Stop & Smell the Roses

For the past few days, I've felt horrendous; Like two giant sumo wrestlers have made my body their enemy and are relentlessly punching the life out of me. I try to stand up & move, only to be thrashed back down again & almost punished for the previous effort. I call this "forced relaxation", when my body refuses to accept anything but total and complete rest, regardless of the pressures & deadlines to come. I hate this feeling, because I feel rotten and helpless & mostly because there is nothing I can do to make myself feel even a little better.

People say, you need to stop & smell the roses. I feel like our generation needs to hear that message more so than others before us, because we never stop. Life feels like one race after another, except none of us really know what we are racing towards, what the prize is or how long it will take. Dealing with fibromyalgia & the forced relaxation periods is hard; it is counter cultural. I feel like everyone else is an Energiser bunny, buzzing around from task to task, but I feel like the other bunny, who doesn't even make it half way before depleting itself & shutting down.

At this time, I think that it is important to stop & consider what it is drives these feelings of incompetence & abandonment. What is everyone else really running after? Friends, we know that this life is not about how many things we acquire, how many accolades we collect or how many people praise us. This life is about living in relationship with God & bringing Him glory. God doesn't want us to just run our races, without considering to take care of ourselves along the way.

In Genesis, when creation was perfect, God took the seventh day as a day of rest, to reflect on all the good things He had made. Rest was always meant to be part of this world. And it is all the more important for us. We are only human and our bodies require rest to recharge, to heal & to re-energise. We are not everlasting batteries, we need rest & we need time spent with our Creator to re-charge or else, we deplete.

Friends, the next time your illness or your circumstances force you to the ground and hold you there, consider this: If you are forced to stop, you may as well smell those roses while you're there.

Life is a race, but it is not those who reach the end quickest who are rewarded, but those who cling to the cross along the way. So friends, hold on & when you're done, keep holding; this ride is not over yet.