Gentle Reader,
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
…
And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.
– Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 25:1-5 (NKJV)
We all know that hindsight is 20/20.
And we all know that sometimes we choose to learn the hard way.
Last year was one of lostness, bookended by difficulty, filled with doubt.
Relationally: unexpected shifts. Deep wounds that are not yet fully healed.
Politically: exhausting. I don’t know anyone, wherever they land on the issues, who feels energized by the current state of the American system.
Spiritually: an overall sense of boredom. Dryness.
Creatively: instead of rightly celebrating a decade in this world of blogging, humbled by and joyful about sharing this journey with you, I felt shamed by it. Surely by Year Ten an agent, a contract and a traditionally published book would have materialized. Some outward, tangible sign of success.
Mentally: the darkest time in several years. Plagued by both rising anxiety and the fearful numbness of sorrow, anger and bitterness too large and heavy to step away from and objectively address. As I continue to be slow to realize and feel my own emotions, this only dawned on me recently – but it absolutely showed here, in the writing.
Simply, I should have taken the entire year off. Closed the laptop and refused to place any kind of value on comments or statistics. (Difficult to do in the wildness of the internet age, when everyone is a “maker” of some sort and is competing for a even moment’s notice from a vast audience). Trusted that people would still be there to read when I came back. I didn’t, and the writing suffered. Much of what I produced wasn’t great. Nor was it focused on what truly matters, on what I consider my calling and mission to be.
God knows what He’s talking about. Such a blunt, easy concept to grasp. God is God and I am not. Still, after many years of walking this road, I forget. Today I wonder if it’s not the forgetfulness that hurts us more than the outright rebellion. A little step here, a little step there and soon, like the man progressing toward the Celestial City, we’re off track.
Lost.
When God told His people to take a weekly break, He meant it. He understands, far better than we do, the limitations of humanity. It’s not just our bodies that need rest. Our minds, hearts and souls need space, too. Indulge me for a moment; take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. Feel your lungs expand and your ribs press against your abdominal muscles. Let that breath out, slowly.
While the admonition to control breathing to calm the brain has been around for ages, only recently has science started uncovering how it works. A 2016 study accidentally stumbled upon the neural circuit in the brainstem that seems to play the key role in the breathing-brain control connection. The circuit is part of what’s been called the brain’s “breathing pacemaker” because it can be adjusted by altering breathing rhythm (slow, controlled breathing decreases activity in the circuit; fast, erratic breathing increases activity), which in turn influences emotional states. Exactly how this happens is still being researched…
– How Breathing Calms Your Brain, And Other Science-Based Benefits Of Controlled Breathing
When God told His people to let the land rest every seven years, He meant it. He understands, far better than we do, the limitations of the soil beneath our feet.
A fallow field is land that a farmer plows but does not cultivate for one or more seasons to allow the field to become more fertile again. The practice of leaving fields fallow dates back to ancient times when farmers realized that using soil over and over again depleted its nutrients. A three-field rotation system was used in medieval times in which one field was always fallow.
Agricultural experts debate whether the practice of fallow fields is necessary in modern farming and, if it is, how often a farmer needs to let a field go fallow. Most, however, agree that the practice at some interval or another is beneficial, and for dryland farming, it is particularly useful. All other factors being equal, fields that lie fallow do tend to produce better crops the next year.
God is God and I am not.
That’s the truth.
On the first day of this new year, I reorient myself. This little space and these words belong to Him. My purpose isn’t to get an agent or a contract or a traditionally published book (though I’m sure that I will always want these things). When I write, I write for Him. I seek to learn, know and share His truth.
The other words will fade away. All the positive words of famous authors and of viral bloggers. All the negative words that tear down and obfuscate.
His words, they will not.
I love how you can explain things so clearly and make it easy to understand your point. I’m right there with you, Marie. I can relate to everything in your post. I’ve even thought “Maybe it’s time to close my business” and let God be God, direct me as HE sees fit. My goal for 2019 is to do just that: Let God be God and be willing to go where HE directs. If my organizing business doesn’t “go anywhere”, I will ask HIM to direct my path. I will not lose hope because my hope is IN HIM, not something material. I love you, sweet friend. I hope you keep writing because it’s REAL and something I certainly can relate to and identify with more often than not!
LikeLike
I believe that you were given the ability to organize for a reason. There’s a lot of people out there who need your help! And it’s more than just the material things; you bring a peace and clarity with you wherever you go. I know that’s the Holy Spirit in you. It blesses me every time. 🙂
LikeLike
Marie, thank you so much for the beautiful explanation of God’s directed rest and our need to follow His direction. I write a prayer devotional and about half-way through last year, I heard God telling me to stop posting on the weekends. When I finally listened, the rhythm of my week was transformed. I was no longer struggling to find time to write and my prayer devotions once again began to flow directly from my time with the LORD. Hopefully, I will be quicker to listen and follow His rest in the days ahead.
LikeLike
“Hopefully, I will be quicker to listen and follow His rest in the days ahead.”
Amen! I want – need – every day of this year to be directed by Him. Like the Israelites of old, I don’t want to move unless He does.
LikeLike