. I planned this as a rest, relaxation, restoration, rejuvenation time for you. That doesn’t mean you lay around doing nothing, or that you become irresponsible. Write out things that mean rest and relaxation to you. List some.
Lord, I just re-read this old entry. It is several years old, and it could have been written for now. Well, not today, exactly, but certainly for the past few weeks, for the end of the year. Now a New Year is beginning. And You just talked to me over the past two days, again, about Flow. About sensitivity. And about rest and play balancing work.
So the first image that came to mind when I re-read those words was a hammock. It is 25 degrees outside. Even if I owned a hammock, I wouldn’t get in it now!
But you can picture yourself there. You use your mind all the time to picture an uncertain future, or to pre-plan the next day’s tasks. Why don’t you use your mind to imagine restful pursuits instead of working ones? Relax your thoughts and imaginations first, and watch your body follow. Try it now. What is your earliest hammock memory?
I was a kid. We had a fabric hammock in the yard under the big tree, oak or maple. Oak, I think. Out the kitchen window.
And?
I felt safe there. And cool. I think I even napped in that hammock.
I need the part of you who is a writer to relax, to stretch out, to close your eyes, to remember, to imagine and to dream. With some people, I have to energize work and effort. With you, I have to inspire you to slow down and relax. That is part of the transformation I seek for you in this new year—allowing yourself to really pause, and let the creative, playful aspects of your imagination have more space while you give your analytical, planning self a break, and a rest. This will be metamorphosis for you. You have always worked hard, studied hard, tried hard to do your best. I want you to give yourself the same permission to relax and to play as you do to work. I want to transform your nature, not into irresponsibility, as you fear. If you can trust Me with your working, responsible self, I can help you birth more creativity and more ministry than your reasoning mind can arrange. For it is your imaginative mind that is most sensitive to inspiration by My Spirit.
So come, rest. Hear Me say to your still troubled sense of duty, you’ve earned this. Receive. Rest is a gift of My Grace, your first gift of the new year.