photo by evoo73
I spent years as a striver. I knew what it felt like to live with a full schedule, pounding heart and not enough sleep. I thought if I didn’t try so hard then I would let someone down…God, people I loved, myself. I clung to my goals and ambition like a lifeline.
Then slowly, gently God began to pry my fingers open. “You don’t have to hang on so tight,” he seemed to say. What happened next came as a complete surprise. I began to see by doing all the work I hadn’t left any room for God to work on my behalf.
Opportunities popped up out of nowhere.
Relationships developed.
Words flowed.
And even better…when people asked how it happened I could truly say, “God did it.”
I do believe that we’re called to be faithful stewards with what we’re given. But I was going far beyond that. I’d become a spiritual worksaholic. And God wanted to teach me about a little thing called grace. I still don’t fully understand it. I probably never will this side of eternity. But I know this…
I’ve traded exhaustion for joy.
Striving for more peace.
Anxiety for laughing a whole lot more than before.
Sure, I still have stressed out days. But those are an exception…not a lifestyle. I don’t ever want to go back. I ask God to help me not to because I know my own heart well. I’m sharing this with you because, friend, maybe you feel like you have to do all the work too. Let me lean in and whisper to your heart, “Loosen your grip, enjoy your life, love on the people right in front of you.”
Open hands can best receive what God has to give.
Open hands can best be raised to praise him for what he’s doing in our lives.
Open hands let people focus not on the calluses from our hard work but on the nail scarred hands of the only one who truly deserves the glory.
XOXO
