The thing is in reflecting through the beginning stages of this year. It seems we’ve ALL been off kilter for some time. Like, collectively as a world… but also in our own lives. I’ve tried to fight it too, but it is so hard to swim against the stream. It’s so hard to dial down the noise without being completely isolated. (oh wait…) So how about you? I mean, most days we get by alright. It builds though, the invisible tension. The small whisper, calling you out to the lonely places versus the life you need to attend to. It’s barely audible. But it’s there, this pull we’re all too familiar with. We’ve felt. The reprieve when we gave way to it. I know He’s been calling me, time and time again. Some times I go there…
Hindsight helps to see a little more clearly. I see why He’s been saying ‘come away with me’ and why I felt completely grounded when I have yielded to the call. It was preparation. And it is still. When we heed the call, when we obey, when we find perspective, when we show up even when we don’t want to; When we fulfil the goal, when we do the hard thing, when we choose gratitude… we begin to forge a pathway in our mind, we strengthen our heart for the seasons ahead. These are the deep places we draw from because we already learned how to carry them when life was good and not falling apart – or we learnt how to when it was, they’re our inbuilt habits, our day to day. Our resilience draws from these deep wells fashioned from our persistence to choose well in the moment.
Deep Wells To Overflow
The earth has a wonderful way of restoring balance through cycles, and this is what I believe this season is. A part of the cycle. With our 2020 words arriving late last year – Reset. Restore. Renew. – I find hope. They are a cyclic. An ongoing adventure. I believe we are entering into a new phase of history, church, earth, life as we know it. Another cycle. This means this is not the end, and we will get through this. We will grow through this – we will learn the power of space, we will learn the beauty of being present, we will learn to appreciate the people we interact with incidentally, we will get stronger as we overcome our daily challenges, we will be more thankful on the other side of this. We will have deeper wells from which to overflow from.
Interestingly enough when I type reset often I forget the second ‘e’. Highlighting perhaps a total reset requires rest. It requires we pause. Previously I’ve asked my clients “what would happen if you simply stopped?” We agreed ultimately, not much and a whole lot simultaneously. It is a choice though, this stopping, and in many ways we are currently rendered choiceless, what a perfect opportunity to reassess the current pace of our life. To address depleted tanks, the detours, the unforgiveness, the burnout, the necessary to thrive. To follow the call to slow… to stillness. To quiet our souls and find rest. Rest has been a life message for me. It’s pretty much all I feel I can write about. I try other stuff, honestly… it always comes back to operating from rest found in the wide opens spaces of presence. I’ve been here too – this awful season of a handbrake at 100 mph. I also knew only one speed: fast, because I operated out of performance, hustle, trauma and doing for a life time; this gradual incline though to reset pace has arrived accumulatively. But I had to loose control at some point for me to find a more sustainable way forward. You will too. It’s part of the cycle.
No-one is immune to transformation. We all grow. Or we die. All transformation takes time, and it’s a slow burn. It needs both time and space… expansion needs permission to be released to unfold. I like the idea of being able to find the things that keep you grounded. This is a hugely helpful tool for such seasons. It’s different and has a gradient of difficulty for each of us – for me it was the gradual acceptance of my self, my failings, my motivations, exploring the Enneagram… found in doing things I loved like being outdoors, creating, 6am walks, journalling, spontaneously renovating our home and having space in my schedule to think, feel and be.
Staying Grounded
What does it mean for you to feel the ground of your soul, ready to face the day in a season where control seems lost? We start somewhere. Small. We control what we can control. Do what you can, and leave the rest. What does it look like to have things ‘under control’ in your world? For me it is a clear and clean environment, eating regularly throughout the day, making my bed each morning, self-care and grooming, going to bed on time. It’s practicing gratitude and choosing to be here and now, not bound by fear of an unknown future (one I might add was ever certain in the first place). It’s deciding what is essential, taking the time to realise and form the things that help gain your power back, to know hope. It’s found in porch time, listening to the birds, truly looking in their eyes, seeking His face and reading His word. It’s in the letting go, the art of surrender where peace lulls our hearts into His hands, even when the world around us is crumbling.
A reset affords us a chance to check in – are we where we want to be? What needs to change? What’s working? What’s not? Life edit time. When you seek clarity it will begin to form. Grab a journal, a piece of paper or some chalk. Map it out. Seek the answers that are already within you.
A total reset is the first step. It’s seems the hardest, because suddenly you become aware of the pace you had set and were trying to keep up with. Restoring is the next step. It requires patience and forethought, a lot of ground work before you can assemble the new thing. It’s a sanding back, repairing the foundation so the overflow of our lives is beautiful. It’s the longest stage because it’s acknowledging the unraveling whilst simultaneously discovering how to manoeuvre and do the heavy labour required to build something lasting. Renewal is the flourishing season, but not the final one. Because… cycles. It is however, the one we look forward to, and hold out hope for; the one where we get to look back and see how far we have come. And before we know it again we are afforded the same opportunity to pivot, to reset, to rest.
There is beauty here should we look for it – opportunity for us to reevaluate. To rework. To revolutionise. To uproot, to reboot, to alter our way forward. Collectively and individually. These are the moments we get permission to restart… there’s an extravagant future ahead for our world, and for our lives because we will find what we are looking for… those wide open spaces where life is beautiful, and free.