devotions |

I hope you have been enjoying the topic I have set up for Mondays. Each month we will have a new topic for our Monday’s together. If you have any topics you would like to discuss or would like to know more about, I would love to hear from you!

Continuing with our ‘Taking time for health…’ Series, today I am sharing something that may not seem like a health topic, but it affects our health much more than we realize. In fact, sometimes I don’t even realize how much it has affected me until after the matter.

That little something that makes a big difference would be my daily, spiritual walk with the Lord. I have definitely been guilty of thinking I was too busy to make time to spend with my Savior. That’s humbling and sad to say, but if we are completely honest, we have all been there. We run ourselves ragged, and at the very end of the day, 5 minutes before we crash for the night, we attempt to read our Bibles and retain what little we really comprehended due to the onsetting grogginess.

Do you see how your spiritual walk affects you physically?

Our entire lives are made up of hustle and bustle. There have been many times that I have worked around the from the time my feet hit the floor to the time my husband got home, and wonder why on earth there was still so much to do.

The truth is, there will always be ‘STUFF’ to do. STUFF that takes up all of our time, STUFF that takes up all of our energy, and STUFF that seems to suck the joy right out of us. By the way, I am not referring to our responsibilities as wives and moms. Taking care of our families is not ‘stuff’. Feeding your husband and children is not ‘stuff’. Just clarifying…

I’m talking about the things that aren’t bad or they might even be good things but… Too much of a good thing… Let’s say your best friend wants to hang out. That’s not a bad thing at all! But after you said yes to your best friend, your neighbor calls and asks for you to come over for dinner. Again not a bad thing, but after you said yes to your friend and your neighbor, you find a million videos on Facebook and waste 15, 20, 30 minutes of your afternoon…

You do all of that ‘stuff’, run your business, do the grocery shopping, answer the phone, cook dinner, play with your kids, try to be attentive as your husband tells you about his day, brush your teeth, realize that you forgot to pack a lunch for tomorrow, wash that load of laundry again because it sat in the wash too long, sit on the edge of your bed and think… Huh. I think I will read my Bible.

You have to learn to say ‘no’… No to some of the things that are asked of us, no to being a people pleaser, and no to waisting our time on things that really don’t matter.

You ever wonder why we are worn ragged… Mentally, physically and most importantly spiritually? I know I have been guilty of this more times than I care to count.

Being in God’s Word everyday without fail has been my goal for this new year. It hasn’t been easy, but I can say that it has made a huge difference in my everyday life. That and prayer.

So bottom line, say no to ‘stuff’ more often, and yes to our walk with God, time with our families, and doing what will really matter in eternity…

A little while back, I wrote ‘Learning to get a life…’ in hopes that others would see their need to make time for themselves. Today I’m going to take it a step farther.

In my other post, I was trying to encourage you to find a hobby outside of work. We get wrapped up in responsibilities, to the point that, that becomes our entire life.

Hobbies can be a good thing, and they can be relaxing, but how much time do we spend being ‘still’. Most of us are running to the grocery store, going to PTA, working out, sending off orders, taking phone calls, cleaning up the juice that your toddler decided to purposely pour on the floor, putting laundry away that you washed two weeks ago, walking the dog, making dinner, praying that your kid doesn’t dump his crackers on the floor while you’re making dinner… Etc. etc. etc. aren’t you exhausted just reading this?!???

It’s crazy but that’s the way most of us live. I know it’s necessary to get all of that done each day, but if you don’t take time to just ‘be still’ you’re gonna to go bonkers!

This week I found a way to combine my hobby with a way to be still. One of my favorite ways to be still is to sit quietly and read my Bible as I spend time with God. I love being able to cut fresh flowers from outside and put them on the table. It’s really nice when you get to enjoy God’s creation as you spend time in His Word. There’s a satisfying peace that comes with it.