Hey everyone!!

This episode that you are listening to won’t be uploaded until some time in  the first week of May so Depending on where you live you might have already heard an update or should be hearing soon the plan for starting the reopening process in your state.

At the time of this recording most places are still under the “safer at home” order And the only businesses that are open fall under the “essential category”

Hearing the word essential used so much these days in our everyday vocabulary made me think about one of my favorite books.  A few weeks ago I  pulled it out of the stack of books that I have sitting on the mantle in the room we work out of in our house . We have a whole bookshelf full of books that we love but i like to keep certain ones that have really shaped my life and our way of living out before me. Kind of like a post it note reminder or a special picture that makes your heart smile when you remember the moment.

The book I pulled out is called Essentialism and it was written by Greg McKeown in 2014.

I know I’ve talked about this book on the podcast before i think it was when I started recording back in 2017.  It’s possible that my book has more sentences highlighted or underlined than those not marked in any way haha

  As I’ve reopened this book in the last few weeks and reread statements I had circled and seen hearts I had drawn by certain thoughts shared I remember how confirming this way of living was to my soul. It was a blueprint for a way of living that I’d been craving ...well most of my life.

The quote on the very first page of the book from Lin Yutang says...

“The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials”

Could that speak to the days we are living anymore?!?

Guys!! It’s only when you don’t have access to certain things that you realize what you actually need and even want!

How many of us are living life hanging out with the same people doing the same thing day after day and all because it’s what they’ve always done. We don’t even have to think about how we are going to spend our week or weekend. Because The pattern and routine of our life has been set in motion and we just keep “going with the flow”  I’m not saying routines and having long term friendships are bad!  What I’m saying is there are alot of people stuck in friendships and activities that aren't  life giving to them and they don’t even realize it because they’re so close to it they don’t see it.  

Do you know what I’m meaning? Has something ever been so close to your eye that it was blurry and you had to back up or pull it away to see it clearly.

That kind of feels like what is happening in our world these days. It’s like our “normal
Has been pulled back and we’ve been given a different view…

A chance to see it clearly.

My fear is that people are so eager to get back to their  “normal” that there isn’t any open space in their heart and mind of what possibilities lie outside of their present life.  The possibility of thinking that maybe just maybe a new normal is exactly what is needed.

And maybe I view these times a little differently than some of you because I’ve experienced life being turned upside down (more than once) and I had 2 different responses

The first was complete denial and holding on as hard as I could to any hope of a return to what had been and 

The second being crawling in my bed and pulling the covers up over my head . ( i know that might sound similar to denial in my response one example but trust me they were very different responses internally as well as externally.

But here’s what I know to be true for me after walking through my normal being disrupted.

When I at some point I  got honest with myself and God clarity started rising up and all I saw was the goodness of God leading me and fulfilling what he started in me.

You see I’ve prayed some prayers and I started saying yes to God from a young age and many times since and some of those are big hard yes’s! and one day I realized all those things that felt like disappointments weren’t actually failures but faithfulness! God’s faithfulness in answering my true hearts desire...all of the things I had said yes to over the years!

I know that may sound confusing...trust me it was to me too until it wasn’t…

He knew the truth of what my souls cry was to living the life i was created for and had said yes to...I often times times tried to help God out with that plan with all the best intentions and I do belive with all my heart we have a part to play but ultimately I have to trust Him. Because he knows me better than I know myself ( he did make me you know;) and his view and perspective is much on point than mine. So i trust him with my whole heart and I’m continuing to follow and be led by him but I know me so I’m sure he’ll continue to have to rework my life’s map a few more times as I veer off exits that weren’t my exit ;))

But here’s the thing I want you to hear today…

God is sooo patient with us!  It doesn’t matter how many times we blow it and get off track he is right there opening up a way where there was no way. 

A way filled with his grace and mercy to live out the life he has purposed for us.

 Greg says in his book  Essentialism  “The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage.”

I don’t know what that looks like for you. I know what it looks like for me.  I’ve been working on that design for many years so my life has defintely taken on more of a reflection of who I am as the years have passed.

But YOU are the only one that know deep down in your heart and soul what that looks like for you.  

And my prayer during this time is that whatever needs to fall away in our lives...let it fall!

And may we only rebuild what is in our future.

May the Spring cleaning continue!