Hi girls from Rosemary Beach 🌊 

I am aware it’s Tuesday barely and that this is a Happy Monday blog. Haven’t you ever been late for anything? Deadlines Shmeadlines….. Oh well, who’s perfect anyway? Can you tell I’m on vacation?

 

That above is crazy talk according to my normal nature. Right now I am as relaxed as a spaghetti noodle and work or responsibilities have been on the bottom of my thoughts the past several days.   

What has been on my mind is this– How can I bring vacation home with me? Is that unrealistic or a pipe dream? What about maybe this question which I propose to you cannot be as far fetched surely– How can I avoid getting back into the rut of anxiety, stress, go,go,go without brakes, work without rest, worry without faith, and all that goes along with the normal unhealthy American lifestyle complete with doughnuts for dessert ? This question for me must be answered. And for you too if you struggle with any of those things.  

 

Still my aim is going to be to answer the first question. I know, I’m a romantic dreamer. And one day as I think in my heart so I will be so long as I don’t lose hope. True for you too.  

 

After lots of time thinking, reading and writing with waves and adorable small children’s chatter in the background as they sport two hundred dollar play outfits as if they were on their way to their sunset family pics all day long…. and trading in four wheels for two riding on cobblestone streets for days now basically in eutopia, I’ve rearranged a very core belief system that I honestly think is going to pay off big time for me and those around me. Just might be something you want to consider too.

 

Ever heard of Maslow’s Pyramid of needs? The bottom most basic need is physiological then it goes up to emotional, cognitive, and self actualization needs right. I remembered this week that I made a very cognitive decision many years ago – I think as a way to cope as a missionary – and maybe even before that as a way to cope with feelings of “not-enough-ness” that I would just choose to not need anything beyond the basic physiological needs. I thought I was doing the right thing to outsmart the pyramid. I thought if I don’t need it and don’t have it then I’ll be fine. 

 

You see there is something intrinsically very wrong with that mindset. It’s a poverty mindset. The Bible tells us we have not because we ask not and that God is the supplier of all of our needs. Not just our physical ones. Jesus wept and so of course we are going to also. This alone as if there weren’t thousands of other places in scripture that illuminate that we have higher needs as Maslow also discovered in his pyramid. Suppressing a need as I did for decades, at least two, will not make you need it less. It will give you acid reflux and anxiety and depression and aid you in gaining thirty pounds – probably more but we will just keep it there so it isn’t any more than that difference on my drivers license. It’s not that I lied on my driver’s license but I just never changed it. That number is so evil. Wow! Touchy subject – I am at the beach surrounded by women I despise at each glance of them. Not really well sort of….anyway back to what this is really about…. How did I get here? I feel like an alcoholic growing up doing what I said would never happen to me…. the homecoming queen that ends up fat and slobby. My closets and drawers do not look like Martha Stewart is my personal friend or whoever is the new her. I wouldn’t know because I’ve been nose to the grind for so long now believing all that matters is that bottom layer of needs being met so I have made sure to supply especially the food one. 

 

So on to the good news now that I have you feeling sorry for me which was not the point. The cake was great— every bite! So were the five years we lived in India. And the traveling there stopping off in Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Paris …shooting way down to Somoa and not Western. Alaska was amazing. Skiing all over Colorado & Oregon & Park City too with my favorite men was fantastic until the last day of the last run when Kevin hit that tree the time in Utah. Pastoring HC in Mobile has been just as much an adventure with high highs and low lows as is pastoring any church and much like well, any life represeted reading this nonsense. We have lived fully as so many have. Or have we? 

 

Even with all those amazing Ministry trips that were afforded to us – a couple were personal – they were all vacation-like especially for the boys and I – I still somehow made a goodly portion of each about the basic needs being met. How stupid of me. We totally enjoyed them for sure and have lasting family memories. But the biggest thing I’ve never been able to successfully do is come back home and do anything except work 24/7 until the next amazing trip. All or none. No more. How about you? Does this sound familiar? Or maybe you haven’t even had those breaks or maybe your breaks have been less thrilling but more relaxing. The point is not comparing our lives but somehow learning from each other and figuring out what OUR top priorities are. Maybe they are seasonal. 

 

The big adjustment I’ve made this week is to realize a top need for me going forward is going to be enjoying beauty around me….wether in a person I know or meet, a flower I walk upon, a river I move to live near, or a meal I prepare with the time I’ve carved out for me and my family at the expense of a task undone at work.

What is a top need for you that you have been missing out on? One for me is neat drawers and closets as crazy as that seems to some and though I don’t even know who the new Martha Stewart is, I’m yearning for beauty even in the smallest crevices of my home and you can’t tell me it isn’t possible any more or a real need-not that you have tried. Well you can but I’ll look to God to supply it. It may be in the form of Him helping me increase my ability to keep things beautiful around me and the time to enjoy doing it. I’ll promise you this, there are things I’m about to be drastically cut out of my life. Any time you add a priority, something has to be removed. I think I finally really know what It will be there tomorrow means. Heard it all my life but never believed that simple statement that many maybe don’t really believe. I may not meet people’s  expectations like I have in the past even not getting a blog out on the day it needs to be out because it’s called a Happy Monday Blog but pardon my progress as I climb higher on the pyramid. I invite you to climb with me and begin to go after and trust God to meet our top needs. I pray for you to no longer suppress them into dozens of pounds or anxiety melt downs or depression. Climb on up above all that with me. See ya at the top!!! Let’s throw a party together and hang out up there like God intended for us all along. 

Happy Tuesday! (Unapologetically)  

On our way at a slower pace…