…You could just slow down.

You could cook breakfast once or twice a week.  You could sit on the porch and watch a flag blowing in the wind as the sun comes up and the dew stretches its legs.  You could wear pajamas all day because that doesn’t make you lazy (hello, they’re comfortable).  You could go to the gym because you want to go, but not because of the pressure to be more.

You could put down work every now and then to dance with the kids to Taylor Swift’s Red, and you could giggle like you were back in high school.

You could learn something new.  Play a new instrument, cook a new recipe, work with a new charity.  You could be less consumed with church and more consumed with Him, and your perspective on life would shift eternally.

This voice?

This voice should never be silenced.  This is the voice of Believers, changers, dreamers, doers.

This is the voice of the Redeemed, the hopeful, the strong, and the sure.

This is the voice that gives you permission to live the life that you want to live.  You could run a marathon, start a new business.  You could have lazy Saturdays instead of the rat-race.

When we stop comparing our do’s to everyone else’s, we are finally able to let go, to rest in Him…to do what we are passionate about.  Don’t get me wrong:  there’s a place for sports, and a little frantic running, and certainly church.  The problem is that we overdo everything.  We stink at moderation most of the time, and our juices run out.

So all the while we’re “yes people” to everyone else, we come home and there’s not much left to give.  We rush, we hurry, we sign up for every event at school, church, and community, and inside, we are tired.

I’m convinced there is a season for all the things we’d love to do in this life.  We took a pause on international mission work for a few years, not because we don’t still want to go, but because we are convinced that our mission for now is to capture the hearts of our children with a deep, passionate love for Christ and for other people.  Soon enough, we’ll take them along with us.

We still serve in our church, but friends, and I know I’m treading lightly on this one:  Church doesn’t take you to heaven, doesn’t redeem you from the lowest depths.  His Grace does.  So while we still serve (I’m teaching class right now, and we drive about an hour to our church every Sunday), it’s okay if we aren’t there for every single event that takes place.  I know, shocking.

We are committed to Him, and this life we’re convinced He approves of.  We want slower days, less noise, more together, and lots of unity in our family.  We want to be slow enough to see when our children really need us, when they really need Him.  We want to try to remove the lenses from their eyes so they easily see the hurting and the broken.

We want Grace to run rampant in this house.

But it needs room.

It needs room in between the soccer games, baseball, gymnastics, birthday parties, school events, church events, playdates, work, and the running.  Space and time and rest are good things, and we need them to stay fixed upon Him, and honestly, to breathe without comparing or trying to strive for perfection.

Our work in this home?  It’s sacred.  Not because of us or them, or our mad parenting skills (i wish), or our perfect striving…nope.  It’s because He went to Calvary on death stained cross and He bore every ounce of ugliness, hate, and shame this world had to offer.

I want to give him more than an hour and a half once a week.  I want to give Him room to work, to change, to transform.

You could slow down.

And in doing so, you can live the life you want to live.

       “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
                                                                             –Romans 12:1-3, The Message