“Just be. Do you know how to just be?” my mother asked as I jetted out the door.
“I’ll try,” I said, waving goodbye to my kids.
Truth is I’m not so good at “being.” I’m a doer who loves to keep moving. Perhaps you are too.
When busyness beats heavy on our lives, sometimes we need to push away and find a quiet place. For me that happened a couple weeks ago at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.
I even took the time to watch the Chewbacca Mom’s video. (I practically live under a rock, so you know that the entire internet saw this video.)
When I saw Candace Payne laughing hysterically, I didn’t need for the successful authors to explain personal branding to me. Candace’s video brought it all home. Just be yourself, your crazy, quirky self.
Just be.
For me, this means I need to lay aside people-pleasing.
Last week at church, I heard Matt Chandler preach this thought-provoking sermon, where he said all our idols stem from four basic sources:
- Comfort
- Control
- Approval
- Power
While I might struggle with all four, the approval idol holds a stranglehold on my life. It keeps me measuring up to other people’s standards. It ruins authenticity and shatters confidence.
Here’s the thing about idols. The devil doesn’t want us to see the ways our hearts crave and praise other things. He loves busyness because it masks our idolatry.
Those five days I spent at the writer’s conference gave me time to pause and listen to the silent driver behind so many of my decisions. So much of my fear is rooted in the idol of approval.
Finding some breathing room in the midst of life’s chaos also means we can reconnect with the One who conquered sin—the stunning One that heals and cleanses us of idolatry.
At the conference—besides running smack dab into my disease to please—I cried a lot. I even broke down crying in front of several well-known authors.
I cried tears of joy at the realization I’m not the only struggling writer. I broke down in frustration. I wept as I laid down the writing/approval idol.
I even teared up during pitches to agents and publishers, too. You know what? I don’t even care if everyone remembers me as “that weepy girl.”
It was real. Turns out just being requires honesty. Maybe Candace Payne has raucous laughter, and I have buckets of tears?
God wants to set us free moment by moment as we live and breathe in His presence.
What are some ways you can slow down and create some breathing room in your life?
