Take What You Need

Whew! Finally! That burr in my side is finally released! The house is dusted!  I have started AND finished dusting.  I have had a long withstanding feeling of disdain toward dusting.  This feeling has lasted, honestly, my entire life!  I do not want to dust. I do not like to dust. I put it off until it can’t be ignored anymore.  I was terribly excited when my sweet children were old enough to take this chore from me.  Maybe this hate of dusting is genetic because both of my girls hate it just as much as I do.  Hmmmmm. Anyway, I am an empty nester, so the task falls back on me and I still hate it.

But, good things do come from dusting. While dusting, I am quiet and can think. I see things in a new light (literally because the dust haze is gone). I am reminded of times past when dusting “things” … sweet, precious memories flood my mind. Although, I hate the act of dusting, I do LOVE the result of dusting.  There are few greater senses of accomplishment for me as a newly dusted home.  Aaaaaahhhh.

I never know what the week’s blog topic is.  Honestly, I don’t.  I may have an idea early in the week but never know if it is coming to fruition until I sit down with laptop in hand.  In earnestly seeking to be Spirit-led, I just let the cards fall where they fall as I begin typing.  It is quite freeing, this act of relinquishment.  Letting things go is something foreign to me, this extroverted, take charge, get ‘er dun type of person that I am.  Foreign, but freeing.

Anyway, as I was dusting in the hallway leading into Savannah and Isabella’s room, I stopped an admired this piece that I was given by my endearing colleagues at Lincoln Parish Schools.  When working out of the home, you find yourself spending more waking hours with your colleagues and coworkers than you do your immediate family.  My colleagues were/are my family and they knew me quite well.  When I moved four hours away and was leaving a job I loved, we do what we do in the south … we had a party and ate good food to celebrate our time together.  This piece shown above is one of the gifts given to me.  Of course, I immediately loved it!  It spoke directly to me.  Just “take what you need”.  I unknowingly loved it for its “face value” but now I love it for its intrinsic, philosophical value …  its deeper meaning. As I was dusting, I realized this is a beautiful representation of our God freely giving us just what we need.  All that is required of us is that we take it.  He is our “everything”.

Peace of mind.

Joy.

Kindness.

Clarity.

Kindness.

Grace.

Strength.

Love.

Hope.

An endless list of “just what we need”.

So, this got my brain to spinning.  If God gives us just what we need, why don’t we take it? Why do we feel stressed, unloved, unworthy, worn out, devalued, ignored, etc.? Are we too distracted to know what we need? I think so. Are we too busy to stop and take what is so desperately needed? Yep. Are we too caught up in ourselves to appreciate and serve others? Maybe. Do we struggle with the humility needed to “own” our neediness? Possibly. These are just questions that swirled in my head as I continued to dust.

If the answers to the above questions are true, then what is the antidote to our inability to “take what we need”?  This leads me to a question someone asked me a while ago.  She asked me how I was able to get out of the bed when I just didn’t feel like I could go on.  I immediately gave her the “churchy” response that I had given countless times before when someone asked me that question.  I said, “It’s God”, “Only Jesus”.  Now, that is true.  Through His grace, I am able to get up and go on. However, she did not want an answer right then.  She wanted me to “take the pain out, hold it in my hands, and analyze it”.  Wow!  I painstakingly did so and I came to this conclusion … I had a part to play in this thing called “living”.  If it was only God, then why can others not get out of the bed.  God loves us all more than we can fathom, so why is he pouring His grace on me and not my brother or sister who is grieving? It made no sense to me.  God does not love me more than others.  He does not want me to thrive and not my brother.  So, what gives?

I realized that the “taking” of “take what you need” required an action of me literally “taking”.  God provides.  It is there for the taking.  However, we must TAKE IT!  Here are the things that were revealed to me while dusting:

• First, we must slow down. Be still. Remove or reduce the distractions. This is soooo hard. I don’t like to engage in generalities, but I am.  I was born in the ‘60s.  I would venture to say that people from my generation and since struggle being still.  We get bored too easily and our attention span is so short that we must engage in some form of stimulation the majority of time. We must learn to be still.
• Secondly, the act of “taking” is not just as simple as grabbing it on the go. No, to take something requires us to acknowledge that a need is there.  We are lacking in something.  We need to take what we need, not what we want.  Something is missing and is interfering with our ability to thrive.  What are you lacking? Peace? Stability? Direction? What we lack is exactly what we need.  Self-reflect. Check yourself.
• Thirdly, once we know what we need, we must seek it. Actively seek it.  Schedule it.  Get serious.
• Last (and, as they say, but NOT least), relinquish. Give yourself and everything over to God.  This sounds so churchy. I know it does because we “say” it all the time, but rarely ever “do” it. However, I can honestly tell you that relinquishment is the hardest thing I have EVER done, but the most peaceful, rewarding thing that I’ve ever experienced. Most believe they are undervalued, overworked, and underpaid, although they may never admit it.  We typically believe that we MUST do “such and such” or the world will fail to turn on its axis. I am here to tell you that I was forced into relinquishment.  Please take heed and allow yourself to relinquish before you are made to relinquish.   The results of my relinquishment include me realizing that God is who He says He is and is in control of all things.   Through prayer, I realized things will occur at exactly the right time if I don’t try to micromanage or manipulate.  If it is to be, it will … in God’s timing. I have also experienced less stress. When I become stressed, I check my motives and relinquish. How I wished I had totally relinquished when my kids were young!

Take what you need. It’s there for the taking. Now, you must live!

Do not think that by “relinquish”, I mean “give up”.  No, this is not what I mean.  I mean that we are to relinquish OUR agenda.  We are to be in line with God and the Greater Good.  This means that we won’t get what we want all the time.  I can attest to that.  Almost a year ago, our world was rocked beyond measure.  I still hate it. However, I know/ Who is in charge.  I know Who loves me and everyone else more than we can imagine.  I know the Who that KNOWS!  I relinquish my agenda.

Music is important to me. Immediately after Savannah moved into Eternity, I couldn’t listen to music.  Over time, I could and one of the first songs I could listen to was “God Is My Everything”.  Please enjoy the Chicago Mass Choir singing “God is My Everything”.  https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=god+is+my+everything#id=1&vid=e75210499131c60303ea05f76b2de5ef&action=click    Yes, it’s long. But you are being still, right? Stand up.  Clap your hands. Smile. Listen to all the words.  He is your EVERYTHING!!! Just take it!  I honestly believe this is what Heaven may sound like.  I just imagine Savannah with a big ol’ smile on her face singing this at the top of her lungs in the presence of our God! Amen! I can’t wait, Sweet Baby!!

I’ve shared this picture of Savannah and Isabella at the beach before but think it’s a perfect representation of what is feels like to relinquish.

 

Take care, RELINQUISH, and THRIVE!

Stephanie