There is school work to complete, classes to listen to, money to go make, youth group to attend, an amazing internship to grow in, time with God to feel His presence, food to eat, health to attend to, people to hold relationships with, and life to live at it's fullest. Go, Go, Go. That is what my life looks like, and that is the way I choose to live life. Constant movement to feel worthy in what I am doing, constant actions to keep my thoughts hidden, and yet I also desire the times where I can just simply breathe.
The question I face through this is: How can I allow those times to breathe, when I constantly fill the holes in my calendar with another event, other than rest?
The answer is simple, yet one of the biggest challenges to face in this culture. The answer is learning how to say no to certain things from time-to-time, resting in the peace of a loving Father, and learning how to breathe in the midst of my own thoughts and struggles.
Don't get me wrong... I love everything that I am a part of right now. I have amazing people surrounding me. My work is a fun environment. I get to serve the Lord and grow in my experience and spiritual walk through helping as a small group leader at my church here in Warsaw, as well as working with Not Easily Broken Ministries. My senior year and classes have been so rewarding and I am learning so much through my professors and personal prayer time. However, even though I love all of this, I still find myself worn out. I find myself not allowing any time to just breathe.
In a culture where it is so easy to get absorbed into activities or relationships, we must remember who is in total control of our lives. The more that I continue to do, the less that I allow God to take control. The more that I seek to gain control, the less time I have to rest and trust that God has everything in His hands.
To take a breath is more than simply getting 5 hours of sleep at night. To take a breath is not just sitting on the couch binge watching a whole show on Netflix in a day. To take a breath is not even sitting in a chair and staring at the wall in silence for an hour (one I tend to do frequently).
To truly breathe, we have to involve God. No. Not even just involve God. We have to hand over everything that we are doing, thinking, feeling, or struggling with to Him. Then we have to allow Him to hold onto all of that, so that we can rest in the ever-so-loving peace of His breathe into our lungs. We have to use our spiritual inhaler and take that extra breath of Jesus to fill our lungs up with a fresh and clear puff of life.
Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life." So while I choose to live my life in the always-moving flow of things, I am not allowing the breath of the Almighty to truly give me life. I have to constantly remind myself that it is not only okay to breathe, but that it is important and that God actually wants us to rest in His presence and allow Him to take the control away.
So I challenge everyone after reading this, including myself as I write this. I challenge you to take a breath. Allow God to speak to you through time of just giving your ALL to Him, opening up the Word, and being still in a life that is constantly moving and creating noises all around us. Just breathe.
