It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity. George MacDonald
Meditation: It is so tempting to “keep going”. Sometimes the demands of life are so multilayered, and we have so many different roles to play, that it is hard to know when to “stop”. When we dare to pause, we sometimes get in touch with a deep physical and even emotional exhaustion that we did not know was there. Keeping going, caring for large quantities of people, things, tasks and goals seem to be so needed, so valuable, so desirable and “praise worthy”. Really? Daring to pause, and even daring to stop gets us back in touch with ourselves. As important and as exciting our roles, tasks and services for God and for others are, our own emotional, physical and spiritual health is even more important. God wants our best work and our quality work. This means that God wants us to prioritize our own overall health. What might this look like? We learn to say “no”. We dare to delegate. We set limits. We realize that “if I am everywhere, I will be nowhere fully.” “If I go into ‘autopilot’, I am no longer mindful”. “If I wear too many hats, I might want to give some of them away.” What a challenging thought: Quality not quantity…
Prayer: God, you are a God that teaches us that “less is more”. You are so countercultural. You teach us that one day lived mindfully counts for 100 days lived in stressful routine. Help us discern which hat to let go off. Free us from needing to prove ourselves. Help us aim for quality with our family, with work, and even in our social life. Thank you for showing us new ways of living. Help us to practice them. And we are grateful. Amen
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. Jeremiah 31:25
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