Midweek Meditation
Self-Care, Endings and Beginnings, and a short meditation for Easter Week
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It feels like a different kind of Holy Week. This year, it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve been traveling, my kids are in and out, my mind is always on my mother who broke her hip in January and is recovering, and I’m launching a book. It feels like a lot. Overwhelming, actually. My brain, it seems, is never at rest. I’m looking at my filled up calendar and my mind starts buzzing and I realize I need some margin and better boundaries.
So for this week, I will take some time on Saturday - the dark Black Saturday - to turn off the socials and breathe. I need some time to just think. Remember, a few newsletters ago, I talked about having a Think Day? Well, even just a Think Afternoon would be great! Truth is, if I don’t do this, I can’t really give of myself to others. I need some recharge time.
I can run and be active, I can speak, I can do and go. But I’m an introvert. And if I don’t get that time, I want to be saying “no” right and left. Do we want to have people over for Easter? Well yes I do, but I’m also pulled thin. I feel like I’m being stretched. I need margin so I can give. I can’t feel as if I’m always giving and not also recharging. It’s tough, isn’t it?
Self-care is such a buzzword now. And there’s real good in it. It’s important. It’s actually spiritual. Yes, it is. (I’m reading Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes and it’s good stuff.)
Yes, there’s also some selfishness tied up in the self-care movement, too, when it’s all about us and we shut everyone and everything else out. There has to be a healthy balance. We humans tend to be off-kilter though; we either take it too far one way or another. It’s hard for us to find the right balance.
So here’s me, attempting a balance in my most humanly self and knowing I won’t get it all right. It’s hitting me hard this week, sort of like a warning sign. If I don’t put some boundaries in place, I will burn out. I think we all know this feeling.
So here we go. I’m gearing up for book launch and setting some lines in the sand, too. To protect me and my health. So I can be a good steward of my time, my callings, my gifts, my health, my work, my life.
Maybe you need this reminder, too, that giving doesn’t mean you give up on taking care of yourself. Taking care of yourself is holy and healthy work. Your body is a temple, a sacred being, and who you are is not separate from your body. We can’t separate the two. We are whole beings, mind, body, spirit, soul.
During Easter week, may you find some time to think, to rest, to meditate, to find what’s off-kilter and regain balance, if this feels true for you, too. May you realize your belovedness—and extend that beloved care as much to yourself as you give to others.
Endings and Beginnings
I’m aware of doors opening and closing, endings and beginnings right now.
Tomorrow, Thursday, is the ending of the signup day for my book launch group. And then the group begins on April 1. And then we end the group on April 26. And all the while, I’m aware that the ending of the book writing was finished months ago; now the book begins its journey in the world. And here is where I lose control. I only controlled the writing, and now its interactions will be with those who read, and out of my control. It’s a beginning and an ending and another kind of beginning. The words are loose. I imagine them flying out of the pages—and landing where they need to land. Like seeds. Seeds of hope, laying a path to belonging.
(If you’d like to be part of the launch group, tomorrow, Thursday, March 28, is the last day to join. Sign up here. Preorders are required-but you will get a pdf of the book on Friday to start reading right away, plus other goodies.)
A Short Meditation
Here’s a little devotion I wrote a few years ago for Lent (I wrote it for my church’s self-published book of devos; they publish a book or two each year.) It’s based on Genesis 41:16, when Pharaoh called upon Joseph to interpret his dream. No one else in Pharaoh’s court could explain his dream, so Pharaoh calls upon Joseph for answers. It’s called “Finding Answers”:
Finding Answers
“Analyze these.”
At work and at school, I remember receiving assignments with data, numbers, and other information, and was charged with the task of interpreting and analyzing them. I had to check variables, parameters, and the study methodology. Was there a bias not readily seen? How should I interpret the results?
Nowadays, information is certainly not scarce; far from it. We are inundated with news and information constantly. Neither is there a scarcity of voices offering their analyses and interpretation of all that information. A great many voices proclaim to know truth or have answers, each clamoring for our attention.
It is not wrong to consider opinions of trusted experts; after all, we need others’ voices to see what we cannot see. We also cannot ignore our conscience and gut instincts. But we can’t rely on those solely to inform us and our view of the world.
Pharaoh certainly had the smartest people he could find to help him interpret his dreams, but none of the best in his court could answer his questions. Just like Pharaoh, we won’t find all that we need by seeking the world’s smartest sources, either.
Where can we turn for interpretation and understanding with the complex, deep, difficult questions and situations we encounter in life? Joseph offers an answer in verse 16: “It is not in me. God will give….”
“God will give.” The answers will come by asking God. He will provide the perspective and answers we seek. Our situation may not necessarily change, but God’s perspective is the one that will lead to truth, greater understanding, and a changed heart. We may not ever know all the answers on earth, but we are transformed and find an abiding peace by seeking God and what He gives.
Hmm. God will give. I often forget. I get impatient. I can’t wait. I don’t often seek this, as I turn to other sources. How about you? So much in life is simply unanswerable. Unknowable. But it is not impossible.
In the loneliness of our days, amidst the dark days, the questions, the desires and hopes and dreams, a hopeful light streams through, like light entering through a sliver of the darkest window. We often just need that little bit to know that there is a way out, there is hope.
We have to admit life is lonely, in a myriad of ways. There are things in each of our lives only we know, that no one else knows, but us and God.
And yet in the midst of these, God will give.
May you have a Happy Easter and Holy Week.
Peace,
