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How amazing – when we finally see Him, face-to-face as He is… the King of everything!
I’m glad people like Peter Furler are gifted to write songs like that start my days off on notes of worship!
What song has uplifted you recently?
10 Monday Oct 2011
Posted A Day in the Life, Shout Out!
inTags
How amazing – when we finally see Him, face-to-face as He is… the King of everything!
I’m glad people like Peter Furler are gifted to write songs like that start my days off on notes of worship!
What song has uplifted you recently?
03 Wednesday Aug 2011
Posted Shout Out!
inTags
emotional energy, mental energy, physical energy, productivity, spiritual energy, The Energy Project, vacation
I spent most of the start of this year feeling like life was simply a series of exhaustion-inducing circumstances that continuously pushed me towards minor emotional breakdowns (commonly known as “good cries”). Every interruption seemed to throw me off-course for weeks. There was no reserve energy left.
I thought the answer was scheduling myself more tightly, better time management, working on my “day off” and just generally going all-out until I got the to-do list cleared and could afford a break. Funny how that fantasized vacation just kept getting more and more unattainable.
Then I came across The Energy Project on a management blog and found their ideas energy-inducing and their arguments convincing. Like the dire importance of sleep and the effects of trying to be more productive by not sleeping. The benefits of making rituals out of important activities to increase emotional, spiritual, mental and physical energy reserves.
I took the Energy Audit and since my rating came back less-than-stellar (I believe their words were “Imminent Energy Crisis”), I’ve been working at building “rituals” as they call them (more commonly referred to as habits). Like having my Bible reading/prayer time in the morning right after I wake up (and make a cup of chai). I’ve nearly got exercising down to an unconscious ritual. Now I’m working on getting a consistent eight hours of sleep. I’m a lot more balanced and happier. Unexpected events don’t feel like world-destroying disasters. I bounce back.
And while my to-do list is still crammed with things, I feel like I’m actually starting to hold even on it. Maybe even making a tiny bit of progress.
I might even take a real vacation soon.
20 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted Shout Out!
inTags
Bible, challenge, God, Psalm, Shout-out, Thanksgiving, thirty-day challenge
On Day Fourteen of the “Thirty Day Thankfulness Challenge”, the assignment was to stop periodically throughout the day and read a Psalm. I thought it would be a bit obnoxious (not the reading God’s Word part, of course, the stopping throughout the day part), but I’d committed to the whole challenge, so I had to do this one.
I programmed my phone alarm to ring a reminder every two hours and gave each reminder a particular Psalm. Some of my choices had a reason behind them, others were random.
The first thing I noticed is that two hours is actually a long time! Long enough, anyway, for me to get caught up in something – some worry or stress or frustration. Long enough for me to need a reminder to re-orientate my heart (again…).
I hadn’t picked any of the really long Psalms. It took maybe five minutes to read it through slowly once or twice. Then I’d go back to whatever I was doing.
It was a lovely exercise and one I’m planning on doing again. Twice during the day, one of the Psalms I’d chosen was simply the most appropriate reminder I could’ve gotten at that moment. It challenged me, encouraged me, and restored my joy. That’s what God’s Word does regularly. So maybe the power in this was just that His Word was given a bigger chance to inform my day.
I highly recommend it! Pick a day – no need for it to be special – I’ll bet this is most encouraging when you’re in the middle of a hectic, crazy day. Set reminder alarms on your phone/iPod/computer (because if you don’t, I guarantee you’ll forget) to go off every few hours and decide ahead of time which Psalm you’ll read (are you jumping around or just going to read a certain section of five that day?).
After you try this, post back and tell us which Psalms you read and how the day went.