Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”
Exodus 18:17-18 NIV
I know a couple who both just retired. They are still young, especially to be retired, and they still have lots of life left in them. The question is—what to do with it? What do you do when you have always been known by your career—by what you do? What is left when all is stripped away?
It is so easy to find our worth in our career, by what we do, even if we are someone who doesn’t work outside the home. We try to find our value in external things; the volunteer position, the type of the home we keep, the number of homemade meals we prepare. Usually it goes far beyond this. In today’s day and age, we often are busy working our day jobs, running around to different activities, rushing home to prepare an all-organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, superfoods-type meal, and then we hurry to clean everything up in order to do more work—be it a side hustle or a house project, and then we fall, exhausted, into bed. This is not how we were meant to live. We end up doing too much in some sort of contest to prove our self-worth.
This happened in the Bible with Moses too. Talk about having everything stripped away! He went from rags to riches, back to rags, and to riches again! Moses was born into an enslaved Israelite family, who, in an effort to save his life, was sent floating in a basket down the Nile River. Being found by the pharaoh’s daughter, he is raised in the pharaoh’s court as a prince. When he was grown, Moses killed an Egyptian when he saw the Egyptian beating a fellow Israelite. He then fled into the desert, where he became a shepherd with a nomadic people. Doesn’t that sound like the storyline of so many movies—the broke young person who works their way to the top, becomes a powerful executive, and then throws it all away to go live a simple life? But then things change for Moses.
While Moses was shepherding his flock he came across a bush that was burning but it was not consumed. God speaks to Moses through the bush and tells him to deliver His chosen people, the Israelites. Moses doesn’t want to go but finally he listens and goes to Egypt. A lot happens there; eventually Moses makes it back out of Egypt with all the Israelites. He is a leader, the judge of all disputes, the spiritual leader, and basically all things to all people. He is talking of this to his father-in-law, Jethro, when Jethro stops Moses and tells him that he is doing too much. Jethro tells Moses he needs to delegate. Moses listens to Jethro’s advice and sets up a judicial system.
I think maybe Moses got carried away doing too much in effort to make up for his past wrongs, both perceived and legitimate. He killed an Egyptian—strike one. Then he fled to the wilderness abandoning his people—strike two. Maybe another reason he didn’t want to go back to Egypt is because he didn’t want to hear the Israelites accuse him of not caring about them. After all, he did leave! He escaped Egypt like so many of them wanted to do but couldn’t. Maybe Moses was eager to prove himself so he took on all the responsibilities that he could to try to make up for it.
But Moses had someone to call him out. He had someone to remind him that godliness isn’t busyness. And what’s more . . . Moses listened. He accepted the counsel of a trusted friend and mentor. He took a step back to look at what God had really called him to do and let the rest go. Moses seemed to know that when all is stripped away, it wouldn’t matter because he found his worth in God.
Do we find our worth the same way? If confronted as Jethro did to Moses, would we be humble enough to realize that very few roles are ones that only we can fill? Would we have the wisdom to relinquish control and get back into the sphere to which God has called us? When all is stripped away, would we be happy with what remains?
I always feel that we can learn something just by watching the natural world. Just as the natural world retires and withdraws for a season, so too can we benefit—from not just a day of rest, or a week of vacation, but rather an extended period of time, a season if you will, of focusing on rest and not a whole lot else. We all need a season every so often (perhaps once a year?) when we aren’t focusing on the running around, on all our projects, and the go, go, go of it all. We would benefit greatly if we would just quiet down and be still long enough to listen to that still, small voice inside of us, and reflect on the life we are living. Is this really our best life? Is this really the life we were designed to live? Here are several books to slow down with this season.
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst
The focus of this book is making sure that all the yeses that you’ve been saying are really the ones that you want to be saying. When we say yes to all things, we miss out on saying our best yes—the one God created us for. Helping others in meaningful ways, growing our intimate relationships—these are things we miss out on when we are busy saying yes to every single thing that comes our way. What I really appreciated about this book, was Lysa’s Bible-based framework for deciphering what we should say yes to. In an age where so many messages are yelling the self-care message, it is easy for self-care and creating time for yourself to be an excuse to be selfish with our time. I appreciated the biblical approach, backed by scripture verses, to help inform our decisions and make sure we are always saying our best yes.
Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner
In this book Erin tells her story. Starting from the beginning, she tells of when she and her new husband moved to California to start their careers, how busy their life became, and then just as they were starting to focus on slowing down, the economy tanked, sending them packing and moving in with their parents. She talks of how she started her blog Design for Mankind, and the ongoing battle with chasing slow, leaving the frenetic pace of life as behind them as possible. One of the recurring topics of the books is that Erin’s husband has a brain tumor. It is inoperable and while it hasn’t shown signs of growth as of the writing of her book, it very well could. The doctors originally told him he wouldn’t live as long as he has. The overtone of this medical condition gives weight to this book. If we only had ten years left to live, where would we be allocating most of our time?
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
My favorite quote of the book . . . “Jesus never hurried.” Enough said? Honestly, I don’t even remember a whole lot of other takeaways from the book besides the discussion on the fact that Jesus never hurried—anytime or anywhere. When we break it down and think of hurrying and how it portrays us to others, it is the exact opposite of how Christ wants us to act towards others. In my own life I think about how many times I’ve hurt people’s feelings or had spats with people—I’d say 95% of the time the discord brought about in my relationships with others is brought about by one of us hurrying—and usually it’s me. If you rush about a little more than you should (what is an appropriate amount to rush?), give this book a try.
Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado
This is a short little read and while not specifically about slowing down, this book is a biblical approach to letting go of anxiety and worry. When we are filled with anxiety and worry it is difficult for us to slow down and rest. Mr. Lucado takes a scripture-based approach on how to invite God into our lives and help us let go of our anxieties.
Rest
I talked in depth about this book in my post “My Impression of Rest: A Book About Work” and again, this book isn’t specifically about slowing down—it is more about the part rest can play in our lives. I’m still getting over how short, but really focused, the work days were of some of the most influential people throughout history—we are talking about people like Edison! Long doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of meaningful work. There is a point of diminishing returns, and I believe that is something that often gets overlooked in our culture today.
I’ve enjoyed these books to slow down with this season and I think you may enjoy them also. Thank you!
Hey! May I Send You Something?
If you are here, chances are you just might like my writing. (wink) If you Drop your email address in the box below I’ll save you time by emailing you the link every time a new post comes out!
A while ago my husband and I went to Mexico for the first time. ( see my posts: Limited by Fear and The Fear That Holds You Back, I promise I will be through writing about this experience soon—maybe.) I was excited but also nervous as we prepared for this trip. I only had traveled internationally once before and had only been on a plane on two separate occasions in my adult life. When I was little I had flown quite a bit and, while I wasn’t afraid to fly, I was very apprehensive about all the other things, such as getting to my flight, making our connecting flight, going through customs, and finding the shuttle that was to take us to our hotel, and, hopefully, not getting kidnapped along the way—I would fit into a suitcase quite nicely!
While I was very nervous about all these things, I had one reason to not be afraid—my husband! He had flown a lot, and had even taken one more international trip than I had. He was old enough to remember how it was done! He would take care of me! So I told myself to relax and just let my husband take charge.
That Saturday morning we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. We were drinking coffee (we didn’t need), playing beachy sounding music, and getting even more wound up than we already were when suddenly my husband turned down the music and looked at me. “I have to tell you something,” he said. “I’m a little nervous about flying down to Mexico. Even though I’ve flown a decent amount, it’s always been in a group so I never needed to pay close attention. I just had to listen to whatever the group leaders told me to do. But we’ll be okay, right? You’re good with this stuff?”
It was one of the few times in my life that I was struck momentarily speechless. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! He had been placing his faith in me and I had been placing my faith in him! Neither of us had a clue that we were each other’s back-up plan. I barked out a laugh and told him that I had been counting on him this whole time! So much for the plan I had constructed in my mind about how I was safe and my husband had it all under control. My plan was worthless. Incidentally, so was my husband’s plan.
How often do we do things like this? How often do we place our trust in ourselves, or in others, or in our circumstances, rather than the One who created it all? Just as I had a false sense of security in my husband’s travel knowledge, so do we have a false sense of security in anything we place our trust in other than God. Circumstances can, and often do change on a dime. Financial hardships arise. Health concerns spring up from nowhere. A loved one is taken away unexpectedly. The life we thought we built vanishes due to some unforeseen circumstance. Life happens and reality hits us. We have virtually no control over any of it, even when we think we do. Control is the word we use instead of faith.
We can feel one of two ways when we are confronted with this reality. One, we can feel terrified of every situation and live our lives in a constant state of fear and anxiety because nothing we do will ever be enough to insulate us from our worst fears. Or, we can feel comforted because no matter what happens, it was never really in our hands to begin with. Rather every situation, every circumstance, is under God’s auspices and everything that happens in this world is filtered through His hands first. This doesn’t mean that He causes bad things to happen, but rather He will sometimes allow bad things to happen because He knows what the ultimate plan is.
