Upside Down

A few days ago, a member in our 3 for 30 Goal Setting Challenge group mentioned the difficulty they were experiencing on the weekends. Routine is a goal-setter's friend, providing the structure that encourages and supports. Weekdays are full of routine, but weekends typically lack that structure.

A few days after that comment, my own life turned upside down. Erratic sleep patterns coupled with pain and discomfort completely disrupted my life schedule. For two days, none of my weekend coping mechanisms worked. As my routine disintegrated, my goals slipped away one after the other. By the end of the second day, I was a bundle of nerves and tears. The best thing I could do was ask a friend to pray for me and head to bed.

My friend, on occasion life simply unravels. Sometimes our best response is to simply roll with it, knowing that a new day is on its way and we can pick up again where we left off.
 
On those days, a few things are helpful:
 

1. Relax. A day or two on a irregular basis is not going to 'ruin everything'. Take a deep breath, exhale, and repeat that four or five more times. Then take a hot soaking bath with 3 lbs of epsom salts. Or a long, leisurely walk. Or watch a funny or uplifting movie. Call a friend, eat a piece of fresh, cold fruit, or have a good cry.
   
2. Rest. Overwhelmed? Stretched? Frustrated? Lean back onto a cold, cotton pillowcase, close your eyes, and rest. Practice deep breathing. Turn on the white noise and turn off your brain.
   
3. Release. Let go of your expectations and self-judgement. Give your goals back to God. Ask for wisdom and guidance and grace. Each time you begin to feel negative thoughts surface, remind yourself that you are a work in progress and that you will be supplied grace as you need it.
   
4. Reach Out. When you're struggling, reach out to your support system and ask for prayer. If you're not up to a long conversation, a simple text can do the trick.
   

 
Remember that "His mercies are new every morning..."  - each day we can begin again, with a fresh outlook. Life isn't always going to cooperate with our goals and plans. Rolling with it and claiming fresh mercy each morning develops that 'passionate patience' we will need later on in our journey!
 
 
TODAY'S BIBLE READING
 
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. His mercies are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV
 
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him.

Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
I John 3:18-24 MSG

 
We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Romans 5:3-5 MSG
 

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