God loves to use irony in my life. My spirit consistently feels this, “Really?”/one eye-brow raised glare 🤨 from Him.
Confession, the whole “say yes to less,” or “do less,” movement has always irritated me. I have done a dozen Bible studies/books on the topic, had people share with me their revelations as they release themselves from commitments and responsibilities. I think the topic of de-stressing and getting stuff off our plates has extreme value in our lives, especially in a decently fast paced culture. I’m not irritated at the idea of prioritizing, my eye-roll attitude comes from this idea that all of us should be doing less and saying no to most everything. It’s as if saying no is the solution; that we need to some how get more time rather than learn to manage our time better. I am a fan of practicing submitting all our no’s AND all our yes’s to God for inspection. Sometimes we do need to do less. Sometimes, we need to pick up the pace and own a few more responsibilities. I just worry we mandate “do less” as a unilateral solution for what ails our culture, but what if it’s not about less OR more, but about doing the right things. Regardless, God is enjoying the irony in my aforementioned irritation right now…
I have been feeling a little lost direction-ally lately. I have been a little confused in some areas of my life, my career, my calling, etc. Not a full blown mid-life issue, but just a head-tilt. I’ve been trying to put my finger on the source of this lite tension and I just can’t quite name it. As I was sorting and sifting through my thoughts with my mentor (If.👏🏻You.👏🏻Do.👏🏻Not.👏🏻Have.👏🏻A.👏🏻Mentor.👏🏻Get one.👏🏻), she asked,
“What if you just said no to November.”
And then she tossed in…
“Kinda like people do No-Shave-November, but you just don’t post or promote or push anything for a month.”
My first thought was,”I love not shaving.” Kidding – ish…it was, “Is that wimping out?” It’s not that I have too much going on. I don’t. There is not a massive amount of work, or neglected relationships piling up. I’m just feeling a little lost/wanderer-y. But something felt right when she mentioned that. So that is what I am going to do.
I am saying no to November.
I have written about my love for the season of Lent before, and how the practice of abstaining from certain things for a season has merit in our spiritual development. While I don’t think this is the same thing, there is a similar feel.
I’ll get right back at it in December with an Advent series as we walk through Psalm 23 through the lens of the holiday season. I’ll re-open my scheduling for Spiritual Direction at the end of the month. But between now and then I’ll be quiet.
But let me ask, what would saying no in November look like for you?