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How do I look ahead to a new year in the midst of ongoing challenges?
In the final days of 2017, I find myself reflective as so many are. This year has had more than its share of challenges, heartache and “opportunities for growth”. There has been joy, growth and achievement in there too but the overarching sense that I am left with is heavy and hard. Maybe you can relate to that this year. I am not despairing in this sense of heavy and hard and it has not buried me. There is still underlying peace and strength that carry me through but it requires constant intention to access that foundation. I pray that you are not drowning, even in the midst of the…
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Work out what brings you rest
Many of the posts over this series have had this idea of true rest at the core. I am discovering in my own life that prioritising rest is even more important in busy seasons. Ironically, activities that I find restful and recharging are usually the first things that get dropped at these times. With this year seeming to accelerate as we near the end, I am reminding myself to make rest an essential in my everyday life. Rest might look like spending more time in silence and increasing the whitespace in my days. It may look like getting creative. It will definitely look like switching off devices and getting…
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What areas of your life need to be refined?
What areas of your life need a little refining? I have been reflecting on some areas in my life that have been good but need to be fine tuned to be great once more. I have habits in place that help me to spend time with God each day but they need to be refined to give me more uninterrupted time. I need to look at the times of day I set aside and how these can be adjusted to new seasons of life. Ways that I clean and seek to keep my house in some semblence of organisation need looking at as well. I have refined some of my…
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Some encouragement from Ephesians
These verses have long been part of my favourites. This version highlights them in a different way for me. It highlights my part in this- not the effort that I need to make or the willpower I need to generate but the role that God has for each one of us to be part of the amazing things that He is doing. He invites us into that. It doesn’t stop there, though. He transforms us from deep within to be able to do what we need to in this plan. He won’t force this on us. This week, my post on the fear of having missed your calling hit home…
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How can you connect with someone today?
What has blessed me the most in writing through this series has been the connections with people. People that I didn’t think would connect with my words have commented and reached out to me. It has been a privilege to see my words make that connection between our hearts and our experiences. It has been a reminder that so much more connects us as people than divides. Connections can be through our words, a smile, a touch, a hug. So often we think in big terms but it is in these little everyday moments that deep connection can be formed over time. I don’t want to miss any of those…
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Do you fear that you have missed out on your calling?
When the dreams of our youth haven’t eventuated, have we missed out on our calling? I struggled for years believing that I had missed out on what God had planned for my life because of choices that I had made and pathways I had taken. I came to a place of settling in my mind that I would never have that calling and would live out my days with a consolation prize type of life. The ideas I had in my teen years seemed forbidden to me, that I was disqualified. Maybe you can relate to that in some way. I think it was this feeling and belief that has…
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How do you face change in your life?
I was doing a personality assessment recently and one of the questions was around how you deal with change. We as humans beings don’t tend to like change although some handle it better than others. Change tends to leave me feeling unsettled and off-kilter and yet I am in yet another season of changes once more. I have taken on a new leadership role for next year and possibles changes in other areas too. I am realising that this has allowed me to become more adaptable and less dependent on feeling in control. I guess that is why God has brought about so many changes year after year. Do you resist change when…
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Wellness Wednesday: silence and whitespace
The irony of writing on the need for silence and whitespace as part of wellness this week is that I don’t feel I have had enough whitespace to formulate my thoughts. It has been an intense week without the usual time set aside for unscheduled flexibility that I usually implement. It has served as a definite reminder of how essential it is for me to feel on top of things, mentally well and able to do all that I need to do. There have been multiple reminders of these concepts in my life of late. I pay attention when I see the same themes emerging from so many different sources.…
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What areas of your life need to be revised?
At school I expected to need to revise material that I had already studied to be able to pass exams and get good marks on assessment tasks. Why do I expect life and spiritual lessons to be any different? Time and again I find myself relearning and coming back to the same truths. Why does that surprise me? What lessons do you need to revise today? Have you previously been intentional about your yeses but let that slip? Have you guarded your down time in the past but overfilled your schedule now? Have you allowed your previously healthier eating habits to devolve? These and many more life lessons frequently need…
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What sustains you in your work?
What sustains you in your work- whether that is paid, voluntary or the work you do for your family? I was reminded of the need for both passion and perseverance this week at the Global Leadership Summit. I confess to lacking in one or other and sometimes both at different points in this year. Sometimes it was only one form of work that suffered. Sometimes it was across all of it. I have been doing some deep soul searching and reviewing. Is it a need to rekindle a passion that was there before or is it an indicator that the season for that particular area is over? Is it simply…
Encouragement for women in leadership
