Are you holding onto stress like a fragile egg you don’t want to drop? Oh my friend, our hearts can be weighed down so quietly we do not even realize how much we are holding onto until we feel really overwhelmed like a renovation project that has no end in sight.
My friend loves to the the story visually. She asks you to put a magazine under your arm. Use your arm’s pressure to hold it to your body. It’s very limiting. Your range of motion is limited to almost a statue pose. However when we reach for something higher, that burden drops to the floor as quickly as you release the hold on it. It has no hold on you! This week it was a green door that gave us hope of a house we could see finished.
Reaching higher. Sounds pretty, but is it easy to do? Yes! It’s perspective. Take a break from the topic and find something lovely or beautiful to gaze at for 15 seconds. Breathe in slowly to the count of four, breathe out to the count of four three times until you are thinking on your breathing not the stress. Turn on music that you love and change the mood and energy of your surroundings.
The problem may not go away, so much of life isn’t that simple, but your perspective may move a bit further from the overwhelm.
We’re in a 10 day count to be out of our modern home while we’re moving to the Berry Happy Farm. On a good day this would be an ambitious move to change fro 2000 square feet to 1100 about twenty five miles apart in the heat of August. Add that the farm isn’t ready, we’re working daily to build out walls, replace floors, and work our business. Well, you get the picture.
However overwhelm and being focused on the stress isn’t getting our lives lived!
The taking of walks around the property for 5-7 minutes.
The playing of music we love to life our hearts.
The joy of sitting down to a quick meal together at the table in the middle of the mess (yes, it’s dusty and sometimes a bit woodsy as we are using the saws daily…but its peace in the storm.
The privilege is we are alive. The privilege is we have a dream coming true. The privilege is the vision of all that we have planned to do with families in this space at the Berry Happy Farm. It’s like waiting for the eggs to hatch…knowing that it’s almost time…
The privilege is to have a God to give the concerns to, to seek wisdom from, and to journey with His presence.
He walks us through the storms.
Yet it is still on us to release, to surrender, to focus on the goodness of God, not the stress of the situation.
I keep reminding myself of His magnificent provision
The conversations we’ve had as we’ve torn down hidden damage.
The healing we’re experiencing as we build our home together.
The gifts we’re living as we see each other in new ways as the steadfast efforts are put into this moment of our lives. My husband has never been more handsome to me than in building our home…a skill he is learning as he builds…such courage!
How do you let go of your stress? I encourage you to find a higher purpose, to look for a vision of the life you desire to live, and then do the work to let go of the hyper focus on stress…
and begin to envision a life you’ll love, even if its a pretty table in the middle of the mess of the moment.
Rest in the choice to choose. We are choosing this life, despite hardships, despite the work, this is OUR dream.
Happiness is found when we stop to remember all that is right in God’s economy, even when so much of the world is upset.
