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Breathe

Your value is not in what you do but who you are. Proving your value to yourself, your peers, your boss, or even to God by unending busyness and activity opens the door to stress, emotional dysfunction, and ultimately, malfunction in your body.

If you are caught up in a whirlwind of endless activity, ask yourself: How did I get bullied into this busyness, racking up achievements, feeling the need to recite how busy I am to everyone I meet, the inability to even sit still . . . ever?

Is it because I don't realize that I am enough? Am I forgetting I am complete in Him? Am I disregarding that I am valuable without having to chain myself to the work wheel that has no stop button? Is it an addiction to acclaim for performance and the adrenalin rush of pushing myself until I accomplish a lofty goal?

Did you know the enemy's intention is always to enslave us? If he can't enslave us in "bad" things, he will attempt to enslave us in too many things! Slaves don't rest, they just work. Day in day out, morning to night . . . work, work, work.

Remember the story in Exodus 1 when God delivered the Israelites from 400 years of bondage? It had definitely been all work and no play. Generation after generation they only knew the demands of work. To help them to think "free" inside, God built in a day of "rest," giving them permission to stop one day of the week. The idea behind the the Hebrew sabbat was to simply cease, stop, pause . . . breathe. It was not to be considered a religious law to be obeyed, but a precious gift to be enjoyed!

How long has it been since you gave yourself this sacred space? How long since you sat on the front porch with a cup of tea staring off into space, watching the cloud formations and just breathing? How long since you've refrained from rattling off everything you are doing when a friend just asks how you are? How long since you said 'no' to invitations to even more incessant activity? How long since you quieted your soul in His presence, not petitioning or nobly interceding, but just being?

Favorite quotes to remind us to rest, relax and breathe . . .
"Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest." Ashleigh Brilliant
"Note to self: RELAX. You are enough. You have enough. You do enough. Breathe extra deep, let go and just live right now in the moment." Unknown
"Be still. The quieter you become the more you can hear." Ram Dass
"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax." Mark Black

Maybe it's time to take an inventory of our busy activities and make sure they are in our lives for the right reason. Time to find out if we are slaves to our own agenda or the need to achieve. Then, receive the gift and example God gave us and intermittently give ourselves permission to stop and simply . . . breathe.

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