It just occurred to me that with nine days more to Holy Thursday, I have before me the perfect opportunity to make a special novena for this final stage of my Lenten Emmaus. As my mind casts about for a special devotion to mark this journey, something comes to me.
In the past week, there have been a couple of signposts calling me to rise earlier each day. Already not the happiest of risers at 5:30am, I’m not particularly enthusiastic to wake up any earlier, more so since I often retire to bed well past midnight. Still, there’s something about this Lent that makes me loath to farewell it without marking it in some way. And so, for this last of nine, my novena will be to make a tryst with the hours between the old night and the unfurling dawn. The moment, I decide, a succession of ideas on how to spend that time arrives like boxcars, each appealing in its own way.
But slowly, each plan melts away, save one,
Be still and know that I am God ~ Psalm 46: 11
writingonmyheart 
This is absolutely one of my most favorite passages from the Bible. It speaks so clearly to us, and echoes in the chambers of our hearts… Listening is such an important skill and God has so much that He wants to tell us each day.
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Like you, this verse has a power over my heart too. It’s hard to ignore the power of a command that tells you to stop everything and to come before the Almighty.
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Amen!
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Beautiful.
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Thank you!
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❤ ❤ ❤
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🙂🩷💜💚
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That verse says it all! No wonder it’s one of my favorites.
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It’s certainly a verse for busy people. In one way, this verse stands as a reminder that God often wills that we stop what we are doing to just be quiet.
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That’s how I interpret it too. And yet that is so hard for me, I tend to want to “fix” things for everyone and everything. So I need that reminder, to just be still and trust in God. It really does help!
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I get you, Ann. We tend to think it’s all up to us. We tend to not want to trouble others. Our list is endless. We forget that there can be times when God might be telling us that we’re doing too much for others, that in fact, we might be holding others back on their growth journey just because we’re there for them all the time.
I’m learning this through my new responsibility at work. We have a policy where we can be tasked to head a department on rotation basis. Due to unfairness, I was the only one to head the department for 12 years with no rotation. As department head, I killed myself for others. I had this perception that as head, it was up to me to ensure that everyone else had sufficient rest, that everyone else had full support from me to work at their pace and when crunch time hit, if they couldn’t up the pace, then, I had to step in and do their work for them (in addition to my own mountain load) because you know, they had limits while I… had none… at least none that anyone else was willing to recognise. Even when I finally relinquished the post to someone else, I was still seen as the go-to person when others felt they needed a break.
It took the Covid years to make me see how much I had been abused and taken for granted – and how little I mattered to anyone, unless they needed help.
I’m back as head again and it seems as if I’m stuck in this till I retire. However, I’m looking to do things differently. While I will continue to work hard and support everyone on my team as best as I can, I will not compromise on my rest and on my me-time. If God Himself has asked that I be still, what right does anyone have to expect me to do otherwise?
With spring upon us both now, it sure is time for changes.
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I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through and that you’re back as department head again! But very glad you are realizing that being head doesn’t mean you have to “pick up the slack” for everyone else. You matter, and you need to take care of yourself too! And as you say, when God is so plainly telling us to rest now and then, how could we not?
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Strange, isn’t it, and beautiful too that this has suddenly become so clear.
Lots of 💜🩵💙 to you, Ann.
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