there are benefits of lap-sitting

Here we are, friends… week six of our book club link ups! I know this book is long. It’s heavy. There are parts that remind me of looking into the mirror first thing in the morning, before the makeup on the circles and baby powder on the grease. Yikes.

Next week, we’ll finish and move onto something new. I’m not quite sure what that looks like yet, but Blair and I are open to suggestions. We’ll be chatting this weekend and making a decision, so stay tuned! For now, I want to talk about something I read in Emily’s words this week. She speaks often of abiding and learning the presence of Jesus, because only then can we learn how to live out lives of worship in response. But one particular line stuck out to me today, and it’s highlighted and marked up like nobody’s business.

To let my roots grow deep in Him, to let myself sit in His lap, to let Him be who He says He is… this is the essence of my faith. After I grasp hold of this concept, I will grow stronger. I will overflow with thankfulness. I will become more bold. I will pour out without growing weary or empty. I will live. Really, truly live.

This week, I spent a lot of time in my pajamas. Two days straight, in fact. On the first day, I kept apologizing to Chris for “being lazy.” He rolled his eyes and said his usual, “Would you stop? You’re not being lazy. You just don’t know how to relax. I enjoy it when you relax.”

Today, after preparing for this post… I got it. There are benefits to being lazy. I feel refreshed after two days of couch time. I feel like I recharged whatever battery it is that drives me to stay so busy all of the time. I feel ready to take on the next few days of work. I feel like I spent two days without regret.

This year, I hope to learn the art of leveraging more – which in essence, means doing less. I got a chance to visualize this a bit with one of my best friends today, as we texted back and forth about this new baby. I wrote, At the risk of sounding cheesy… I’m excited to be vulnerable and clueless and see what God has in store to teach me this year.

 It’s scary, but true. And sort of easy, if I really think about it. If more receiving and more remaining brings me more intimacy with Jesus, and more effectiveness in my daily life… then I want to let more.