I feel like I am a slow learner on the subject of dialing down to rest. This past year I have moved three times. For decades I worked in an environment full of activity. I am learning to disengage from busyness I previously mistook for significance, and I have come a long way.
We also have the exceptionally long and vicious political season, make that year, we Americans have just survived. Many voters had to figuratively or literally hold their nose while they voted. The public and caustic display of mud-slinging in every direction has brought a new level of disrespect and tension to the public square, even on a global level, like nothing ever experienced before.
So how do we dial down from all that, on top of the “normal” tensions we all face? How do we dial down from the prolonged tensions?
In my experience dialing down begins with stepping back. When we are so close that all we can see and experience is tension, it is time to pull back, take a breath, and ask some questions. We ask God some questions.
How did I get here? Is this where I want to be, or will it lead me to where I want to go?
What might I need to change about the way I see and think about this_____?
Abba, How do You see this_____ and how do you see me in relation to this?
Sometimes we allow ourselves to see others as opposition or worse, enemies. That’s when we ask Abba to help us see them from His eternal perspective. We ALL are created in the image of God. Our Creator loves each one of us equally. Abba, PLEASE show me the qualities You love in the other and help me to love them too.
Often people we feel are difficult have been wounded by others. It does not give them the right to misbehave, but I find it easier for me to have compassion when I understand they may be acting out of pain another has caused them.
Forgive and release, both the people and the situations that are beyond our control. Then ask for help to replace the thoughts that lead to tension and exhaustion with rest giving truth. Listen carefully for the still small voice that lines up with the word of Good. Lean in to those truths, taking each thought captive to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5)
Trust that Our Creator has not been taken by surprise by our circumstances or choices. My worry only hurts me, or those around me if I get snippy or silent. God is Good and He sent His Son so we can have abundant life! Not a life of tension and fear. Asking Him to help me get on His grand script for my life and off my finite script of uncertainty helps.
Yes, exercise, healthy diet and sleep are all good prescriptions to help in the process, but even those begin in our minds as we choose them.
REPEAT AS NEEDED. =}
Dialing down is a choice and a process. I am very much in process. Is there any area of you life than can use some dialing down?