We made it to Mexico and back safe and sound. We didn’t get kidnapped, detained, or put in a Mexican jail. While neither of us were travel experts, we had done our research and prepared as much as we could, and oftentimes that is all we can do. We have to do our due diligence and let God handle the rest. Actually, all the time, all we can do is our due diligence and let God handle the rest. Shall we?
P.S. If you have a moment, please share one of my posts that you have enjoyed with someone you know. This helps me out so much and knowing you were thinking of them will brighten the day of whoever you decided to send it to!
Quick reminder that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you- it’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
I haven’t talked about vignettes in a while—but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up using them! I talked about how to make a vignette in my post, Vignettes: Tell Me A Story, and that’s great for getting you started, but are you overlooking great places to use a vignette? Are there certain things cluttering up your area that could look cute and be functional by making them into a vignette? I bet there is! Here are a few ideas for how to create `a vignette in any room of your home to help elevate your everyday!
A few reminders:
When making a vignette, keep these few simple rules of thumb in mind:
· Use an odd number of items;
· Vary height;
· Vary texture;
· Use something with hard lines, something with soft lines, something with organic lines; and
· Add one item that is a little bigger and more of a wow piece to anchor your vignette.
Kitchen
There are things just about all of us have in our kitchens—I am going to take a gamble that you have these things too: a paper towel holder, hand soap (and probably lotion too), dish soap, salt and pepper, and a trivet. You may have more items, perhaps you have a few less. Regardless, how do you have them displayed? Instead of having your soaps just sitting on the counter, you could arrange them on a pretty tray near the sink; your most used spices and kitchen gadgets can be gathered on a tray; you can hide unsightly necessities like twist ties, rubber bands and matches in a cute pitcher.
Here are a few more ideas of things to include in a kitchen vignette:
· An herb plant;
· A bowl of fruit or veggies;
· A wooden cutting board;
· Spices or tea in a unique jar or tin; and
· Pour-over-coffee or French press coffee maker.
Bathrooms
I always say everyone is blessed with at least one really good idea in their life. Here is mine: add a cloth napkin to where you keep your hand soap and lotion so that you can tidy up any water spots around the sink. This looks cute and keep your bathroom sink tidy too!
For a bathroom vignette try adding:
· A candle;
· A small plant; and
· A diffuser, if you have room.
Bedroom
We all have nightstands. How you style that nightstand can be a vignette as well! You can use a tray to coral everything, or if you are always overflowing with books that you will read next, you can use the books themselves as a vignette.
I used to have a large picture on my nightstand, but then my stack of soon-to-be-read books got so high I couldn’t see the picture anymore! I decided to flip things and use my stack of books as I would use a picture to give my nightstand some height and interest, and let’s be honest—that stack of books is ever rotating and will never completely disappear!
Some other ideas for nightstand vignettes:
· A lamp;
· A small box or dish to keep little necessities in;
· An alarm clock;
· A picture; and
· Flowers or a small plant.
Living Rooms
Anything and everything works great for a vignette in living rooms! If you have a coffee table, books are great—and typically the bigger the better for coffee table styling! There are many options for where to create a vignette in this room; you may have a TV on or above a console table; the console table is a great place for short, linear vignette styling—think of a small tray on a short stack of books and maybe just one tall vase off to the side with a few feathers, decorative twigs or greenery—dried or fresh! (Click here to see my post on How to use dried flowers in decor)
For these, keep the follow items in mind when creating a vignette:
· A lamp;
· Books;
· A large candle or lantern;
· Something natural or quirky such as driftwood, or deer sheds (antlers);
· A random but interesting antique item;
· A family photo to add a personal touch;
· A vase with flowers—real, dried or faux; and
· A box to keep odds and ends in or to hide the TV remote. (You might leave a sticky note so your husband can find the remote, unless that his punishment for skipping chores last weekend—up to you!
Dining Room
The centerpiece is usually the vignette we think of when it comes to the dining room. I don’t know about you but I tend to find that making a centerpiece is one of the tougher vignettes that I create. My table is narrow so there isn’t a whole lot of room for a big centerpiece. My standby centerpiece is seven candlesticks displayed in a shallow wood box that acts as a platform. Then I switch out these items seasonally.
What are some of my favorite elements to incorporate into my centerpiece?
· Candles/candlesticks;
· Dried flowers;
· Twine balls;
· Pinecones; and
· Moss Balls
Seasonally I love to add:
· Faux eggs at spring;
· Dried flowers in summer;
· Pumpkins in fall; and
· Ornaments and evergreens for Christmas.
I hope this helps inspire you to get vignette-ing! Vignettes are one of the easiest ways to add style and up-level your décor. Happy decorating!
