You juggle so much.  I imagine you juggle a lot like I do.  Sometimes (or maybe it’s more like all the time) it can feel overwhelming.  The load feels heavy.  It’s like you out in the ocean treading water and holding a heavy box over your head.  The box contains all the things you are trying to manage.  You don’t know how much longer you can keep this up before your arms and legs give out and you drown under the weight.

Can I share something that is helping me to manage the weight and the overwhelm feeling?

It is dropping it all and setting it aside for 5 minutes.  The world won’t stop and fall apart if you do.  But you might fall apart if you don’t.

Often in the busy we think that we don’t have 5 minutes to sit, be still, breathe deep and rest in God’s great love. The practice of breathing deep for a few minutes actually turns on the calm in our limbic brain. (I love learning that science supports the amazing benefits of meditating)  I have a comfy chair in my bedroom that I sit in and set my timer for 2 minutes as I breathe deep.  I like to practice breath prayer.  Just saying a verse in my head as i breathe.  My favorite is Psalm 46:10.  For the breathe in I say (in my head cause i couldn’t breathe slow if actually saying it)- “Be still and know”  and as I exhale I say, “that I am God.”

After that I often like to read a short 1 page except from Day By Day.  This is an excellent tool in training yourself to stop 3 times through out the day to be still and recenter.  I feel like I need to recenter because it can feel like a whirlwind of crazy in my life.  Sometimes I just chill for those 5 minutes.  But at times I like a book to help me refocus my frazzled mind.  Some of my favorites are  Jesus Calling, Jesus Today, and 5 Minutes with Jesus.

We can think when we are very busy that we certainly don’t have 5 minutes to spare.  But it is actually this spiritual discipline that grounds us, roots us in God to give us strength to keep going in the madness.  And it gives the peace we desperately need in the chaos.  We are choosing to trust God enough to sit at his feet and allow him to fill us instead of pushing through while running on empty.

I pray you discover the sweet peace of His presence.