A holiday and a rest ...

I recently took a long awaited family holiday. Something we really needed to do. It was a great opportunity to meet with family and friends. We got to visit all sorts of places, see snow, go for walks, take the kids places we hadn't before. What a blessing. 

I've come home and in getting back to life I have lost a bit of time and lost track of things including blogging. Sorry! But it has brought home to me or perhaps just reminded me how important it is to rest.

As authors, especially new ones and aspiring ones, the work seems to be constant. As a publisher or appraiser it isn't much different. All of us Australian Christian authors and artists are struggling against a big world, a lot of people who have been around a lot longer and the challenge in ourselves to do better and better.

But one thing that I know I often forget, and perhaps others do too, is to rest. Take a break sometimes! Write something different for a few hours to break up the process (though perhaps not in the middle of a flow). Go for a walk. Play some games. Take a proper holiday!

What I am learning to do is to take a day off. You know how funny it is to think about how God did that right at the beginning and I always hear how I should rest more! Well I guess it is finally time to listen!

So after having a holiday. It is time for a rest!

And then it is time to get back into it! My prayer for 2012 and moving forward is that by resting more I will have the strength to succeed better in the time I do work. Not sure if that works for others, but we'll see. Blessings!

Waiting...

I've been waiting a lot lately. My life is changing and my travels around Australia have paused for a time. I know this is part of God's plan. It has given me time to think about all the times in my life I've had to wait. You know what I mean: waiting to go to school; waiting to finish school; waiting to get a job; waiting to get married; waiting to start writing; waiting for an answer from the publisher. These are only a few of the waiting moments in our lives. There are many in between these big events.

Sometimes I become impatient with the waiting and want it to be over. I realised yesterday how much time can be wasted in waiting if I allow myself to be idle. What do I do with my waiting time? Do I let the circumstance control my every waking moment so that I don't achieve anything in that time. When I've written a novel and have sent it off to a publisher, do I sit back and not do anything productive until I hear from the publisher or am I pro-active and throw myself into a new project? I've thrown myself into another project and feel good that I've written the first draft. My waiting time has been well spent and I feel I'm serving the Lord in the way he wants me to.

I'm in limbo as I camp here in my caravan in Mackay and I'm waiting on what the Lord has in store for us here. I've made a conscious decision to live in the moment and make sure I use every minute to do something productive because it is easy to slip into holiday mode. Others in the van park are relaxing and taking time out. I do take timeout by walking several kilometres every day or swimming. This is my creative time.

Life is too short. I don't know how long God has me on this earth, so I believe I have to do all that I can with the time I have available because in a sense I'm waiting for the end of my life, too. so I've decided to always find something productive to do while I'm waiting, no matter where or what I'm waiting for.

How about you, are you caught up in the waiting game where you sometimes feel you're dilly-dallying and not sure where to turn? I'd like to encourage you to keep your eyes focused on what God has for you and pursue his purpose for your life with all the gifts and talents he has given you. Turn your waiting time into productive time and be pleasantly surprised how much more productive you can be.

Blessings and God's grace be with you all,

Laura.