Skip to main content

Running in Pace


I can be frantic. I can move frantically. I reason that it's good and that the impulse for it is urgency, but as I examine myself, I see the output is a bit crazed. I looked up a few things this morning, that I thought went together:

Perfectionism
Slowing down
Freneticness
Urgency

There is tension in these words. Slowing down is what I need to do, because I'm missing so much of life. Urgency is what I feel at work, though not necessarily at home, and it's what gives rise to much of my anxiety. Perfection is what I cannot attain in my work life pursuits, because we don't have the time to sit and make perfect solutions. Freneticness is the outcome of my reason being seared by the collision of urgency, perfection, and the desire to slow down.

As I read through the material I had looked up, I noticed the relationships between each. Some more terms emerged that I hadn't initially thought of:

Excellence
Self-Orientation
"Shoulds"
Opportunity

There were many gems in what I read today, but this really stood out.
It's easy to feel guilty about not taking advantage of every opportunity.  However, by attempting to do that you can find yourself feeling frazzled and losing sight of the big picture of your life.
In an attempt to be opportunistic, I have become myopic. I can't see past myself and the work that's right in front of me. To the best I can, I work on having voluminous output, but as Keys says to me often, "at what cost?"

The mixture of terms in my mind, acting out in my pursuit, is causing me serious anxiety. I have to find ways to slow it down, to let things go, and to re-orient to the bigger picture. Or I will live in frustration and misery.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your great and precious promises in Jesus, that they are yeah and amen. I continuously try to make things happen, and I believe that there is an amount of that from You, but disconnected from You it is off-putting to others (if not crippling) and it is certainly crippling to me. Help me to slow down, to breathe deeply, to see all the goodness You have put on the path. More than that, help me to slow down to reacquaint with You, to orient to You, to learn from You, to love You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/lay-aside-the-weight-of-perfection
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/201904/how-slow-down
https://www.etymonline.com/word/frenetic?ref=etymonline_crossreference
Frantic - wild or distraught with fear, anxiety, or other emotion.
"she was frantic with worry"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Do of Potential Energy

James 4:17  New Century Version (NCV) Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning. Romans 7:15-18 For what I want to do I do not do, but  what I hate I do . And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.   The tension between my wife and I is coming to a breaking point. And that breaking point is either going to turn out for better or worse . The formula for distance is as follows: Matt (mistake) = Jess (distrust). And so it has gone for these 10 years. Notice that the formula does not include mitigation; in other words; Matt (good things) = Jess (approbation/trust) seems to be of negligible effect compared to the mistake coefficient. Thinking in terms of Gibbs free energy, the state of our relationship seems to be much more governed by mistakes (enthalpy) than be any good (entropy)....
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditation as Rightly Concentrated Consideration | Contemplation as The Course of Right Action

Let us begin by saying that the basic difference between meditation and contemplation is that meditation is a human mode of prayer whereas contemplation is divinely infused prayer. This morning I consider, consideration. It's a term often used in the Bible, I believe in both the old and new testament. While you are going about your life, have you considered this... It's the entryway to the contemplative life. I use contemplation there, as a culminating thing, intentionally. Before I read a little bit, I might have considered using the word meditation instead, but that reveals my persuasion and error; also my inexperience. Meditation is man-initiated deep-thought. It's hope is to reach God. Contemplation, as exposed in the article below, is Spirit-breathed prayer inside of us, guiding us to right and holy actions. As I was searching consideration "vs" the other 2 terms, concentration came up. Presently, I see that as the course from consideration to meditation....
Post a Comment
Read more

Just Wait

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.  Isaiah 40:31 I'm thinking about picking up John Mark Comer's Loveology. I'm not infatuated with his style, but he does have an uncanny knack of navigating great depths breezily. And I'm in need of reconsidering love and my relationship with my wife. This morning, feeling we are on a drought of sorts, I'm thinking "what can I do?" And as I searched (with an honest to God search) I saw how men centuries over have navigated the mystery of the inner world of their wives. I've long shared a favorite image explaining the dichotomy of men and women, showing the intricacies of turning on a woman versus, well, a man.  So, what can I do? I hate to say it... wait. My wife needs to know that I can. After years of it coming pretty easy, I think it's time to get in there and turn a few knobs, flick a few switches and tweak intimacy. There's a difference betwee...
Post a Comment
Read more