Rest of mind and heart is still on my mind. As I’ve peeked in on a few other friends this week, it is on their minds as well. Amber from The Run-a-Muck wrote on finding quietness of spirit earlier this week.
Most of the time I don’t ask for much more than survival. Give me this day my breath, my brushed teeth, my potty break in silence. I’ve been rolling out of bed with my spirit gasping for time, for relationship, and for an affirmative in the presence of God. Read more…
The following is a comment Melissa of The Inspired Room left on Amber’s post and I had to share it here. Read and be reminded. I can’t hear this enough:
Those days of the little ones seem never ending, until you look back and in a blink of an eye they are over! so many things i thought i needed to accomplish back then, but in hindsight none were really important. fixing the meals, wiping their faces and kissing their cheeks and falling on my face before the Lord each day is about all i should have expected of myself and all God ever expected of me.
And so you don’t think that all I do online is stalk Amber and her comments, I ran across this useful post several weeks ago. Simple Mom wrote on Productivity and Quality Downtime, allowing yourself to have ‘nothing’ time. I realized as I read it that I typically have either get-it-done time or guilty-that-I’m-not-getting-it-done time. She offers a balanced perspective.
Finally, Kimba is continuing her series today on Building A Soft Place To Land. She approaches this idea of rest and balance as it relates to blogging and is moderating a big fat bloggy conversation about it in her comments section.
We need to hear this stuff. We just do. And I don’t care if you are a home schooling mother of eight or a single girl with a full time job. Rest is important. Quiet is important. Reflection is important. Balance is important. And doing all of that in the presence of One who loves us with an everlasting love just because we’re His and not because we’re perfect? That, my sweet friends, is rest indeed.
Oh, I love how you put it “get-it-done time or guilty-that-I’m-not-getting-it-done time” I identify with that so much. I am struggling with finding that time of productive rest in Him. I am off to read links in your post! Thanks opening your heart about this topic, so needed!
I think many of us have heavy hearts about this… I know I do and I now know Im not alone. Thank you~
WELL SAID GIRL. MUCH WISDOM IN THOSE WORDS.
NOW, I’M GOING TO TAKE A NAP.
HUGS FROM MAINE
http://sophie4me.blogspot.com/
Amen, sister!
Yes! We do need rest and the REAL rest, not sitting thinking what our next move will be. JUST resting. I have need of that as well. I agree with Melissa. We seem to think we have to do more than just be a mommy but we don’t. That is a calling…..as is the call to come to the Savior for rest for our souls.
Suzanne
These words are so true. My son is now 21 and I can’t believe it!! I can’t watch home movies of him when he was little without crying.
As I read this…my eyes filled up with tears….we all must be feeling it…today I wrote about a verse that I have been meditating on “Be Still and Know that I am God”….great post!
~Sandy toe
I have been hearing my heart calling for quiet time lately. Quiet time with myself, quiet time with my family and quiet time with my Lord. I am hearing the call and striving to answer it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts as well as the thoughts of others on the subject. Dear Heart, I am listening.
The time of productive rest in Him, I quiet time yet productive time. I never thought of it that way…
Here is a post i did on my other blog a few days ago. watch the video it is really good.
http://liftedonwater.blogspot.com/2009/02/be-silent-and-listen.html
God bless you all. love reading your post emily.
Amen. Amen.
I was just journaling and reflecting on all He’s teaching me. Of course, there’s a ton of things to “do” but there always will be.
Thanks for the reminder.
So I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and have yet to comment. I guess I just really enjoy reading what you write and especially this particular post. I find that I do the same thing you do, I either have “getting things done” time or “feeling guilty and thinking about what I should be doing” time. I find it so hard to just rest and am constantly seeking the Lord to guide me to find peace in my mind. It’s just so hard sometimes. Thank you for helping me to see a different perspective though that it is important to have peace and balance without guilt!
You girls are all speaking my language — I love that you are talking about this. It is so important. I did an interview last year with Alexandra Stoddard (it is on my blog, link in the side bar)–these same issues you are discussing have been heavy on my mind since I started blogging, so I spoke to her about it.
One of the very wise things she told me was the in this day and age we are OVER connected (ie with our cell phones and computers and the fast pace) and we miss the beauty in living a more focused life.
Here is a quote from her:
“We’ve paid for our speeded-up lives with a loss in the quality of our time. Our chronic lack of time has robbed us of the ability to understand that the truth of living is found in the experience of being, and that life cannot be put on hold while we’re trying to produce more.”
