Warrior Truth: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He lets me rest in grassy meadows; he leads me to restful waters” Ps 23 v 1-2
It is the custom in our team meetings to start with a quick check-in to give each person a chance to share a little about where they were at in that moment. As each person got their chance to share, the similarities in the narrative were unmistakeable. The team was feeling tired and somewhat overwhelmed by everything taking place. Busy diaries and busy heads! My head too seems busier than usual as I wrestle more and more with finding the perfect recipe to blend, balance and braid together the streams of my life. As each person’s state was acknowledged and briefly empathised with, I found myself wondering whether empathy and acknowledgement was enough. Were we just paying lip service to connection or looking more deeply to understand and address the real causes and not just patting the symptoms on the back.
I can only imagine the chaos on the racetrack if each and every driver had to decide for themselves if and when to slow down rather than taking the lead from the safety car. But in life and work, we don’t always have a safety car on hand. We pause momentarily but soon feel the pressure building again to get back up to speed as quickly as possible. Burnout, fatigue, stress and anxiety lurk at every corner as we race through each turn just waiting for our tread to wear out and put us into a flat spin. In those moments the smallest thing so easily overpowers us and continuation seems near impossible.
Warrior Tool:
When I considered the amount of projects (work and personal) competing for my time, attention and resources right now, it was certainly not surprising that I was wrestling with this right now. Fortunately I knew where to take this struggle. What a contrast the picture of a grassy meadow and restful stream is in comparison to a frenetic racetrack. As I refueled in His presence, I found something hidden in the truth that I had not considered before. I heard a question asked – Why are you racing? I considered what was really driving the need to race; a desire to achieve, to feel successful, to leave a legacy, to finally feel worthy perhaps? God whispered again – Race my child, knowing you are enough already, you have all that you need; you lack nothing. Race because I have equipped you and trained you and prepared you for the race. Race and then, rest. Don’t forget to rest! In resting you are refueled and strengthened to keep on racing. In resting you can see further and clearer and in resting there is space for others to come alongside you in and for support. Now as I see my reason to race through God’s eyes, my confidence rises. I can be confident that He selected me for this race, for His purpose to be fulfilled, and that changes everything.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that you are our Shepherd guiding our paths and watching over us each day. Thank you that you provide us with opportunities to rest in the busyness of life. Help us not to miss or overlook these opportunities. Help us to embrace these opportunities knowing that they make us even stronger. And help us to race with the knowledge of what You have already done in us and what you have in store for those who believe. Amen
With God, For His Glory