Be Still

The picture above is an item near my bed. It is a bowl filled with sand, lavender candles, and a rock with with the words "be still" written on it. Many of the items were gifts. They help remind me that sometimes it is good to slow down and take time. Time to rest. Time to focus on my relationship with the Lord. It seems life flies by so fast these days!

This is a life skill and spiritual discipline I am trying to learn. My mentor, Beth Ladd, has been instrumental in helping me recognize this need through her work with Be Still Retreats. Taking time to be still will be even more important as life will be very busy when I am serving in Indonesia. The work there is 24/7. When you are just a phone call and couple minutes walk away from the hospital it means you are always on-call. That on top of the heat and humidity means there will be stress on my body. With my diagnosis of chronic lyme disease this makes taking time to rest even more important.

So one of the growth goals I just finished was writing out a plan to proactively take time to rest. As you might remember growth goals are several goals and requirements WorldVenture wants me to complete before I leave for Indonesia. These requirements include rounding out my Bible education, reading several books, doing training, and intentionally making plans to guard my health while I am serving.

So my new plan includes making sure I take a break at least once a month with a three day weekend. Weekends as Americans know them don't really exist in Indonesia because the nursing school operates 6 days a week including Saturday and of course the hospital is open all day every day. Sundays while different with church are still full of activities. So hopefully designating three days a month to rest will help me to stay healthy and serve well the rest of the month.

This is a life skill and spiritual discipline I think we all need. So sometime soon be intentional about taking time to Be Still.