I slept in this morning. After getting up at 3AM and going to bed around 11PM for the last three days, I had a day off today. I slept until 9:30. I really couldn’t believe it was that late when I woke up. Over the years I have learned to listen to my body. I can go on little sleep for a few days, but I need to know when to take a nap, or when to sleep in. Listening to our body is much like listening to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it’s the little quiet things we need to pay attention to. So I don’t really mind sleeping in when I need to, just as I don’t mind getting up when I need to. It’s that learning to enjoy the moment, living for today that lets you begin to understand what is right for today, for now. Anyway, after I got up I went for an hour run. The weather was nice. It was partly cloudy with a little breeze so it didn’t seem too hot. After I ran I came back and made a great breakfast. Yes I know it was lunchtime, but I really enjoy breakfast. I had cantaloupe, tomatoes and eggs. Along with the espresso it was great. Definitely a good way to start off the day!
I know that I have probably written that yard work is not my idea of fun. I’ve done enough for a lifetime, but life isn’t always about having fun. I had all the plants to plant that I bought yesterday. I could have put it off, the ground was pretty wet, but I wanted to get it done. So, I planted the Lantana in the back yard. As I was doing it I couldn’t help but think about Julia and how many times I had helped her plant. She loved to plant things. She had a long list of things she wanted to plant this summer. I don’t remember what they were, but as I remember them I will try to do it. I remember late last fall we spent an afternoon on the swing as she was laying out all that needed to be done. I wish that I had paid more attention but at the time I was just enjoying the day listening and talking about different plants, but I’m not sure where she wanted them.
As I was planting the Lantana a thought persisted. Why am I even planting these? That thought was even more present when I was planting the tomatoes and the peppers. I’m out of town a lot, how will all this grow? It was sometime during the planting I realized that I was planting these plants for at least two reasons. First, it was to honor Julia. She would want me to plant them and to keep the yard looking nice. The second was that I also wanted to keep the yard looking nice. So much of her has become a part of me that I find myself doing things and enjoying them because she did them. I actually enjoyed planting the plants today. In fact, I went back to Wal-Mart to try a grand experiment. The grand experiment is this. Do the upside down tomato planter’s work? I planted or should I san hung one of those and I also planted a tomato plant in a container on the deck. We will see if I can keep either one alive.
John and Biddie came back from a month at the beach. It was really good to spend time with them tonight. I really did miss their company. Today has been a good day; a day to settle back and recharge. I have felt a strong presence of Papa’s love all day. I did have sometime for prayer and reflection this morning during breakfast. I have been making declarations over my day for about a month now. I don’t always get to, but when I do, it seems to make a difference. His love abounds, all we have to do is to learn to move into it’s presence and then allow the flow of His love to be with us. If everything we do is from rest, we will stay in the flow. If we start striving, we can begin to feel the peace rest. That is a warning sigh to get back into a place of rest. We have to learn to listen not only to our body, but to our spirit. The problem with most of us is that we have never gotten to the rest to begin with. So we don’t know the difference between His peace and our striving. I have to learn to continually operate in His rest, no matter what I am doing. If I can do that, then I can maintain His presence wherever I go. This is key; remain in His rest. Believe His word, both the Logos and the Rheama. He so wants to use us, we need to learn to let Him.
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