Horizons

 I had a dream that didn’t dissipate when I woke up (as is my usual) and that’s because I’m in the neutral zone in my sabbatical time that has allowed my soul to come alive and breathe.  I’m reminded of a saying that was uppermost in my mind a couple of years ago about me needing an underwhelmed schedule and an overwhelmed soul.

I saw some horizons and me looking out over them. I was already on a mountain top (it’s not possible to see horizons from a valley) and I felt that God was saying, “Sue, how far you go is up to you, but don’t be under any illusion – it’s going to take effort, time and spiritual fitness.”

Effort 

It takes effort to rest. In this time of less, or no work, and forced isolation, not everyone is resting. There is rest that empties and then there is rest that fills. Both are required.  The Bible talks about entering rest and uses words like, ‘labour, ‘make every effort, ‘give our all’, ‘be diligent.’

Rest takes effort, there’s no way around it

 Time

This gift of time that I have been given will come and go, this lockdown will finish and we will all have to ‘get used to different’. My sabbatical time will be over and the question is – who will I be, what will I have done with ‘rest’ after time has passed? This rest time for me is chronos (chronological time) as well as kairos (Gods timing) and I’m reminded of the prophetic statement by James Goll, “when the fullness of preparation meets the fullness of time, it creates an atmosphere where ‘suddenlies’ happen.”  

Time will pass, the question is, am I prepared, fully prepared for the ‘suddenlies’?

 Spiritual Fitness

Physical fitness is painful to get, but great to have. To build muscle requires resistance, discipline and effort. The same is needed for building spiritual fitness. I need to apply resistance to my natural desires to just drift and sometimes it means something as simple as getting out of bed, or turning off Netflix and opening my Bible. 

James 4:7, “So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will turn and run away from you”. Surrender seems passive; throw up my hands, give up, wave the white flag, be led by others, etc. but when it’s put in front of the rest of this verse, … stand up, … resist, I can see that surrender is definitely not passive, but it takes some spiritual muscles as well as discipline and effort. 

My concern has been that my sabbatical time will come and go and I will return that same person that I was beforehand, just 3 months older. I’m alone during this time, so there’s no one to impress, or do what they think I should be doing. It’s just me and I can waste this gift of time or use it – it’s totally up to me.

I can settle on the mountain top I’m on or I can push to go to the next one, and the next one, and the next …

I choose that option, it’s going to mean walking through some valleys and then some steep terrain that uses the muscles I have built as well as build even more muscles for the next steep path.

Watch this space