Taking care of your own heart.
It’s something nobody else can do for you. It’s yours, and can only be cared for by you.
It’s trying to get your attention. What it wants, and what you need, are one in the same.
You just may not realize it yet.
My heart is saying it’s time for rest.
A fresh start with a rested heart.
A form of letting go is to ‘let it be.’
To breathe in the early morning was to sit on the front porch with coffee and watch the birds feed from the bird feeder. Now my yard is still and quiet.
The bird feeder sits on the floor by the back door. The squirrels took the joy out of having a feeder. They are relentless in their pursuit of free food.
I was spending time and brain cells trying to out maneuver them, but this time darling, I knew to let go. The battle wasn’t worth the fight.
Then I saw a battle that needed a fight.
My daughter had a rough week with anxiety and depression. She was able to work through it, but it hurts my heart watching her have to.
God spoke to me during my battle with the squirrels. It was like He said, “Hey Barb. What would happen if you put as much energy into praying for your daughter as you are battling these squirrels? I’ll take care of the birds.” (Matt. 6:26)
God got my attention.
The yard is still and quiet.
The bird feeder sits by the back door.
Pick your battles. Choose what’s worth the fight.
Stop trying to figure everything out my darling.
There’s so much of your story that is yet to unfold.
You’ve just got to believe the story is so far from over. So, hold onto every promise God has made to us. And watch this glorious unfolding.
Where is your heart leading you? What is it saying?
In the post, To Be True, I painted a focal wall in my bedroom dark red. This past weekend it began bothering me. It felt as if it were yelling when I walked into the room.
I went to a hardware store that carries paint, and left with a sample of lavender. It was pretty, but after painting the wall, it was bright, and reminded me of a preschool nursery. Going back to the hardware store, I had a cornflower blue in mind, and left with a sample of that. It looked like Carolina Blue once applied, and was not the least amount soothing.
The 3 remaining walls of the bedroom are a pale yellow named Tea. I added some strokes of Tea to the blue and purple, and the photo below was the result. It was good for my soul to blend the 3 colors, on a wall, without any expectations. My heart said, “Leave it alone for a few days.”
Allowing myself to do this unleashed some creativity, and felt good. My daughter saw it, and gasped with excitement. It broke all the rules growing up, having to be careful around walls. I smiled at her, and encouraged her to do the same, but she’s creative in her own style with her room. She found her perfect color, so she’s creating a wall of photos.
The container the plant was in didn’t make my heart happy, so I chose one that did. That was good because it was sitting in way too much water. This plant was one of the first ones I bought, well actually the second of it’s kind, because I killed the first one.
This plant was bought before the Boston Ferns, and reflects how I felt at the time. It’s a very touchy plant. I haven’t pinpointed it’s exact need. It enjoys light, but not full on sun, and it likes to be sprayed with water, but not too much. We will see how long it lasts, because the plant doesn’t reflct any part of me anymore. After repotting the plant, I knew my color.
We have a fenced yard, and there has been a plastic bag blowing around it for a week. The wind blows it to a different location, and it sticks to the fence. Everytime my little dog goes outside, he sees it, and charges toward it barking his little head off. I may not know much about the direction of my life, but at least I know, that’s the same plastic bag!
I don’t have a good sense of direction. When I am planning to drive somewhere, the GPS gets plugged in. Even if I have driven there before, I will still turn it on, and click ‘recent destinations.’
I get distracted easily while writing this Blog. They start with something I believe God wants me to share, but then I get distracted by everything going on around me, and I lose it.
When we stop writing our story, WordPress saves it as a draft, kinda like God.
It’s unfinished, and we pause to reflect on where we are. We have an internal GPS that we need to follow. I will use the Tom Tom I had plugged in yesterday as an example.
It was cloudy yesterday, so my GPS didn’t have a clear signal. When it announced an upcoming direction to take, it started stuttering. I laughed, but that upcoming direction makes me stutter sometimes too.
I love the ‘rerouting’ capability of the GPS. My daughter and I were driving the other day, and while I was using the GPS, it wasn’t telling me where to go. I asked, “Why is it so quiet?” My daughter said, “Because you passed your the street, so she keeps rerouting.”
How many times have I passed by somewhere God wanted me to turn?
God is our GPS. Sometimes where He wants us to go, is uncharted territory, and it makes us stutter. My Tom Tom has gotten me lost before, by giving me wrong directions, but those times landed me right where I needed to me. Feeling lost doesn’t last.
If we continue not to listen, or stay distracted too long, God is always there. He just clicks, ‘Reroute.’
I was talking to a friend a while back about Letting Go. She still harbors some anger toward her ex-husband, so I offered assistance. She said, “I’m not sure I wanna let go! Sometimes I use it as fuel to get stuff done.” At first I laughed, but afterwards, I could relate.
The quote below is from the book, “A Better Way To Live“, by Og Mandino. This post is entitled, “A Better Life”, because to have ‘a better life’, you need, ‘a better way to live.’
Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward toward the life God intended for you…with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.
This is one of my favorite Memes. I love how it has a child displayed, instead of a grownup. We are supposed to have child-like faith, and know that we are valuable.
We are a child of the one true King.
He already says we are more valuable than the birds, (Matt. 6:26), and they are well taken care of everyday. Have you ever seen a stressed out bird? I haven’t.
My daughter reads my Blog usually before I publish it. She read the one I wrote earlier this week about, How to Have a Beautiful Life, and claimed it as one her favorites.
When we devalue ourselves it should be disturbing. Otherwise we are settling for less than God’s very best for us. Your spirit should give you some signs. You are valuable.
For me, it’s like something is taking up space in my heart, but not fulfilling me anymore. At one time this was a welcome addition to my beautiful life, but now it adds no beauty or life. I remember what it feels like to get disturbed, and make a decision not to take it anymore. If you feel devalued, I give you permission right now to let it disturb you.
Once you make a decision to let it go, you will feel lighter. Everything that Og says in the suggestion above will occur. Some people are afraid to let go of what they have because it’s better than having nothing.
In my experience, God always has better in store. By letting go of what we have that doesn’t bring us joy, we’re trusting Him to bring us into a better life.
There is a reason and season for everything. Keeping our eyes and ears open will allow us to see, even if we don’t feel ready. When we least expect it God will reveal something that will make us pause and study our path. We are ready.
There are normally signs along the way. It’s easy to miss the small details, but if we take notice, we can watch them accumulate. Choosing to ignore the signs prolongs the inevitable. There is less pain in letting go of something, or someone that is already long gone.
Listen to your heart, but take your brain with you.
The way we were raised has a lot to do with our beliefs, especially about ourselves. I have friends that are in miserable marriages because they were raised to fight for the marriage. My parents stayed married until all the kids were out of the house and then they got a divorce. I chose to break that cycle and let go of what was gone.
Life is an ever changing cycle so what I learned as a child isn’t always what’s best for me today. I recall early in my letting go process going through a list of things my mother said and digging for truth. Would I get sick if I went outside with my hair wet? Was sex my duty as a wife? I was able to debunk most of the list.
I don’t have to utilize everything I was taught growing up. I’m grateful to have choices. Part of the Letting Go process is laying everything out on a table, picking and choosing what I want to keep to move forward in life. If it’s good and adds value I kept it and build upon that. My parents instilled a solid foundation to build a life that is beautiful.
Letitgocoach 