In a world obsessed with busyness, are you finding the balance in who God created you to BE? Are you a human doing or a human BEing? God calls us to BE still in Him. Find out how God invites us to defy the pace of this world.
KELLY MALONEY SCHERMERHORN
Day 1
Scriptures: Psalms 119:18, Ephesians 1:16-18
Slowing Down in a Busy World
God had gently been telling me to slow down. I remember Him first telling me this while on a walk in the woods. For the first time in my memory, there was a turtle in my path. In my heart, I heard, “Remember the childhood story of the tortoise and the hare?” I felt a calling, an urging, to slow down.
I didn’t.
Slowing down was too foreign for me because the world tells us to be busy all the time. Slowing down was the opposite of who I knew myself to be. The absence of activity meant I would have to discover who I was. The Lord was inviting me to come out of hiding.
God sought after me through people in my life. My brother told me about the importance of pausing while running a race. He said that when he runs a 10K without stopping for water, he finishes slower. Yet, the pause for water allows him to finish the race faster.
Golly! God was being clear. “Refuel in me, my daughter,” my Heavenly Father was saying.
Again, I didn’t listen. God didn’t give up either. Next, I felt called to create an art collage about slowing down. I made time to find images that meant slowing down for me – a candle, blanket, and bathtub. Those cutouts went unglued.
I was so busy rushing through life that I didn’t even finish collaging a page about slowing down. I heard God whisper, “A daughter needs time with her Father. I want time to work on you, mold you, restore you.”
Little did I know that God was inviting me to slow down; if I didn’t, He’d be slowing me down Himself.
Key Takeaways:
- Notice the signs God puts in your life
- Slow down, even if it’s uncool to the world
- Is your routine busyness a way to help you hide from something you are not dealing with today?
Prayer:
Father, thank You for opening my eyes. Thank You for speaking to me throughout my day. Use the people in my life and Your Word to guide me. Father, help me to see that You are always with me. Thank You for never leaving me.
Day 2
Scriptures: Psalms 130:5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Jeremiah 29:11
Stop Doing and Start Being
God invited me to slow down, to stop doing and start being. I didn’t listen until medical leave was staring me in the face.
I would have never guessed nor planned it, but burnout led to medical leave and time away from my corporate job. Except, it was hard to stop working. Two and a half weeks into my medical leave, I woke up ready to rush back to work.
Then, I read a devotional titled, “While You Wait With Me.” After reading the devotional, I realized it was going to take time to heal me. My Heavenly Father wanted me to take that time to heal. He gave me that time. He assured me that He had everything covered.
God was simply asking me to accept His favor. He was awaiting my cooperation.
The timing of that well-placed devotional was not lost on me. That was the day I planned to move forward with going back to work.
I planned to rush ahead.
It was MY discomfort at not working.
It was MY guilt at receiving a paycheck while not working.
It was MY people-pleaser thoughts that “looking normal” meant going back to work.
Most importantly, it was me becoming familiar with a worth that does not require earning it. It simply requires accepting the worth that my Heavenly Father created me in – in His perfect image, with His master plan in mind.
I simply needed to accept HIS plan for me.
Key Takeaways:
- What defines your worth?
- Do you feel like you must earn your worth?
- Is accepting love easy or hard for you?
Prayer:
Thank You, Father, for constantly chasing after me. I feel honored to be chased by You. I know I have so many walls up and I am trying to tear them down. I feel Your patience with me at the same time as You chase me down, Father. I feel so blessed to have Your love.
Day 3
Scriptures: Psalms 46:10, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 6:11, Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12
God Created Us as Human BEings
If you have found your worth by doing, achieving, and producing, then it may take time to start seeing yourself as a human being versus a human doing. But God created us as human BEings. He called us to be – to be still and know Him.
Choosing to be vs. doing is a choice I struggle with every day. I am working to renew and rewire my brain and frustratingly it’s not happening overnight! I often must remind myself that even while God is working on me, it’s at His pace, not my pace, nor the pace of this world.
The pace of this world is exactly what I must battle each day above and beyond my own hardwiring. I must choose that growing my relationship with God is more important than climbing the corporate ladder.
When I end my day feeling unworthy because there is still so much undone, I’m reminded that this is the mindset of a human doing, not a human being. When I find myself in this place, whether it’s the morning, midday, the end of the day, or the middle of the night, I look to my Father’s Word.
I go to the Bible.
I praise Him through worship.
I go to Him in prayer.
I have found that keeping God’s love as my focus means slowing down to ensure I’m making time to deepen my relationship with Him.
Key Takeaways:
- Are you focusing on keeping God’s love or keeping pace?
- Choose God over the corporate ladder
- Slow down and make time for God’s word in Scripture
Prayer:
Father, bring me closer and closer to You. Help me defy the pace of this world and instead slow down to receive Your defining love. Help me learn to be still and know that You are God.