Some Thoughts for Those Who Care for Others. Ode to Aching Muscles & A Sometimes Achy Heart.

**You probably expected an “Ode to Moms’, instead you’re getting an ‘Ode to Achy Muscles’. No accident. Women, moms, aunties, grandmoms, friends – carry some heavy loads.

We, women, are often listeners, planners, workers, cleaners, healers (‘kiss it & make it better’ sound familiar?), counselors for the soul, caring ones to the needy, fixers and doers to a myriad of life’s stuff. So, to you – women who care for others in their midst – this one’s for you!…

 

Think back, what responsibilities have you shouldered the weight of that was beyond your strength, physically or emotionally? [Read more…]

Does Your Heart Hunger for Rest – What Do You Do for It?

Yesterday it hit me while I was sitting at a large wooden table amidst stacks of books at my local library, my laptop plopped on the table while my fingers punched the computer keys to complete the final edit on a blog-post I’d written. I felt a deep gnawing pit growing in my stomach and I was having trouble focusing on the task at hand; I felt dizzy, an overall weakness.

Hunger pains!

I hadn’t eaten for 6 hours, probably 3 hours longer than I normally go without some type of sustenance.

I quickly pressed the ‘Shutdown’ button on my computer, waiting for the screen to blacken before packing up my laptop and exiting the building; my feet scurrying to take me to my car in the parking lot and begin the 20 minute ride home.

If you’re anything like me – hunger motivates you. I will change courses – I will make quick exits, even if it’s off the highway – when my stomach starts growling.

I listen. I act. I eat.

Yet, it hit me today that there are other types of hunger that I completely ignore.

Like weariness. A hunger for rest.

When I feel the beginning complaints of a deep down tired that won’t go away, signs of emotional burn out – when small irritations start to grow to out of control scales – red flags that I’m weakening somehow soul side – I often repress them.

“Later,” I tell myself. “In a day or two. Maybe next weekend you’ll have a couple hours to yourself,” I try to convince my weary soul.

I push through the weariness. I ignore the disappointment I’m feeling, or the grief, perhaps for some changes in my life. I remind myself, “Soon. I’ll deal with this feeling – soon. Just hold on.”

And, my body tries its best to hold on.

I try to quiet the inner urges – I try to suppress the longing for quiet, for free time, for freedom from the day to day pressures and busyness.

My body tries its best to follow ‘orders’ from my brain. It goes into overdrive – it attempts to recharge its battery through quick caffeine or sugar fixes, or entertaining media blips, or texts or calls with friends or loved ones.

Friends, it’s not working. You and I need to listen to our heart’s hunger for rest.

You and I need to accept our neediness – our weary condition.

You and I need to feed our souls. Nourish the deep places inside us that are hungry for rest.

You and I need to pull the plug on busyness and business (cancel the playdate, say ‘No’ to the committee position, perhaps skip the party), so we can sit in some quiet place and just be.

Just simply be.

Just be weary for a time.

Don’t ignore it. Don’t fight it. Sit with it. Name it. “I’m weary. My soul is tired.”

Listen to the truth about your today.

Allow yourself to feel your burdens – see what loads you’re carrying, see what expectations you’re living under.

Take a pause. A holy pause. The pause of recognition of our need for refreshment.

And, then, perhaps somewhere in the quiet moment we can invite God into the equation. Invite God to join us in our struggle for rest.

“Cease striving and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

Can we do it? Can we stop?

Can we cease our continual motion to get ahead, to fix things – our children, our spouses, our troubles?

“You have only to keep still. The battle is the Lords.”

Ezekiel 14:14

What if that were the truth you and I lived with today?

That the battles we face today are the Lord’s? That we can stop fighting – stop trying to work things out and let God act and work on our behalf. Rather, allow God to strengthen us and satisfy our needs

What if you and I didn’t have to fix our lives, but rather we could live our lives in faith?

I leave you with the question – is your soul hungry and can you pause today and invite God in to your hungry places and listen for His quiet voice to speak to your heart?

