Wednesday, February 10, 2010

where is your spot?

in several ways and through several people i have been reminded lately of the importance of personal space--"self-care," if you will. we stack our days full of events and appointments such that anything "unexpected" threatens to topple us. we can even justify business by claiming that it is "in service" to others or a focused "investment" in relationships. well, i am here to tell you that i have used those very same justifications and, while there is certainly time and place for service and investment, there is also a very important four-letter concept called rest. and i think we compromise it too readily sometimes.

so, this is my challenge for YOU. think about what is necessary for personal health, growth, and development. naturally, this should include concerted thinking about your relationship with God--a being whose very influence in our lives promotes wholeness through rest and redemption.

do you need to take a long walk? a long bath? read a novel? write a poem? paint a mural? collage a wall? go for a run? escape people? find people? journal? sit somewhere quietly? cook? play music?...the list of questions is endless and, ultimately, you need to determine with yourself and God what things are "most" healthy for you. but i encourage you to devote time to some of those things.

I'm challenging myself to journal again. for whatever reason, it has become more and more difficult to journal this semester. really, i just haven't made time for it. but i know i need to. the space of the empty page is a space for me to be "all me." it is, in the words of an anonymous stranger-friend, "a place where i can swear and spit and ache." i need that space. God has always met me in that space. He "risks" the mess of my swearing and spitting and aching to get into my life with me...there is hardly a more wonderful thing...