I don’t know about you but I often can overcomplicate life, for example, I am wonderful at overthinking and staying busy. And this year going back to teaching, I left myself little margin for anything else but doing.
My head was filled with constant chatter where sadly at times I would be with my family and someone would be talking to me but my head was so noisy I had to ask them to repeat themselves. Not only did I lack margin in my brain space but I held myself to strict schedules leaving little room for being and writing, which nourish my soul.
When I stood in this place on the Dingle peninsula in Ireland I felt free and spacious, not only in the physical sense but within. Here I stood with God and vividly saw that less is more.
This moment brought me back to when I was diagnosed with cancer. One day I pictured myself sitting on a hillside watching the trains of society fly by and God spoke to my heart, “you’re off those trains now. Be with me and I’ll show you a better way.”
And I experienced His way where less is more, where peace rules hearts and minds, where living out love is the key to unlocking joy within no matter the circumstances.
This year I had hopped back on those fast trains.
Yet what God is revealing to me, again, is that I am not a passenger on the train, but the driver.
And with that humbling wisdom I am sitting with God, in a more spacious place, this summer. I am praying about how to drive a slower train this year - or hop on a bike instead. I pray to find a pace in life where my mind is quieter and I hear my family when they speak, where I say no to what is unnecessary even when it’s hard to do, where I spend more time with God throughout my day instead of in my circling thoughts.
If you can relate, I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we make the time to be with God everyday. And may this not be a checklist item on our to do lists. May we spend our quiet time with God but also remain in conversation with God throughout our day; giving thanks, praying for the people we encounter in our days, asking for wisdom about a problem we have, listening to God, etc. May our relationship with God be the strong thread woven into the fabric of our days. May we do this so that even when life tries to make us feel like passengers on the fast trains of society again, instead we experience what it feels like to be with God on an Irish countryside where His Truth speaks clearly to our hearts and we have freedom and spaciousness within.
With love and hope,
Shawn
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“…pray without ceasing…”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17