Wow. I feel that so often, I get pulled into the trap that I should produce more or connect more because I CAN! Not because I really need to do more, simply because it is within my power to do it. With computers especially, lots of connection and information is right at our fingertips at all times!
Deep inside, I crave a slower paced life, where I can just appreciate the beauty in moments. But being online too much (or overly connected or over committed in any way) can rob me of the very life I need most of all. I just think I want to produce MORE and that is where the fulfillment is, but in reality, there is so much more beauty and meaning in a life of slowing down and doing less but FEELING and EXPERIENCING it all more!
Great discussions!
i’ve sort of always had this mentality. maybe it’s because i’m lazy, but i prefer to do less. i like easy days with plenty of time to read and rest and enjoy the outdoors. i don’t like running from place to place, event to event. maybe that’s why i rarely feel stress. i am struggling right now to choose my favorite photo to enlarge into a 16 x 20 poster print that i won at wearethatfamily.
that’s about as stressed as i get.
Achieving balance and finding rest is such a hard thing for me to do right now. It always seems like it’s right there but dancing just out of my grasp. I appreciate the shared posts. I’m going to rest and read…
i actually started blogging to find some “me” time. i find the process of writing and organizing my thoughts to be very cathartic, balancing, centering. my children are 14,13 and 10 and i can tell you it is SOOO true. i wished for those crazy-catch-me-if-you-can days to mature into the i’m-worried-where-you-are days, and would give anything now for just a few of those earlier days mixed in. the days seem busier now in the afternoons, running, and it seems oh so hard to find quiet peaceful moments. so i wonder, will i miss these days, too? i think so. maybe the key is to learn to enjoy the moments, even the chaos, too. i love all the linking you did in this post… i have a map to some great blogs! thank-you!
You know, since I started Yoga a few months ago, I have been so much more relaxed. I only go once a week and for only one hour, but it forces me to have the quiet, reflection time I wasn’t getting. I highly recommend it!
Thank you! I really needed to hear this today. Arrgghh, who am I kidding! I need to hear this every day. Right now I have a three week old, and the laundry is piling up, the breakfast dishes sit there til lunch, and the shower sometimes doesn’t happen at all. I have realised that sometimes having a quiet time to sit and reflect is more invigorating than sleep, and that as long as bub is fed, clean and loved she will probably grow up fine. Hopefully.
Someone once told me that naptime should never be used to do something you can do when the kids are awake. I always use naptime (or quiet time as my boys do not nap anymore) to reconnect with my father and then to read a good book (my favorite thing). I consider that 1 – 2 hours my time. I rarely do housework or other work, I use it for me. And I don’t feel guilty. It makes me a better mommy (unless the boys are really loud throughout the entire two hours, then I’m just frustrated!!!).
Amen, my sweet friend – I too, have been feeling it and know that I have had to step away from my blog time. I love it, and it’s a good thing, but that “good thing” is keeping me from doing the better things for my family. Convicting, yes…..
LOL – What is UP this week? You should see my post from yesterday!
Remember how when we used to swing together as kids, and we’d start swinging in tandem? My friends used to tell me to “get out of my bathtub” because we were the same. (Now, I’d just say “get out of my bathtub” because I like to take a bath by myself – ahem!) But I’m telling you – it seems like everybody’s in the same tub right now, and really, we’re having a good time together, aren’t we?
Thanks for these links, for your thoughts. It’s been a long winter, hasn’t it?
Breathing with ya…
What a beautifully written post, and so timely. I read Kimba’s post as well. Some things to reflect on today…thanks again.
Hi – I’m actually tearing up. I know that “guilty I’m not getting stuff done” place right now. There never seems to be permission to do nothing. Perhaps I’m asking the wrong person…
wow. just about all the blogs i read now…everyone is discussing this subject. we are all affected. it is so contrary to what God really wants for us. peace and fulfillment and rest is found in Him, yet we look everywhere else to find it. i’m guilty. thanks for this sentence…”And doing all of that in the presence of One who loves us with an everlasting love just because we’re His and not because we’re perfect”
Ah…..thank you for writing about this. Sometimes, you read the right thing at the right time. That’s what this post is like for me. What a blessing for those moms of older kids to offer advice so that maybe we won’t look back and wish those same things.
Thank for your post! Very well said and such a good reminder. I did a post about it a while back…
http://peelosophy.thepeel.org/2008/09/25/aaaahhfridays/