Or I could label this “Accomplishments vs Rest”. I didn’t really know what I was signing up for when I created this as my month challenge. It just seemed so intangible. I like to stay occupied. I don’t want to just ‘be’. That sounds boring. And in reality, I did pretty bad with the challenge this month. However here are 4 things I learned…

• “Being” with God looks different for each of us, every day. Sometimes I’m consistent with reading my Bible. Sometimes I don’t open it up for 7 days straight (other than for work purposes). Is that great? No. But it’s honest. I think each of us have specific ways we prefer to connect with God. Figure those out and do that. Spiritual rest and growth with God is not a formula. You don’t have to specifically read your Bible for 25 minutes only in the mornings for God to be with you. You can pray, read, listen to worship music, listen to sermons, go on a walk, talk to a close friend about ways God is faithful, and probably many others things I can’t think of at the moment. Sometimes I need to break out of the mindset that “this” specific thing is how Christians should connect with God. That’s a lie to keep us from being with God. Be free, my friends. God is waiting.

• Business comes from pride. Whether it’s getting joy out of hearing people ‘pity’ you for being heroic with your hectic schedule, or wanting to feel needed and important in things you’re doing, it’s pride. In order to fight back against this culture of “busyness”, we need to work on our heart issues enslaving us. We have to be okay with people thinking we aren’t busy. We need to accept that our “worth and value” on this earth (aka what we produce) do NOT result in who we are or how God sees us, so people shouldn’t love us based on our accomplishments. “How are you?” “Oh, SO busy. You know how life goes.” Can we stop trying to feel important with our busyness? Whatever is in our schedule, we put there. Our time is a representation of our priorities. So when we proclaim “Oh, I’m so busy”, what we are really saying is, “I have chosen to fill my time to maximum capacity and prioritize those specific things in my life.” Let’s drop the act. Accept the pride. Sure, life fluctuates and sometimes we have more busy months or seasons than others, but ultimately, our schedule is in our hands. And more importantly, should be in God’s hands. Examine what you are doing, and why you are choosing to do those things. Stop feeling like a hero for accomplishing the things you’ve chosen to do. (I recognize this is all a general statement. There are always exceptions such as single parents working multiple jobs. But most people reading this – this applies to you & me.)

• Our hearts and souls long to rest in God. Don’t ignore that. Don’t pretend your heart and soul are different. The Sabbath applies to every single one of us. In fact, it’s even one of the 10 commandments – right up there with not committing adultery. Even Jesus needs time to separate himself from people to pray and rest with the one who loves him most (Luke 5:16).  For me, if I don’t spend time alone with God, I am more irritable, frustrated, quick to snap, and not as at peace. Can I really show love to people the way I want to when THAT is my mood? Of course not. If we want to show love and kindness to those around us, we must start with spiritual rest. We must be reminded with how much WE are loved. Not because of what we do, but because we are His. A good guiding question I ask myself is, “Lydia….do you think you are more powerful than Jesus? Can you love better than Him?” “No, okay good. Go spend time with God.” I must follow His example.

• “Being” & rest require discipline. Weird, right? Author Jefferson Bethke writes in his book “Jesus > Religion” that “In a weird way it seems to only qualification for us to be justified is to actually be ungodly. It’s like saying the only way to qualify is to admit you don’t qualify… We will always come up short. When it comes to grace, we don’t need to work harder; we need to rest harder. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is stop and rest. In some weird way it takes work to not work for God.” It’s so important to recognize that rest takes work. A lot of times, we need to schedule rest (at least I do). Literally. It’s in my planner. If we want to show God we trust Him, then that need to be represented in our schedules. Do we leave room for God to work in our schedules? Cause I maybe have 20 extra minutes each week that are at ‘His disposal’. If I trust that God is good, and is capable of filling my time better than me, then why don’t I actually trust Him to do that? And not in a crazy “I have no plans and I wait for God to instruct me” way because I’m too type A for that. But leaving wiggle room for God and surrendering my schedule to Him is not too much to ask.