Notes on Returning - No. 3
Beautiful things have happened this week! I took off late Wednesday for a brief trip to Austin to work with a client of mine and decided to stay in East Austin - A smaller section of the city that’s colorful, quirky and full of curated vintage shops, locally owned artisan stores and yummy food. I made it a point to schedule my days with plenty of time to have between activities so I didn’t feel rushed if a conversation struck up or I wanted a few extra minutes to linger (which I am pleased to report both took place). One night I even pushed my dinner reservations an hour so I could stay at the pool and soak up a little extra sun as it was setting.
As I moved through the week, I began hearing God tell me, My child, it’s okay… you are on time. Take a few more minutes. Enjoy what I have prepared for you. My job is to obey. Oftentimes, God will share with me the opposite of what our culture says… over and over in the Bible God says uses the word wait and the phrase to be still. It’s a surrendering action for us as stewards of all that is in trusted to us. As we wait God prepares things in the background that we could not do on our own.
I’ve noticed if I’m feeling rushed, that’s oftentimes Satan creating chaos. Where chaos exists, Satan usually does, too. Confusion and chaos are his specialty and it’s difficult to act in alignment when those are present. God calls us as his disciples to follow His plan and he’s oftentimes working on a different timeline. Think about Ecclesiastes 3 where King Solomon describes a “season for everything.” I am being instructed to be in a season of intention, trust in the Lord, walking in faith and slow living.
Slow living and slow travel (which I wrote about yesterday) allow me to connect with the people, places and activities I am a part of throughout the day. After years of having to adhere to corporate policies, meetings, forecasts and models - I began losing connection not only with myself, but with the world and the Creator. My heart felt the pain of it and it slowly eroded joy until I lost all purpose. That is not what I was designed for. I was designed for travel, creativity, bursts of high productivity and output followed by downtime, rest and reconnection. I am not a machine, but a uniquely designed human being just like you!
I believe I was called to show you just how great you are. Not because of your work or your successes, but because of your design that Our Father made you with. When we feel burnout, that’s an indication of being out of alignment with our design. Psalms 23 discusses how God leads us “green pastures and still waters and restores our souls.” We are called to impact and disciple. To lead others to Christ and if we are in a place of burnout, it’s hard to do that. That’s where Authentically Made comes in - a course designed to help you reconnect yourself to your specific design. The result after going through it, which you can literally listen to in the car or on your run, is alignment. You’ll get back more time and energy to do what you were designed to do by God. You can access the Authentically Made course here and begin a step into a place of wholeness and peace.