“He has filled the hungry with good things.”

Luke 1:53

**Lord, help us to quiet our souls and  listen to our heart’s needs. We ask You to fill our hungry hearts. To You be the glory!

Linking up with lovely ladies at: Holley’s CoffeeformyHeart, Kelly’s RaRALinkUp

Lyli’s FaithonFire, , Deb’s Faithn’Friends

God Does the Unthinkable – He Sets His Affection on Us & He Woos Us!

I remember it like it was yesterday – being woo’ed – is an experience you don’t forget…

….Each morning within minutes of the clock’s black arrow pointing to 8:00a.m. I walked into my temporary corner office with its huge bank of wall to wall windows overlooking the university campus’s manicured lawns and garden beds laced with wandering brick paths.

There waiting for me on my desk was one white bakery bag containing the gooiest almond croissant – wildly sticky to the touch, with an almond glaze that lent a shiny sheen to the golden brown swirls encasing the flaky center. Ahhhh. [Read more…]

Have You Ever Had A Bad Hair Day? Give Yourself Grace for the Daily Grind…

Ever Have a Bad Hair Day?

‘Bad Hair Day! I get it‘ – I think it each time I drive past one particular pasture on the highway littered with sheep, and, invariably,  I notice the tangled and matted ‘hair’ that ensconces them. Perhaps, that gives you an idea how often I lament the troubles of having curly hair and living in a rainy climate.

By ‘rainy climate’ I refer to the Pacific Northwest – and it is damp. Those of you with curly hair will understand – damp climates, moisture in the air, makes straightened, styled hair an impossibility for us with curls.

 

Our natural state is not always our most desirable state, as in the case of my curls.

The dilemma with curly hair is that moisture releases previously styled hair back to its most natural style – wild abandon, in my case! It doesn’t take much. A five minute walk through Pacific Northwest mists from my car to a store or dining establishment is all it takes for nature – chaos – curls – to ‘set’ in.

What do you and I do with those flaws that keep popping up and causing us angst?

As we near the end of January, we may be experiencing some extra bad hair days or just bad days, as many of us who made resolutions or plans may be waning (or failing, if you’re like me!), I thought I’d throw myself and you a lifeline – a small reminder –

God’s got this!

 

I don’t so much mean our hairdo’s – as I mean our mess ups, our confusions, our missteps and mistakes, our very heartaches.

The longer I am a Christian the more I find I need it – I crave it – I can’t do without it – ‘it’s’ grace, I’m talking about.

And, I don’t mean a once a week dose – I need it daily, hourly, moment-by-moment.  And, even though I need it, I often don’t offer grace to myself – because I’m too busy trying to ‘fix’ it (me, that is), or tweak the trouble (me, again!), instead of wait at God’s footstool and receive it – all that I need.

 

There is a Bible verse that reminds me of all this:

“but God shows His love for us, in that

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..” Romans 5:8

 

The ‘Sandra J’ commentary for this verse might read…

“On our worst hair days, God loved us and gave Himself for us…”

 

Somehow this makes sense to me – it hits my emotional center, since how I look, sometimes translates into how I feel.

When I am at my worst – not just hair – but worst decision, worst mess up, worst parenting day (I’ve got quite a log of these), at my lowest points God offers me His very best.

A clean slate. A kind word. A second chance. His loving heart.

God takes us today – as we are – where we are – and offers us grace in our Here and Now. Our as is life.

Sometimes I just need to hear it again – that I can choose grace – undeserved favor for the place that I find myself. He’s not waiting for me to get it all together – He doesn’t want me to try to ‘look’ the part – He asks, rather, for my ‘as  is’ heart.

I can choose to forget my shame and even the untamed mass of out-of-control hair that I wore to church last week (if you witnessed it – pour some grace my way, please!).

Fresh starts. Straightened paths – curls or no.

May His grace be yours, this day.

Linking up with Holley’s CoffeeformyHeart, Deb’s Faith’nFriends, Lyli’s ThoughtProvokingThursdays, #ThisDayGodsWay, ,

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