So, you may remember me not too long ago blogging about the busyness of my life over the summer. I have worked for XLP over the last 3 weekends, been to a wedding, attended a borough fun day and run a Church youth event all in those same weekends. It's been pretty hectic.
But now I am taking a step back. I am actually stopping! Well. For a day I am stopping. Tomorrow I am taking the day to reflect, realign and be refreshed. On Saturday I go to a wedding and on Sunday I go to New Wine, but tomorrow I have no agenda other than to spend some time looking back over this past XLP year since September to see what I can take away and what I need to leave behind.
I'm also quite aware that I need to realign with God and let him refresh my spirit. I've found in the busyness I have managed to get very distracted and lose focus on what it is that God is asking of me. It's times like this when work is more of a chore than a blessing. You see my job is actually pretty immense. I get to pray and share with people every week, I actively get to share about my faith on a daily basis and I am encouraged to take regular retreat days to listen to God...that is seriously decent. The times when I get weary of doing it are when I step out of what God is asking of me. So I'm hoping I'll be able to gain some perspective tomorrow.
I was speaking to my friend Alex and he was just mentioning the importance of processing things and making sure you give yourself proper time to do that. Wise guy! I am very aware a day is not necessarily enough to process a whole years worth of activity/behaviour. But I am going on from there to New Wine and hope to spend some solid time seeking God and reflecting too. It's always good for me to set deadlines because otherwise I just don't get around to it - so my plan is to reflect for a week and then be ready to look ahead.
I'm learning a lot about the importance of getting perspective to move forward. I don't want to be a leader who never learns from the past. Goodness knows I make enough mistakes that I would hope I am learning from them! More and more I see that God is putting me in positions of leadership and influence and I want to take the responsibility seriously.
What helps you to reflect?
Do you find it easy to stop?
You're a very wise lady Naomi Allen! I find it very hard to take time out to reflect but I'm learning more and more that it is a necessary thing to do in order to process things properly before it all builds up and becomes too much. Hope you've had a relaxing and reflective day.
ReplyDeleteLove Jen x