Balancing Effort & Surrender
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Our culture expects and rewards DOING. Despite the need for a life grounded in prayer and reflection, leaders in ministry are encouraged to stay visibly busy and to value observable results of our time. Being tired and stressed can seem to validate our self-worth. It’s easy to find ourselves constantly in motion, pouring out energy mindlessly, believing if we push a little harder or give a little more we will get where we want to go. Since the pandemic began, the pressure to innovate, adapt, and produce has only increased. Even when working from home, many leaders have not felt they could indulge in time for BEING. I once watched my two-year-old granddaughter try to force a triangle into the square opening of an old-fashioned shape-sorter. Harder and harder she pushed. In frustration, she threw down the triangle. Later, with encouragement, she tried again with a circle. At first, she pushed too hard in the wrong place. Then she relaxed just a bit and… seemingly by chance, she moved her small hand toward the circle opening. When the shape slipped through, she looked up with surprise and delight! Something similar happens in life when we try too hard to make something happen. We can muscle our way through a challenging time only to discover that the harder we push, the more resistance we feel.
Practicing receptivity is about learning to balance effort and surrender. Each of us can name and claim this practice in a way that is most helpful to us: rest, sabbath, recreation, stillness, listening, breathing, receiving. However we name it, we create time and space to tune in to a larger Source of insight and energy at work in the world. Many ministry leaders are trapped in cycles of over-efforting and overthinking. Our minds and hearts are never still and receptive. Even when we pray, we strive to impose our to-do list on reality and on God. This is an exhausting way to live.
In the practice of receptivity, we discover a place of extreme openness where all judgment is suspended. We pause. We listen. We watch and wait. We receive. It is not so much about what we do (I know of one person who bought a backyard swing, and another who started listening in silence as he walked). It is about cultivating moments when we surrender our agenda. We step into the Flow and trust there is a Voice, a Presence from which we can receive sustenance and guidance.
All wellbeing practices—spiritual, physical, relational, and creative—can be approached either with a detailed schedule of expectations OR with a willingness to be surprised. Whatever practices you choose for renewal and restoration, I invite you to intentionally release your ego’s demanding expectations and cultivate a state of receptivity.
Watch and wait for the way of grace.
Walking with you, Vicki
“Sabbath is an invitation to receptivity, an acknowledgement that what is needed is given and need not be seized. Sabbath is an antidote to anxiety… an arena in which to recognize that we live by gift and not by possession.”