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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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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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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…
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Some encouragement from Joshua
At the end of one week and the start of the next, what words do you need to hear? This week, my post prompted by the word “brave” struck a chord with some people and is the one that has stuck in my mind the most too. “Fear not” and its variants appear in the Bible 365 times. That makes me take notice. This is often the “do not be afraid” verse that comes to my mind first. I love the Amplified version here that adds in “intimidated” as further clarification. Fear often looks like being intimidated in my life. Maybe it does in yours too. Intimidated by what we…
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Who is responsible for burn out?
The concept of burn out is something that I have been pondering for the past couple of years. I saw a culture of burn out in an organisation I was part of and wanted to know how to change that. When multiple leaders are burning out in one organisation, who is responsible for that? Is it the fault of the organisation or the people themselves? Who needs to work at resolving it? Maybe you have found yourself at that point where you have hit a wall and cannot keep pushing any longer. Maybe you have seen people around you reach that point. The conclusion that I have come to is…
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Is fear your decision maker?
Do you have this idea of being brave as being the same as not being afraid? I realise that I sometimes still have that belief deep inside. Bravery is something we talk a lot about in my house. Fear and anxiety are daily companions for my daughter and I know their companionship well myself. I know that being brave is not about how I am feeling most of the time. It is about not letting fear be the decision maker. There may be many valid reasons for a decision not to do something. I don’t ever want fear to be the deciding factor for me or my girl. I give…
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Seasons of growth and seasons of being dormant
Have you ever thought about how in order for a plant to grow, it needs seasons of being dormant, especially at the seed stage? So often I think of growth as this continuous push forward and yet that is not the picture we find in nature in many ways. I have experienced this in my life too. There have been seasons where it has felt desolate and like there will never be growth again. And yet here I am today. Do I allow myself the time to be still and recharge to let the growing time happen? We talk about children having growth spurts. We know that they grow fairly…
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How can I lead myself?
In the series I wrote last year, I talked about this concept of leading ourselves that I had been coming across in my reading and exploring of leadership skills. It is an idea that has continued to stick with me that is both challenging and encouraging. In leadership, we seek effective influence over those under our leadership. (Whether you hold a titled position, a voluntary position, are a parent or simply have people in your life who look up to you-you are a leader.) What becomes increasingly evident is that the person I most need to influence and the only one that I truly have control over is me! It…
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Am I trying to do too much or is this a necessary stretching season?
Am I trying to do too much or is this a necessary stretching season? I have questioned myself this week in the midst of feeling exhausted and discouraged. I am big on sticking to my best yes and making sure that I have margin in my life. I feel like I have failed in that goal this month though. Have I tried to do too much? On an exhausted morning, I came to the conclusion that I had. I was ready to give up writing for this series and maybe pull out of some other commitments too. I tried to get motivated. I tried to reason with myself. I tried…
Encouragement for women in leadership
