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Provide for others by building into yourself
I think of all that I want to provide for my daughter- quality time, a safe and calm environment, a sense of courage, integrity, kindness. The more I think of what I want to be able to instil in her, the more I have to remember that I can only provide something that I have myself. If I want to provide peace, I have to be at peace. If I want to provide a sense of integrity, generosity and kindness, I have to be showing those qualities myself. I am constantly reminded that it is vital to be building into myself in order to build into others effectively. It isn’t…
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Tired (too tired to even come up with some witty title) Five Minute Friday
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw the prompt word for this week’s Five Minute Friday: tired. I debated whether to even write a post this week on it. I was nervous about what would come out. The truth is I am tired. I have been resisting acknowledging it this week. Sure, I use the word but I don’t want it to change anything that I am doing. But it does. I am much shorter in my patience and stress tolerance. I am more in my head. I am defaulting to negative. Resisting the fact that I am tired and need to do something about that…
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Feeling resistance to “intentional”- a Five Minute Friday post
Intentional. It is something that I think about and write about often. It is what I aspire to be in many areas of my life. The planning I do, the way I parent, my relationship with God and with people. Intentional is what I want to describe all of it. and yet, part of me is rebelling against that concept today. In a season where being intentional feels more important than ever and a year of having “savour” as my word, it feels weighty. It feels overwhelming. It feels like an unattainable goal. Maybe you can relate to that. Maybe you only have moments of it or maybe your whole…
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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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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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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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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…
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You: the greatest gift you can give
Do you ever get frustrated by a limited bank account that stops you giving to all the things that stir your heart? I have felt that time and again. I felt that again listening to some inspiring stories this week at the Global Leadership Summit and having my heart moved by the organisations presented. Then a truth struck me from all of the stories. Each of the people didn’t give money, or certainly not just out of their own bank accounts. They gave of themselves. It was who they were as a person and the connection with other people that brought about the changes and inspiration. Do you realise that…
Encouragement for women in leadership
