CATCHING UP TO MY SPIRIT
Since the 25th of April, I've flown 7,200 miles and spent 20 nights sleeping somewhere other than my own bed. I had great conversations with old friends, saw my grand-daughter dance in her first ballet recital, read Scripture in my niece's wedding, attended a 50th wedding anniversary party of an aunt and uncle, saw another niece's firstborn, and visited with many relatives who I haven't seen for 20 or more years.
While the date for each of these events was out of my control, I did choose to attend each and every one. I knew as I made my airline reservations last January that the schedule would be grueling. I under-estimated the necessary 'recovery time' in between each opportunity. Oh my, I'm not 25 anymore!
Now I know this never happens to you, but I've been home for almost 48 hours and I'm just now beginning to catch up to myself, to catch a glimpse of the me I know best; the self I live with 24/7; the self that dearly wanted to go to all those places and do all those things, but who did not count the costs; the self who would like nothing better right now than to sleep for the next 10 days...
This is not the first time that really good things like those delineated above have drawn me away from what is necessary and life-giving to my very being. Nor is it the first time I've allowed the pace of life to out-pace what is ultimetely in my best interest. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.
I knew that things were askew within, when on the last leg of my last flight home I found a modicum of peace sitting at a busy airport waiting for my plane. Then, that things within me were awry was confirmed when the lady next to me on the plane said she'd like to come to church...and I told her to come the next week because it would be better!
So how do we learn the discipline of making choices? Who teaches us the spiritual practice of discernment~of deciding what is necessary and what is not~or the steps to choosing what is beneficial to us rather than harmful? And perhaps even more importantly, are there folks that we allow to speak into our lives, to hold us accountable, or who we allow to ask the hard questions?
I've begun catching up to my spirit, if only insofar as recognizing that we parted company somewhere on that third trip in five weeks. I'm writing this blog tonight as a 'note to self' that being too busy even with good things is detrimental to my well being ~ physical and spiritual.
So now my spirit and I are going to spend some quality time together; a little reading, a little silence, a little manual labor to get my mind, soul and body back in sync. My hope is that The Spirit will use this record of my folly to keep someone else from stumbling along this path. We don't all have to make the same mistakes to learn a better way.
My fourth grade teacher used to often say: "A word to the wise" which she taught her students was a que for the class to respond: "is sufficient" So I leave you with this: "A word to the wise..." PEACE AND JOY TO YOU, THE CELTIC MONK
While the date for each of these events was out of my control, I did choose to attend each and every one. I knew as I made my airline reservations last January that the schedule would be grueling. I under-estimated the necessary 'recovery time' in between each opportunity. Oh my, I'm not 25 anymore!
Now I know this never happens to you, but I've been home for almost 48 hours and I'm just now beginning to catch up to myself, to catch a glimpse of the me I know best; the self I live with 24/7; the self that dearly wanted to go to all those places and do all those things, but who did not count the costs; the self who would like nothing better right now than to sleep for the next 10 days...
This is not the first time that really good things like those delineated above have drawn me away from what is necessary and life-giving to my very being. Nor is it the first time I've allowed the pace of life to out-pace what is ultimetely in my best interest. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.
I knew that things were askew within, when on the last leg of my last flight home I found a modicum of peace sitting at a busy airport waiting for my plane. Then, that things within me were awry was confirmed when the lady next to me on the plane said she'd like to come to church...and I told her to come the next week because it would be better!
So how do we learn the discipline of making choices? Who teaches us the spiritual practice of discernment~of deciding what is necessary and what is not~or the steps to choosing what is beneficial to us rather than harmful? And perhaps even more importantly, are there folks that we allow to speak into our lives, to hold us accountable, or who we allow to ask the hard questions?
I've begun catching up to my spirit, if only insofar as recognizing that we parted company somewhere on that third trip in five weeks. I'm writing this blog tonight as a 'note to self' that being too busy even with good things is detrimental to my well being ~ physical and spiritual.
So now my spirit and I are going to spend some quality time together; a little reading, a little silence, a little manual labor to get my mind, soul and body back in sync. My hope is that The Spirit will use this record of my folly to keep someone else from stumbling along this path. We don't all have to make the same mistakes to learn a better way.
My fourth grade teacher used to often say: "A word to the wise" which she taught her students was a que for the class to respond: "is sufficient" So I leave you with this: "A word to the wise..." PEACE AND JOY TO YOU, THE CELTIC MONK
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