Don't Let Your Bathtub Overflow

Exhaustion! Sometimes in life we hit a wall of exhaustion. Emotionally and physically our bodies are just spent. We need to listen and rest. Instead, our tendency is to do everything we can to shut up and ignore the feeling of exhaustion with our own stubborn voice. "But I have things to do, important things to do. I can rest later."

If ever there is a voice we should listen to it is this voice. Our bodies warn us long before they demand our rest. Illness is its way of saying, "I told you to rest, but you didn't listen." For me, my body hits me over the head with a migraine or a kidney stone. Not subtle at all.

We get so caught up in our full throttle lives that we put off rest. So many of us sleep less than 6 hours a night. Each task that we devote time to is important. It is said that you can tell a person's priorities by looking at their checkbook and calendar. Our priorities in life are those things we spend time and money on. The difficult decision is figuring our which activities to let go.

To our already busy lives, we continue to add new and improved techno time grabbers. Facebook is wonderful. It gives us an amazing opportunity to stay connected and involved in each others lives. I wouldn't go back to the pre fb days for anything. My life is richer with facebook and the friends and family that I get to spend time with each day. Often I put off sleep to spend time with those facebook friends at night.

Ou trouble is, we continue to add worthwhile activities to our lives, but none of us has figured out how to extend our days. At some point, we have to take something away. Just like a wonderful bath is best when the warm water is as deep as possible, our lives are rich when they are full. But we make a horrible mess if we let the water continue to run and the tub overflows. When water is everywhere, outside the tub, it takes a really long time and a great deal of effort to clean up. Ugh! The same is true with our lives, when we fill our lives until they overflow. Then our bodies have no choice but to speak up. Then we are forced to discontinue all activities and let our bodies rest and heal. Illness does not ask us if it is a convenient time for a total shut down. It demands we rest and rest now!

Rest. This simple instruction is not so easy to follow. Listen and let something go so you can rest. Sweet Dreams!

In Him,
Joyful
3-12-2010