This post is part of the “Finding Spiritual Whitespace Blog Tour” which I am a part of, along with a group of soulful, journeying kindreds. To learn more and join us, click here.
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I sit on the back porch of my in-laws home. They’re settled on a peaceful piece of land. In the distance, gentle hills roll toward the horizon and cows lazily stroll through pastures of plenty.
But closer to us, a drama unfolds. Hummingbirds conduct mid-air battles over access to a feeder. Their wings whir and beaks point like miniature swords. At first I’m fascinated by this display of perseverance. Yet as time goes by and I see the birds begin to tire, I want to stand up and say, “Stop, rest…there is enough for all of you.”
There are multiple spots on the feeder and my in-laws will refill it as soon as it gets low. There’s no need for this busy-busy, hurry-hurry, mine-not-yours way of living. They fly in fear. And I know their frustration all the way to my bones. Because I have lived like a hummingbird.
Maybe you have too?
What makes my wings beat fast is insecurity, the desire for approval, a need to be a good “steward” of what has been entrusted to me. Oh, I can make all the hurry sound so very spiritual. But that’s not the life my gracious God has invited me to pursue.
What does it take to live differently? Trust. The scandalous risk that if our wings stop beating so hard, so fast we will not fall. Instead we will be held up by grace. We will be fed. We will be able to trade our full lives for life to the full. Isn’t that what you want? It’s what I want.
The sun begins to fade and the hummingbirds at last begin to relent. They alight on the edge of the feeder next to each other and sip to their heart’s content. Then they fly away to places I can’t see. Renewed.
And they carry this too-hard-fought-for, finally-gained truth with them as they go: It is enough. It has always been enough.
XOXO
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If your soul feels like a hummingbird that needs rest, then Bonnie Gray has encouragement for you. Bonnie Gray is the writer behind Faith Barista.com who wrote a book about her inspiring, heart-breaking journey to find rest, which garnered Publisher’s Weekly starred review. I’m taking the journey to find rest through this guidebook and invite you to read it too. You can get a copy here.
