Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

Living and Learning: A One Word Update

by 28 Comments

living and learningGod is teaching me so much as I continue through Lisa Hite’s 40 Day One Word Lenten Challenge.  Yes, I know Lent is long gone, but I’m slow (in more ways than one).  Day 27’s activity was to list 22 ways you can live your One Word in 2022.  With your indulgence, I’d like to share my list in order to explain how I’ve been living and learning so far this year.  They may not all make sense to you since you aren’t inside my brain (lucky for you), but the list as a whole paints a picture.

 

Living and Learning to Rest in 2022

  1.  be more intentional about sabbathing (can sabbath be a verb?)
  2. have days I don’t produce
  3. pray more – especially when I start to worry
  4. befriend my emotions
  5. use avoidance techniques less
  6. let myself read before it’s bedtime
  7. plan more friend time
  8. call Patsy (my best friend) more
  9. have some moments of doing nothing – and be ok
  10. plan more fun – Top Golf?  another scavenger hunt?  explore trails when walking?
  11. complain less
  12. work a puzzle
  13. stay in the word
  14. read Another Gospel? to increase trust
  15. listen to music and sing more
  16. game nights
  17. watch funny things
  18. be comfy as much as possible
  19. ask for what I need
  20. continue pursuing pain relief
  21. go on house- looking drives
  22. seek out new places/ experiences

 

Here’s where I remind you that my word focus for the year is rest.  It goes hand in hand with last year’s word – trust.  Here’s what I learned about myself as I made this list.  Being unproductive is a big struggle for me.  I already knew this and yet began to see the issue differently in light of what rest means for me.  I wrestle with resting in and trusting God because I think I need to be working all the time.  Or maybe I think I need to be working all the time because I struggle with resting in God.  Whichever way, the two are tightly connected!

 

This sounds like a strange conclusion for me to draw since I only work part time 1-2 days a week.  But that’s the work I do to make money.  I also take care of a house and family, spend time studying God’s Word and writing this blog and I stay involved in my church.  I often hear the clock ticking on all the things I “need” to do.  Which is exactly where I’m getting myself in trouble.

 

More Learning

 

My second lesson from this exercise?   Play = rest to me.  Even though I’m not physically resting, time spent with family and friends laughing, playing games and trying new things rejuvenates me.  And as I’ve ruminated on this, I believe more fun and enjoyment  would decrease stress and actually increase trust in God.  You know – more abundant living.  When my life is not all work and struggle, I feel more peace.

 

Two weeks ago I shared with you a journal entry on play.  This prompt came from a book I read.  It’s totally unrelated to my One Word work.  And yet, God often speaks to me in two’s.  Probably because I don’t listen well the first time.  So I’m not sure I would have make the play to rest connection had I not already journaled about it.

 

More play would force me to stop being so productive.  If I’m not producing all of the time, I’m leaving room for God’s provision and I’m in better position to watch Him move.  And He does promise He’ll move for me.  I’m going to make some changes so I can rest in that.

 

“O Lord, You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless till they rest in You.”  – from Augustine’s Confessions

Click To Tweet

 

Link Up Time

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Last week I shared a post about Mental Health Awareness month and I want to continue to be a part of the conversation by sharing Grace and Truth’s own Maree Dee’s resources on mental health.  Check out her favorites here.

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might be sharing this post, click here.

One Word Update: Common Phrases with the Word Rest

by 26 Comments

one wordI have been working through Lisa Hite’s 40 Day One Word Lenten Challenge – although I’m behind.  I didn’t find it and start in time for Lent.  But my guess is God will honor it and teach me through it regardless of which 40 days I observe.  Anyway, I am learning so much.

 

In case you aren’t familiar, my “one word” is the word I feel led by God to focus on for this year.  I chose “rest” which ties in to “trust” that was my first ever word focus last year.

 

Day 4 of the challenge asked us to make a list common phrases that include our one word.

  1.  eternal rest
  2. rest in peace
  3. rest on your laurels
  4. the rest of the story
  5. rest assured
  6. at rest
  7. God rest his soul
  8. I rest my case
  9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman (more of a title than a phrase)
  10. lay to rest
  11. no rest for the weary
  12. the rest is history
  13. R&R (rest and relaxation)
  14. RICE (an acronym for treatment of an injury – rest, ice, compression, elevation)
  15. the rest of my life

 

Some of these phrases don’t really apply since they mean “the remainder”.   A few relate to my focus for 2022 with the general idea of cessation of work, movement or striving; such as “R&R”, “RICE”, “rest assured” and even “I rest my case”.  But what stuck out to me like a neon sign?  A full 1/3 of the phrases I came up with refer to death!

 

I think many people subscribe to the “you can rest when you die” mentality.  Go big, go hard, chase the dream/ money/ adventure, etc.  Nothing wrong with hard word or even hard play.  But without rest built into our schedule, we will eventually burn out or find eternal rest entirely too early.

 

In the very first chapter of the Bible, God modeled a day of rest.

Click To Tweet
Not because the Almighty God couldn’t keep going, but because He knew we needed the example so we would rest.  Our bodies need rest, but our mind and emotions need it too.

 

Why “Rest” Is My One Word

 

I feel called to shoot straight here.  And I can without judgement because I’m talking to myself as well.  If there is an area of your life in which you feel you cannot rest, I guarantee that you lack trust in God over that same area.  God knew we needed rest for our own physical and emotional well being, but for our spiritual health as well.

 

True rest means we are trusting God.  We don’t have to work (or worry, etc) 24/7 because God’s working on our behalf.  I realize it’s easier said than done.  Which is why I’m learning about and meditating on rest this year.  Believing I’m ultimately responsible for it all is exhausting.  Trusting that He holds it all in His control frees me to…rest.

 

“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Here I am again unable to pick just one feature!  Good problem to have.  I want to highlight Barbara Lee Harper’s book review because it’s a book I really need to read.  And I want to feature Grace and Truth’s own Lisa Burgess because she really made me think with Just One Roll of Toilet Paper, OK?  Happy reading!

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might share this post, click here.

 

 

 

 

Categories

Archives