Outfit & Thoughts || Give It a Rest!

  Hello all! If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you know that shades of blue are my favorite colors. Blue is a color of relaxation. Today, please join me for a blue outfit and some words on rest. :)

Daffodils and new mint Converse - two of my favorite things

  I am a low-energy person. Over time, I've had to learn and accept my limitations for what can be done on any given day or week. At times like these, when I'm recovering from a cold and my strength is sapped, it's frustrating to be able to do even less than usual. As women, we have trouble resting sometimes, don't we?

  We have near-constant pressure coming from every angle. From the world, a thousand voices are telling us "Be beautiful, be strong, have a career, raise well-adjusted children, champion social justice, travel, eat healthy...but love yourself just as you are!" From the church, we Christian ladies have more voices telling us "Be content as a single woman, participate in ministry, be the kind of woman a godly man wants to marry, be a model wife, have your quiet time every morning, become a missionary, have amazing homemaking skills..."

   On any given day we could be simultaneously creating "on-fleek" eyebrows, while trying to remember it's all about inner beauty, baking a batch of cookies moments before heading to a fast-paced job and wanting to have enough energy for a Bible study tonight where we hope no one asks us what we read in the Word this morning because we slept in...It's enough to make a girl want to scream. And sometimes, we do, at whoever happens to be handy.

   As in all things, we have to ground ourselves in the Word. When we feel like we're about to pass out from lack of mental oxygen, the truth lets us catch our breath. What does the Bible say is the most important thing to get done? Solomon summed it up well in Ecclesiastes 12:13, where it says "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person." Serving God is the overarching goal for the lives of His servants. Here's something specifically for women: "Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:3-4). I'm pretty sure working on this spirit will occupy us enough without stressing about all the other things that don't really matter.

   Speaking of stress, you need to give it a rest! I'm talking to me here. Not all of scripture is telling us to get to work. Psalm 37:7 tells us to rest in the Lord. And just take a look at Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”" That sounds like the opposite of all the fretting you and I do!

   The world will always be the contradictory, evil, lie-filled world. Meanwhile, the church must speak God's truths. As believers, we are the church. If I put pressure on myself and you to be my extra-biblical ideal of perfection, we'll both suffer for it. Instead, let us give each other permission to live, to try and fail and to rest in the Lord's all-sufficient grace.