Going from Stressed to Rest

EVERY WEEK I send out a video of an ancient practice called lectio divina (ancient but so very accessible) which I call The Slow Word Movement to subscribers to this blog & write a letter in the afterglow or the wrestle directly afterwards. This was the lectio and letter from this week. Subscribe on the right to make sure you’re getting all the slow goodness: 

 

 

 

Ever feel like you’re too stressed to do lectio, too stressed to pray? Yup, been there. In fact, here’s a portal into my evening.

Confession: my brain was in a tangle.

Homework with my boy will do that.

Poor thing felt defeated before he wrote a single word on the page and then spent the other half of his time sharpening pencils. Meanwhile, my frustration continued to climb. Then my sweet boy disarmed me with grace, “It’s ok Mom.” It didn’t feel ok.  There were empty lines that spread over two pages and people, it was bedtime.

I shut down about 8pm every night.
Shut.
Down.

We shifted into bedtime snack and a few pages of Prince Caspian and now he’s piled in the middle of twenty stuffed animals upstairs. Asleep.

Sweet mercy.

 

 

And now it’s time to welcome the evening’s quiet but honestly, my mind is still racing. My shoulders are tight, breath shallow.

 

How do we detangle the lines of stress and shift into a space of receptivity?

 

How do we get ready to be present to God…in lectio or in another type of prayer when we’re coming from a stressful place?

 

 

We get present in our feet-on-the-floor ordinary.
I know, it sounds counterintuitive but stay with me.

We open an orange until the oils of the peel welcome us into the present.

We light a candle, watch the flicker, slow our breath.

We listen to the tumble of the clothes in the dryer.

 

 

So much of our stress comes from trying to pack too much into a moment. We’re wishing we had checked a few more things off our to-do list and our present gets dragged through the grime of guilt.  Or we’re stuck rehearsing yesterday’s meeting with our boss.

Here was a quote from Henri Nouwen that flashed across my screen today:

“God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be the moment hard or easy, joyful and painful.”

 

We often need a bridge back to the present moment. A practice. A way to reopen our hands to Immanuel, God with us.

Enter…#10minutes of stillness.

I know. Hashtags.

But I promise you’re going to love this.

Sometimes simple is genius.

This is one of those times.

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes. On the microwave. On your phone.

2. Open up one sense for a minute at a time without judgement AND without trying to create meaning:
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
What do you feel on your skin?
What do you see?
What do you taste?

3. Then open all your senses at once taking deep breaths.

4. After the 10 minutes are over ask yourself, what was I most thankful for during this 10 minute vacation?

5. Take note of how your mind feels now. Take note on how your body feels.

 

Set the stage for your own 10 minutes:
Sit on your porch and feel the breeze. Listen to the birds.
Peel an orange slowly. Focus on one sense at a time.
Brew a cup of tea and hold it in your hand.
Take a slow walk outside.

Take a ten minute bridge back to receptivity, connection, prayer.

 

Tonight I set a timer on my phone for ten minutes after cutting a few slices of brie and bringing a small bowl of blackberries to my favorite chair next to the fireplace. The blackberries were stored on the top of the shelf of the fridge. They were cold. I ate them slowly one at a time, turning the deep purple fruit over in my fingers. The juice was sweet with an earthy finish. I reached for the next. Creamy brie. Blackberry. Brie. The dryer turned over just down the hall.

By the time the timer went off I was unknotted. My breathing was deeper. I was ready to listen, ready to receive.

How do you transition out of stress into an internal quiet?

 

Praying you hear God’s sweet whisper of Shalom tonight,

Summer Joy

*Join me daily on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/revsummerjoy/

Click here for a 60 second devotional…and the invitation I’m hearing from John 15:14-17