P.S. Would you be willing to do me a favor? If you are enjoying these posts and can think of anyone else who might enjoy them too would you please share this post with them? If you like this post, they will too and sharing like this helps and encourages me so much! Thanks in advance!
Quick reminder that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you- it’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
Do you read more ‘by author’ or ‘by genre?’ I have bounced all around in my reading life; sometimes I have an author that I simply can’t get enough of, other times I get stuck in a certain genre and can’t get enough of it and I pay no attention to the author. However, I have had a long standing favorite author since I became more of an avid reader around the age of 12. That author is Ann Rinaldi.
I have deeply enjoyed every book I have ever read from this noted historical fiction author, predominately for young adults, but I remembered Ms. Rinaldi’s books having a certain depth to them that adults would benefit from reading too. I wondered if I would love them now as an adult, or were they more juvenile than I had been aware of at the time. I was missing a few of the stories as well as desiring a refresher of the history that is portrayed in them, so I went back to reread a few. I still loved them! It is my opinion that these historical fiction books have a depth of concept to them that few young adult books contain today. In fact, I would only label these books young adult in that the main characters tend to be young women. The writing and themes are still very enjoyable for adults as well!
I have been in love with Ann Rinaldi’s books now for well over a decade and I decided it was time to share a few of my favorites with you.
Time Enough for Drums
So far this book still ranks as my very favorite. This is a story of 15 year old Jemmima, during the American Revolution. She is a staunch Whig, and she can’t believe that her father would employ John, a Tory, as her tutor . . . until she begins to put the pieces together that John may not be exactly what she thought and may, in fact, be a spy. . . . Ann Rinaldi weaves together all of my favorite classic elements in this book: revolutionary war history, spies, romance, and tough decisions which makes for a very intriguing read.
A Break With Charity
A Break With Charity is a story of the Salem Witch Trials with which I have always had a fascination. This is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. What was behind the girls who were acting out in Salem Village all those years ago? Were they demon possessed? Had they eaten infected wheat that caused them to hallucinate? Or was something even more sinister going on among the townspeople? Susanna English knows something about this circle of girls—they aren’t what they say they are—but how could she possibly come forward to expose them when it could endanger herself and possibly her family too? Will she endanger the people she loves more by staying silent?
An Acquaintance with Darkness
One of my other favorite history topics is the history of medicine. I find it fascinating how far we have come in the past 150 years. This book takes place in the wake of Lincoln’s assassination. Emily has just lost her mother and her father is already gone and she has been sent to live with her uncle, a predominant physician in Washington D.C. Emily is unaware of the full extent of her uncle’s medical duties. The country is in tumult in the wake of Lincoln’s assignation. Not only is the country and city filled with strife over the end of the Civil War, but now the president has been shot. One night when she goes to visit her mother’s grave she happens upon two grave robbers—robbers that she scares off and who jumps out from behind a nearby grave? . . . Emily’s uncle! Emily is very confused, to say the least! What reason could her uncle have for being there?
Come Juneteenth
Many people are not even aware of what Juneteenth was—the date of June 19th when those held in slavery in Texas finally heard of the Emancipation Proclamation which had set them free over 6 months earlier. This books takes a very close look at slavery through the lens of how a young enslaved girl, Sis Goose as she is known, views herself and her self-worth, especially when compared with her friend, the plantation owner’s daughter. This book packs a bit of a punch and for that reason I am not sure I would recommend it for young readers. It is a rather heavy story and I remember it really sticking with me after I finished reading it. I still remember parts of the book in detail over a decade later—what does that say about it??
Wolf by the Ears
Wolf by the Ears is perhaps Rinaldi’s best known work. This is a story of Harriet Hemings, one of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves, long supposed to have been one of the children between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. Harriet wrestles with the desire to know whether she is really a daughter of this man, a man who is opposed to slavery in theory, but who feels that “Slavery in America is like taking a wolf by the ears, you can neither hold it, nor safely let it go.” One thing young Harriet knows though, is that her skin is light, very light—light enough that she could pass for white. If she was offered this chance of freedom would she take it? To take it would mean a life of freedom, but it would also mean turning her back on her heritage and her culture, not to mention never seeing her family again. Could she take this leap? Should she?
Ann Rinaldi is a prolific author and there are so many books that I could recommend but I hope this gives you a jumping off point to check out some of her books and see for yourself if you are a fan!
Don’t forget to find and like me on FB if you enjoy these posts—I can be found at Essentially Emma Marie on Facebook and @EssentiallyEmmaMarie on Pinterest and Instagram.
