Writings of a Beholder 🌿 6.7.24
Learning to Linger With What Is
I’m not sure about you, friend, but for me, May came and went in a flash. It was all a blur of long car rides, birthdays, appointments, and baby prep. And now, here I stand in the first week of June and I can feel my body bracing against another full month — another full schedule.
The commitments filling my days are good things, but I can’t help but feel a longing to slow down. I’ve noticed that the closer I get to my due date, the less I want to say ‘yes’ to. Or perhaps I just want to shift what it is, exactly, that I am saying ‘yes’ to.
I want to say yes to slower mornings, freer weekends, and more spacious days. I want to say yes to regular moments of silence, solitude, and reflection. But it can be hard to do that sometimes when life demands certain things from us, and this is just a season of my life in which I’ve had to learn to let go of my own expectations and trust that even in the midst of all that’s required of me, God is with me and God sustains.
But, if you’ve been around here long enough you know that even in seasons of busyness, I like to try and find at least one practice that helps to feed my soul. Because I’ve learned over the last few years that God doesn’t just live inside quiet time routines and still moments. Sometimes life doesn’t allow for regular rhythms of silence depending on the season. The truth is that God goes with us wherever we go, and there’s always a gentle invitation extended to us to behold Him in everything we do throughout each day, in every season.
God is always present, I often find that it’s me that lacks the awareness of His presence. This practice of beholding God in all things is a lifelong journey that I don’t think any one of us will ever fully arrive at until we reach heaven’s gates. But, there are small, simple things we can try to do to enter into sweet moments of communion and connection with Him as we go about our day.
For me, that practice lately has been the practice of lingering.
By definition, to linger means “to stay in a place longer than necessary because of a reluctance to leave”. It means to stay, remain, delay, stall, and even dawdle.
Lingering goes against everything that our culture promotes; busyness, productivity, and efficiency. To linger is to rebel against the fast pace in which most of our world operates and make the conscious decision to stay put for just a little longer than maybe we feel we should.
Lingering invites us to pause and pay attention to the moment and what it evokes in us. It’s an invitation to lean in and listen to the whispers of our souls as we stand in the light of a golden sunset or find ourselves mesmerized by the beauty of a neighbor’s flowers growing along the sidewalk. Lingering is a delay in time when we choose to make the world stand still so we can soak in the glory and goodness of God.
It’s a practice of beholding that invites us to surrender to the present and delight in the simple act of stalling for the sake of letting our souls find their rest.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”Psalm 62:1-2, ESV
Sometimes when life feels full or even a little unknown, all that’s required to focus our eyes heavenward again is to pause and wait. As we do, as we learn to linger in the mundane moments that carry deep meaning, we come face to face with the God that lives within the very fabric of our very real and very human lives.
Maybe here we can let go of our expectations for God and what we think communion with Him should look like in this season and choose to let a single moment of His presence with us be enough. Because it is. In all that we do, in all that we choose to linger with, His Love is there waiting to be received — waiting to transform and heal and put to rest the hurriedness in which a lot of us find ourselves operating within.
Maybe here, in this practice of lingering with what is, we can let go of the should’ve and could’ve beens and what ifs and root ourselves in what actually is, moving and living from this place with the grace that God unconditionally gives.
Maybe here, we can learn to linger in the Light just a little longer as it heals and mends the wears and tears of this life.
Selah.
With you on the journey,
Celia
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Life Lately
A Breath Prayer for Your Weekend
Inhale: For God alone.
Exhale: My soul waits in silence.
(adapted from Psalm 62:1, ESV)
*If you’d like to learn more about the practice of breath prayer, download this complete digital guide to practicing breath prayer.
Resources & Good Things to Pick Up
Over the last few months, my mom and I have formed our own little book club. We’re reading and very much enjoying Emily P. Freeman’s new book. You can grab it here: How to Walk Into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away
My Etsy shop, The Beholding Co., offers contemplative resources to help you slow down, seek still moments, and behold God’s presence with you in the everyday. Purchase some breath prayer cards, a Lectio Divina bookmark, and more.
Grab a copy of my Bible study, You Are Beloved: a 21-day study on how to root your identity in the love of God, over on Amazon. If you’d like a free 3-day sample of the study, reply to this email and I’ll send it right over!
My friend and licensed spiritual director, Kari Bartkus, offers an 8-week journaling program for those who want to process their grief and trauma with God within the safety of blank journal pages. I’ve completed the program myself and can say confidently that it was incredibly impactful and healing: Journal Gently
My mom is an ovarian cancer survivor who decided to create an encouraging planner for those walking through their cancer journey. It would also be a life-giving tool for caregivers and loved ones walking beside their cancer warrior. The ‘For Such a Time as This’ planner is officially available for purchase now here: Quiet Hope Co.
An Invitation to Pause & Reflect
A regular practice of reflection helps us recognize what’s going on beneath the surface of our souls so we can name it in the Lord’s presence. Because as we learn to name what we feel, what we need, and what we long for, we’re also learning to discern the Spirit’s sweet, gentle voice within our hearts and lives.
Take a few moments today or this weekend to journal or contemplate with the Holy Spirit the following question(s) or prompt(s):
What do you sense God inviting you to linger with a little longer?
As you begin practicing lingering within a moment, what do you notice stirring beneath the surface of your soul?
Is there anything you hear God speaking over you as you lean in and listen?
This was so beautiful to read as I sit quietly at my breakfast table. I've recently been in a very busy season and have come to realise that something has to give. This encouragement to linger in God's presence was so needed.
The last few paragraphs of this really spoke to me and echoed what I’d shared with my spiritual director this week about what has been stirring within me lately - that my schedule is full and busy but I am desiring to slow down from the busyness in a countercultural way. Thank you once again for putting so eloquently into words what I have already been thinking about and processing!