“It don’t take long to get there when you don’t lolligag around!”, my hubby, who refers to himself as Big C, yelled to me with something that matched a 4 year old grinning over pulling his baby sister’s hair.
We certainly weren’t lolligagging, zipping over dirt trails in our little red ATV with dirt flying in our wake. Big C flung us around sharp turns, catapulted us over bumps and hills and raced us through the straightaways when possible. A trip that should have taken us 45 minutes to an hour only took us about 30 minutes with Big C at the wheel. We were headed to the waterfalls that had accompanying swimming holes-no time for lolligagging.
I probably should take a moment and unravel this southern word ‘lolligag’. We Texans like to use this word to imply a nonchalant, meandering pace. Another word that is uniquely Southern that carries the same tone is “hemhaw”. So there was no lolligagging or hemhawing around on this trip. We were on a mission-get to the waterfalls, swim and get back!
Most of my life has felt this way. Get to my destiny and get it done! No time to enjoy my life or lolligag around-I had a mission for God and having fun was just not on the agenda. It’s an exhausting way to live and terribly demanding. I started to notice this lifestyle began to take a toll on my health a few years ago. If there was any question about this, my taut neck muscles spoke the truth while being supplied with a steady diet of anti-inflammatories and the occasional muscle relaxer.
Weekly chiropractic and massage therapy visits became a part of my life whether I wanted them to or not as I attempted forced relaxation. Have you ever attempted to force yourself to relax? It’s not an easy task. I spent thousands of dollars trying to relax.
But the truth is my lack of peace and trust in God caused all of those health problems. If I truly trusted God during that season, my body would have reflected it. That’s the funny thing about us, at some point when we are squeezed hard enough, our true beliefs rise to the surface. Sometimes they manifest as health problems. Bummer.
We spend countless hours complaining and whining about it, which leads to scores of money spent on solutions that often only mask the problem or treat the symptom. What we need to do is get to the root.
What is the root, you ask? Plain and simple: we don’t trust God. Boom. The End.
Before I drop the mic and walk away, let me expound a little on this.
– We don’t trust God to do what He said He would do. We are used to living in a world where no one keeps their word. Because of that, we are always busy making backup plans so that when our lives fall apart, we already have a solution. This leads to chronic fatigue and anxiety because we never truly rest.
– We don’t trust God’s timing. We don’t understand how God uses time to develop us so we set about devising ways to get us out of the frying pan situation that we find ourselves in. This often leads to desperation, depression and horrible choices. And in my case, neck problems.
– We choose control over peace. We are control freaks. Our ideas are the best. When we ask other people to do their part, they don’t so we end up doing it. This applies to others and God. He may not take care of us so we need to take control. This leads to anxiety attacks, burnout and complete meltdowns. Sounds fun, right?
I finally decided a few years ago to stop living so future based and rigid. I decided to live in the moment a little more and stop trying to control every single aspect of my life. I have felt most of the stress and anxiety leave with each step I take towards surrender.
For the common control freak, surrender is the answer. Yield may be a better word. When I yield myself to God’s leading, peace is the benefit I receive. Rest is crown placed on my head. And it’s so, so beautiful.
But the path to surrender is paved with repentance. Yes, repentance. While I realize that just invoking the “R” word causes a few eyebrows to raise, I’m confident that it’s a truth that will set us free.
See, what we need to realize is that a lack of trust in God is sin. Because it’s basically rebellion to say “no thanks God, I’ll do it my own way” as we careen down a never ending cliff. Satan didn’t trust God. He thought He could do it better so he rebelled.
Y’all this is serious business. Trusting in ourselves as our own savior is prideful and arrogant. It’s basically telling God we didn’t need His son to come down to save us, we can handle it.
I don’t want to do that, do you? I want to live with childlike wonder and awe. I want to somewhat enjoy my life for crying out loud!
Who is with me??? Let’s repent and surrender ourselves to a spirit led and filled existence fueled by joy, peace and hope! That’s a much better way to live friends!
