These Next Forty Days Blog

day two of These Next Forty Days

day 15 of These Next Forty Days

This week's reflection

Hello! It's time for Spring Cleaning, right? I will check in with you on Tuesdays, as we journey onward and plan for 2021! 

Let's begin with our relationship with ourselves. How do we define ourselves?  For many of us it begins with our family, as a mom, a dad, etc.  The next noun we use to define ourselves is our work, even our charitable work, such as a teacher, a doctor, a radio host, a committed volunteer.

What if we define ourselves by first saying to yourself: I am a Child of God. (Day 9 of These Next Forty Days) Try using verbs instead of a noun to describe what you do.  I am a person who talks on the radio.  I am a daughter of God who enjoys walking my dog outdoors.  This seems simple and there is a reason behind the simplicity. I think it makes it easier to see these aspects of our lives, what we do and what we like to do as things that can change.  This way we can adapt to life's changes and be better at responding to God's call for us.

 "The little girl just could not sleep because her thoughts were way too deep.  Her mind had gone out for a stroll and fallen down the rabbit hole" Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.

A consequence of last year's worry about when it was safe to go outside or when we could go out for trips, is a myopic thinking that prevented us from seeing the bigger picture.  I could hardly plan for the next day, let alone the next six months, in that roller coaster ride of 2020...   We struggle with one area of our lives, say in our relationship with a family member, a "bad week" at work, balancing the kids, the cleaning, and the work, or we get sidelined with a muscle sprain that prevents us from exercising the stress off.   By defining yourself first as being loved by God, created to love God in return, we can balance a struggle with all the other aspects of our lives that are working well for us.   We protect ourselves mentally and emotionally from going down that rabbit hole where the sole focus is: "what's wrong with me?" or "why did this happen to me?"

This week let us make our foremost and pervading thoughts a prayer that you are loved by God.  "Fear not, I have called you by name and you are mine." Isaiah 43:1.  

More next week,  In His Peace,

Elle