Are you beginning to breathe a bit more deeply? Have you been reminded of any truth that you needed to remember? The world is both smaller and bigger than you perhaps once thought. We have to breathe in life before we can breathe out impact. Change begins with grace, grace is given in love, and receiving both gives us energy to affect change in the world.
It seems opposite, doesn’t it? It seems as though the world changers ought to charge out with our battle cries and our solid confidences, ready to tackle what comes our way, poised to stand to defend our ideologies, prepared to tackle any foe.
We forget that God came as a baby, strength comes after weakness, presidents start out clinging to the hem of their mothers skirts. I could not launch a series on changing the world without taking some time to lay the foundation. And so instead of declaring, Let’s go! I have felt compelled to whisper, Be still. We love because we are loved. We move because we have been moved. And this grace changes everything.
I’ve kept you sitting on the bathroom floor for several days now. Are you getting a little antsy? Maybe a little foot-tapping going on? For those of you who were hiding all the way under the sink, have you at least come out into the open yet? We’ll talk a bit more this weekend about receiving, and then on Monday we’ll begin to move.
We are now finished with our first week in a series. Read 31 Days to Change the World from the beginning. Go here to see all of the other 31 Day series happening around the internets. Want to have Chatting at the Sky delivered into your email inbox? Subscribe here for free.
I’m a little off topic this morning, but I just heard a song that reminded me of you and “Grace for the Good Girl”. I was just thinking, “Hey, Chris and Conrad could have based their song ‘Let it Out’ on Emily’s book!” Didn’t know if you’d heard it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=902WmnmhFPw
Have a great day!
I’ve enjoyed being still this week. Glad you started this way.
It’s a great start, the foundation. I needed it this week, the reminders, being still. I have moved from under the sink!
Great! Here’s to cracking open the door…
I love this. I think about that sometimes when I look at Jesus — it seems like He wasn’t in much of a rush for someone who would literally change the whole world in just a few years.
When you asked the other day about where we are with the door–ready to go in or not even close–I expressed my readiness; my poised position at the door. Yet, for quite awhile now I’ve felt this *waiting* is necessary. I’ve felt as though I need to savor the peace that comes first, not after. Knowing in confidence that He is with me–no matter what–and all is for purpose…it takes stillness, for sure.
There are several verses the high school girls and I read the other day – all of them said to wait quietly. How hard is that for us as women?
I am prone to run ahead of God so I appreciate the reminder to ‘be still’. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Karen.
Thanks, Emily. Another great one — albeit simple. I am learning the sacredness of doing nothing. No agenda, no plan, no obsession with productivity. Just silence and stillness. This is a lost art in contemporary culture.
I agree, Jeff. It takes fight and intentionality to do nothing. Who would’ve thought it? Still loving your blog.
speaking of receiving… i read the first two chapters in your book last night. if it were up to me, i’d let go of all my motherly duties for two days just to read it to my heart’s content. but, the kids need to eat, so i’ll have to read slowly. it’s probably better this way to let it all sink in. anyway, i thought i’d let you know that chapter two was revolutionary for me. i received some healing last night because of it. my Good Wife was not my own high expectations of myself. my Good Wife has always been my husband’s first wife. she passed away five months after their marriage. and then he married me a year later. so i’ve always tried to live up to what i thought she was like… “perfect” so that he wouldn’t miss her and that he would only love me. i didn’t realize i did this as much as i do until last night. so thank you for bringing it out of me. it’s time to let go of living up to the Good Wife.
Carissa – when you said “I’ve always tried to live up to what I thought she was like…perfect so that he wouldn’t miss her and that he would only love me”…I got goose bumps. Because that is powerful and vulnerable. I’m so glad you’re reading, and I do hope the book continues to be a sweet companion for you as you let go of Good Wife. And ps – I love your blog!
My spirit definitely “amens” what you are saying. We have to be still and breathe in life before we can go out and impact the world. We can’t shine if we are filled.
patience is a virtue. my father in law
has been i ICU for 7 weeks, and it has
drawn on every virtue we have to keep
cheering him on and loving him even
when he’s irascible.
the hardest part, though, is being
patient. thank you for your precious
31 days series.
I needed this today. Thank you, Emily.
Love this post. Thank you for encouraging us to just Be Still. We are loved so much by our Abba Father and it is so awesome to be able to just sit and meditate on His Presence. It brings strength, peace, love, and hope….
I’d love it if you (and others) wanted to stop by my blog sometime.
blessings!
“We forget that God came as a baby…” I LOVE that! So true and never thought of it that way. And, be still. thank you, really speaking to me.
xo, cat
Yes, Emily, working my way out from under the sink. So nice to know no one is expecting me to hurtle to the front and lead the charge. Perhaps I can be support, somewhere in the rear?
So good. I’ve needed every word that you’ve shared.
‘We forget that God came as a baby’…yes, I do. Loved that statement. It reminded me to slow down and breathe. Everything will happen in it’s time. By the way, was talking to a friend today, sitting at Starbucks, outside of Barnes & Noble. When we were through, I told her there was a book she needed to read. I went right to the religious section and there was ONE last copy of your book, Grace For the Good Girl. I handed it to her and just said…’go home and read this.’ Thanks for your effort in writing that book. Your changing lives…one day at a time!
Fabulous! I really love the way that you are approaching this topic – so bravely with dealing with “ME” first! Powerful!
Totally random question….
I am in the market for a new DSLR and I was wondering what you used, and if you like it/would choose differently?? Thanks for any advice that you can give me!
Oh! How I love coming here and finding what He has been speaking to my heart, as well. I started my series out on rooting deeper in His love, having no idea He was going to take me to “be still”…which He did. And then tonight, I was writing about how He gives us roots and wings. How we cannot soar, we cannot do the very things He created us to do until we set our roots down deep into Him. Roots come before wings. And I have a post coming up on receiving…how roots ARE receivers. They soak up nutrients like we have got to soak up His love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Phew! That was one big gush of a comment.
But it just made my heart smile to come by and see Him whispering these things over here, too. And I LOVE how His whispers spill out of you. You write so beautifully.
Thank you for letting all of us take part in this challenge. My heart is being blessed!
I was not expecting Him to take me to the words “be still” this first week of my own 31 day journey, and yet He has. And coming here and reading those words again confirms it all the more. You oh, so eloquently spell out His heart.
Love it.
Sigh. I typed THIS comment because my computer was acting all crazy and was not going to post the first comment. Now I see them both. Just explaining so I won’t seem TOTALLY nuts.
Don’t know how to get one of them to go away! 