It is so nice to just slow down once in a while and relax at home. It doesn’t happen too often for me, especially being home alone. However I was able to take yesterday off. Even though I didn’t have to be anywhere, I could sense my anxiety levels increasing as I kept glancing up at the clock. I was trying to figure how much time it would take me to complete each task on my ‘to do’ list.

Then a thought crossed my mind; why take time off from the stresses of work if you are going to be all stressed out at home? Seriously, I had chuckle at myself in that moment. I wanted to take time off to relax, de-stress and enjoy the serenity of having the house to myself. However my inner voice that was telling me, I need to hurry up, was disrupting my peace.

Who puts these demands on me? I do it to myself. Most of us have read or heard about the ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren. However people like me, which have a tendency to push ourselves, need to purposely slow down. Take the foot off the gas pedal, if you will. It is not always a race.

When I think of the life of Jesus, and all that He accomplished in the three years of His ministry, I never once read that He was anxious. Jesus never rushed people away, or told them He didn’t have time for them.

Jesus did have a calmness that just radiated off of Him onto others. Why? Because Jesus knew He would accomplish all that God had designed Him for. I want to have that peace, and calmness within myself. When I am around others I would hope that I could radiate calmness onto them. However, I cannot accomplish this if I do not have peace and calmness in my life.

So, needless to say, yesterday I did not put any make up on my face, my face thanked me. I left my hair ‘natural’ with no styling products keeping it stiff, my hair thanked me. I did not even put on shoes and feet thanked me. I did glance at my ‘list’ a few times, and I even got to ‘check’ off a few things, but I didn’t let my ‘list’ push me. With that being said I can honestly say that I enjoyed my day off.

My prayer would be that God would bless you with peace this weekend.