”Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!“
Psalms 46:10
”But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”“
Luke 11:28
I’ve been yearning to get back into a more energized routine. I’ve been wanting to start house projects for literal years and I just haven’t started. I have been trying to hack a system to have enough food to eat straight from the fridge without having to constantly cook things, but I still find myself staring at the fridge wondering what to eat. I’ve wanted to blog for longer than we’ve even owned our house, but I’m just now starting.
I wanted these things now so many times. I have tried to push my way through and make it happen, even when I know it isn’t the right season. Like when we have a new baby. Or when my husband is gone traveling. Or in a long cold winter where we are sick every two weeks. And I never got anywhere.
What I never realized was that pushing for things would only have me feel like I’m failing when it wouldn’t work. That the act of making it happen would bring me to the brick wall of burnout. Quitting wouldn’t feel like an option but I couldn’t see any other way to move forward without forcing myself. So I gave up. So many times I gave up.
But the weather changes. Babies grow older. Traveling season comes to its yearly end. Lingering coughs subside, and life keeps moving forward.
Just Be
“Be still and know that I AM God” is a wonderful verse and command.
As a mom and American, being still does not come naturally to me. My name means “bee” – as in “busy worker bee” – so cutting off an “e” to just “be” feels counter to my nature. It feels unsettling. It feels like failure.
But following God’s commands is never cause to be unsettled, it is what brings peace; it’s not a failure, but rather a triumph.
It takes more mental energy for me to obey and be still, than it does to push forward to a point of burnout and failure. But the funny thing is that the rest and stillness accomplishes far more than my physical efforts ever can.
So, when God says to do something, He really means it for your good.
Obedience: not just for kids
Confession: I’ve been ignoring a command for myself that God keeps telling me. It doesn’t go well with my personal hustle culture of always doing and rarely being. But every time I hit that brick wall of burnout, and I pray for help, I get the same command as my answer. It isn’t what I want to hear but I know that I need to follow my first instruction before expecting a farther one.
My command: “Go to bed at 9:30 – It will change your life.”
That’s it. That’s my instructions.
I don’t know why it is so hard to be in bed, ready to sleep at 9:30, but I haven’t made it happen. Even with knowing that it will change my life, somehow I think that there’s a different (read: better, easier, more interesting) next step than giving up my late nights to myself.
Except that when I stay up late, I short myself on sleep and am less of the intentional mom I want to be. Less of the person who Gos has planned me to be. I think God knows me pretty well to give me a bedtime – sleep is important for me.
Trusting God will bring it about
Maybe the answer is to be still and stop pushing myself to make 9:30 happen. That if I rely on God and His plans – not on my own workings – that His plan will become my life-rhythm by default in following Him.
So, here I sit writing before 9:00 pm so I don’t miss my bedtime. Will I be perfect at it? Unlikely. I’ll come up with excuses for disobeying, like any kid when they disobey their parents. And then I’ll regret not following this command, knowing that I could be better.
Will I be blessed in obeying? I know I will. And God’s blessings are better than any reason (read: excuse) that I could ever have.
Obeying God in this is not only going to change my hours of operation, it’s going to change my life.
How about you? What is God telling you to do? Are you ignoring Him, or obeying Him? Leave a comment and start a conversation.