8 Things I Don’t Want to Forget

This summer, my family and I went to Stockholm to visit my husband who was invited to work at a university there. It was a gift to be able to change routines and take planned breaks, learning new things together (some of what I shared with you last week).

Every day I kept a journal and etched a couple paragraphs onto leather-bound pages that carry memories from our time. Before we even left the states, I knew I wanted to remember what God was going to teach me (is teaching me) and what I knew I wanted to share with you here.

Every word I wrote into the little bound book began to center on this prayer for my time away:

Several days into the trip, this prayer of my soul began to take shape in the form of convictions. Not thoughts or meditations, but (uncomfortable) convictions that began to rend my heart. For my word lovers out there: to ‘rend’ meaning a tearing apart or smashing to bits.1

What was revealed to me during this time? What is rending my heart? This is me letting you in again.

1. Kids only grow up once. Show up for all of it.

2. Life on screens is exhausting. It is imperative to take breaks (days or multiples of days).

3. Traveling is holy. The world is wide and beautiful. And: it’s good to have roots.

4. I am not a machine. It’s okay to produce less.

5. There are more options than you think.

6. Not everything needs to be captured. Sometimes it’s okay to just enjoy hidden moments and not share them.

   

7. Kids are resilient. Teach them what to say ‘yes’ to.

8. ‘Sabbath rest allows for resurrection work.’2

You likely have your own lists of new things, new ideas, or new convictions from the season you are in or the season you are entering. My hope is that we can all hold what’s being revealed with confidence and when it’s tough, with support. We can commit to a ‘re-ordering’ of our lives and our loves when necessary.

“I am reminded that God, in his kindness, is not committed to my ease or to my desires. But God is committed to me–to my salvation, my healing, my wholeness, my joy, my strengthening, my deepening.” - Tish Harrison Warren

As we peer ahead with a new season on the horizon, may we spur one another on towards this ‘deepening.’

*

What’s happening in your heart this season? What’s being revealed? Leave a comment below.

And…in the coming weeks, we will be looking at other ways to re-order our thinking as it relates to addiction recovery, prevention, and back-to-school.

Keep pulling up a chair.