It’s been a while!
I’m back! It’s been a minute (about 28 days) since I posted a blog like this on Radiant with Joy, and it’s simply because I needed a break. It started as a short one, but I didn’t realize until I was in the middle of it that I needed more time than I thought. Because transparency and vulnerability is my mission as a writer, I want to share what happened during my break and how I’m doing.
The Big Break
Around Easter Sunday, I found myself taking an unannounced, unplanned, but certainly necessary break from blogging. I don’t think it was because I was tired of Radiant with Joy, but I was just tired in general. I feel like I always talk about how crazy life is, but it’s my reality. Although I enjoy being busy, I feel like my days are always booked. When I look at my planner, each week brims with work, activities, and things to do. For Easter, Franciscan Mission Service gave us Good Friday and Easter Monday off. I relished in having a few days to rest, but as I usually do, I didn’t notice how much I needed those days until I had them.
Sometimes my body is smarter than my mind, so when my body tells me I need rest, it’s great at making sure I get it, whether I like it or not. It’s nice to have designated time to do nothing, but it also makes me feel bad about myself. As someone who likes to stay busy and be productive, I find it hard to make time to relax and to value that time.
Too Much Rest
Some time to rest is good, but as always, indulging too much of a good thing doesn’t end well. I began my period of rest by doing life-giving things, like reading and enjoying the beautiful weather, but sooner or later, I started I staying inside and scrolling on my phone for hours. Before long, I felt myself turning to laziness, and wasting my free time became a bad habit. I began to neglect my time in prayer, which only made me feel worse. This month proved what I had always known about myself. If I don’t make time for God and pray every day, the other areas of my life seem to deteriorate. When I don’t pray, I’m constantly anxious because I don’t have the peace that only God can give.
God desires us to work, but He also wants us to rest. The word “rest” comes from the word “restore,” which implies that rest should rejuvenate you so that you can return to work from a place of abundance. With this being said, work and rest go hand-in-hand. We need to rest so that we can work well, but we also need to return to work after we’ve had adequate rest.
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Now that I’m back…
Returning to blogging has been difficult. Caught up in doing nothing, I had lost motivation and inspiration to write. In my despair, I didn’t think that I could or should write anything meaningful. I wanted to get back to writing so badly, but I didn’t know how. Fortunately, I remembered “This Sunday’s Gospel,” which gave me a low-stakes way to return to Radiant with Joy. I had set myself an unspoken goal of writing something like this by the end of April, and by the grace of God, I did it in the nick of time.
Our God is a God of second chances and new beginnings. I feel like I’ve had enough time to restore my desire to write, and especially because of my return to daily prayer, I’m ready to begin again. Now that I’m returning to blogging, I’m reminding myself why I started and why I write. During my break, I learned that if I neglect my prayer life, my writing will suffer. More importantly, my relationship with God suffers. Moving forward, I plan to make spending time with God a priority in my life again. By doing this, God will become the forefront of my life again, and my writing will outpour from my relationship with God.
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Welcome back! I missed reading your blogs and glad to hear that you are ready to start writing again. I sometimes feel guilty for resting. Also, I have gone through what you’ve experienced about “resting” too long. I’ve learn, through my own experiences, that by staying close to God, He will always guide you in what you should be doing. (And in that, you will have a happy balance!)
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