Trying it God's way by Jane Walters

I have recently returned from a fortnight away from home, spending time with long-standing friends and – as an extra treat – my younger son. You might note that I didn’t use the word ‘holiday’. Ostensibly it was – and certainly the others were able to treat it as such – but my more-than-slightly-out-of-kilter work/life balance had the upper hand. You may be in a similarly time-pressed season, so I’m hoping my words will serve as an encouragement.

You see, I cannot claim to have found the secret to dealing with that pressure, but I have been trying to learn a different mindset. If I have said some of this before, I can’t apologise. After all, these lessons need frequent repeating, in my experience! And before you roll your eyes at the mention of ‘mindset’, envisioning motivational pep talks and having to work harder, I want to add an important detail: it’s a mindset that flows from our relationship with our wonderful God.

You see, back at the very beginning, when Adam and Eve were brand new and squeaky clean, they learned that their first day of existence was actually God’s first day of rest. While they had the whole of the garden – and life itself – to explore, God was all about cooling the pipes, smelling the roses and taking time out. Their day two – the first day of this new-fangled thing called work – came after this wonderful God-accompanied Sabbath.

So, back to my wet fortnight on Anglesey and my imminent writing deadlines. Since I write devotional material, I conducted an experiment. What if I wrote ‘out of my quiet times’? Instead of taking myself off to my desk, all the time chuntering that I ‘should’ be on holiday, I stayed in bed, opening my Bible and doing the usual readings and prayer, then from that posture of being in His presence, I wrote. The ideas and words flowed in demonstration of God’s blueprint idea: we work best out of rest. Funnily enough, I met those immediate deadlines and without any striving or angst.

Why don’t you give it a try? And let me know how you get on…

 

Jane Walters is Chair of ACW and leader of Green Pastures Christian Writers.

She writes devotional material for BRF Ministries.

https://.janewyattwalters.com