Leading From The Edge

Self-Care... Do You Need It?

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Self-Care… Do you need it?

I love this topic - and I LOVED doing this podcast because I feel like I was finally able to communicate what “I” need to hear concerning this.  Why do we sacrifice the wrong things, and invest in the wrong things.  I believe it is because we have missed the true meaning of self-care

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Self Care 

So this weekend we are going to be taking time as a family to dive into our goals, core values, core focus, and spiritual desires for 2021. It is something that we do every year and it has become the basis of our year - keeping us fully in front of what God has for us

 It is full of worship time, quiet time, fun time, fellowship, learning, praying, seeking God for HIS plans for our lives - each one and for our family. Such a beautiful weekend of going from hearing about God to looking at him, seeking to hear from him, to gaze upon him!

I was reading in Job with our family bible plan and I saw something that I have missed over the years

It's in Job 42
5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Of course, I am going to dive into it - what Did Job mean that his Eyes see God

Did God come down and talk to Job face to face?
 We know that occasion happened with Moses, but Moses couldn’t look upon God
SO… what is this

When you look at th4e Hebrew word for seeth

It means to perceive, gaze, inspect, consider…
Oh man - there was a transition in Jobs life from being righteous by Gods definition to being in a relationship with God…. It was the transition from God telling Job to gird up his loins like a man
To Job being honest with himself and with God

 WHICH HAPPENED when Job shares this statement

Job 42
5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

But what happened when Job looked at God???

Verse 6 says…
6Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Job saw in himself the flesh of man, the pride of life… 

He saw that his best position was to repent in dust and ashes

 But he also says I abhor myself

We think of Ahbor as the greek word which means to HATE
 But in this context, it is the Hebrew word that comes from reject, despise, refuses
 To refuse me
 to reject me

IN a world where I hear so many people saying you have to love yourself first

I think we have made too much of us being the center of the Universe
I do not see that anywhere in the example of Christ…
We think of Jesus as being the most influential person on the planet
And he was
BUT - he was also the most hated and his 3 years of ministry ended in people being so disgusted with him and his message and his followers that they decided to KILL him

Yet - we strive so hard to build ourselves us

We get told by so many people that we have to take care of ourselves
WHICH IS TRUE - but not the way that we do it…

I look at our lives as a tool in the hands of God

There are several types of knives…
Zion loves knives - infract while we were in Israel he and I spent over 2 hours looking for just the right knife
And we finally found one that he loved… it is like an Israeli version of a bowie and Dao blade 
Has this wonderful ivory handle - 
Super ornate sheath
Just simply a beautiful knife… but guess what
The blade is so dull it has a hard time cutting butter

Then there are our kitchen knives

Some good friends came over to spend the night - family sleepover!
And the father Jan di was in the kitchen getting our taco night ready to go and he gets my kitchen knife
And goes to cut the tomatoes. And is like… this has been used so much it isn’t even sharp anymore
Do you have a knife sharpener?/
Nope - sure don’t
Ok…

And then… I have another friend who carries a knife on his belt - 

And he takes pride in how sharp knife is
Any time we have been working on a project he would be there first one to get his knife out to cut a rope, or strip a wire or - name it…

 Having that knife ready to use and using it a lot

When I look at how we are supposed to have self-care I feel Like God had a different plan than what we hear in chat rooms, Clubhouse, or read on Facebook. Even the gurus who get out there and tell us to pamper ourselves…

 I think God’s view - I think we are seeing it in these chapters in Job

Gird up your loins like a man - taking the role that we are supposed
But then also the revelation that Job has in WHO God is in relationship to JOB himself

There is the first knife that is the part of us that just wants to look good
We spend so much time making sure that we are clean, pretty, the right materials, the right look
And I know that saying it that way I am probably missing some of it
Let us try this - how about we spend time doing what we want, filling our lives with pleasures and what is easy for us. Things that make us feel happy - or I should say make our flesh feel happy… 
That is that first knife - beautiful, even the sheath was beautiful - well taken care of
No dust, no blemishes on the blade, and…

 COMPLETELY UNUSED!

Why is unused - not because it isn’t a knife
Not because it isn't capable of being used
But because all the effort was making it look good
Not making it sharp
Not making it fit for use!

That is when we do all of our self-worth exercises 

And please understand there is self-care that is needed
WE need to rest (that is called a sabbath)
But when we put all our efforts into what we want, what we want to accomplish most of us neglect the sabbath. But we all indulge in staying up late watching movies, or crashing down in the evenings in front of the TV…. 
Instead of investing when we should and resting when we should.

We need self-care - but self-care is many things

Let us ask it with these three questions 
1 - Are you sharpening the blade or making the blade look sharp?
2 - Are you keeping the knife ready for use?
3 - Are you using it?

I mentioned the first knife, there is self-care found in sharpening the knife!

When my friend mentioned that I need to sharpen my knives I realized that I always just went out and purchase anoth3er knife set… 
All that money wasted when all I had to do was sharpen them…
I know that sounds so silly 
BUT - hey dads, hey husbands, hey wives, hey employees, hey pastors

How many of us are looking for new knives?

 ouch!!!
Gird up your loins like a man

This is what happens when we get into a need and our knife isn’t sharp

We go looking for a new knife, instead of taking the time to care for the RIGHT THINGS
 
 Marriages - couples - do you talk to each other
Do you still talk?
 Are you sharpening your marriage or is it dull from all the use and never tending…

Or your walk with God

Are you spending time developing the position of the leader of your life, or your position as leader more?
Self-care is about keeping our knives sharp
Our walk with God sharp
Our walk with each other sharp

OH man - and what sharpens us?

 I know a lot of you are thinking of scriptures
BUT right now - can you just take a minute and think about what in your life needs to be sharpened
Write it down right now
hit pause and take 2 minutes

Ok - welcome back

Now - can you write down what is the MOST important thing you can do to sharpen those areas.
I want action written down
Write two things…
The first one is Prayer - I want you to spend time in prayer every day for those areas that God is showing you in your life, in your business!
Then, you can get creative about what DAILY or WEEKLY action you need to do to sharpen that area

 Pause this and write that down for each area

Please - take the time to go from hearing the word of the Lord to seeing the LORD in those areas

So the last knife is the one that my friend keeps sharpened

Did you know that he was so quick to use it?
So quick to offer others to use it
He even had to tell - be careful its sharp

I cannot t4ll you how many times I would use his knife and say to myself

I want to have a knife like that

But I have been on trips where he would get done with his knife, wipe it off, do a quick sharpening and then put it back in his sheath

WHAT??? He was always assessing his knife after use - is this as sharp as it needs to be?

 
 That is self-care
It is realizing that you are a child of God first
A father, husband, son next
And then a pastor, business owner, leader next…

Guess what is down on the list

Golfer, football lover, guitar player, chess player, fisherman, hunter…
So in our self-care - if I am honest with myself
Sometimes I spend more time sharpening my business skills than I do my marriage
….

Can we let that sit

 Sometimes I lead from a dull blade

Old information, old revelation, old hurts… old offenses, old unforgiveness

SO going back to the top of this - 
God’s desire for us is better than we have for ourselves, but we take the easy path and we just get enough for God to hear him, but not to stop and gaze, perceive, inspect Him, and He - us…

Let God take your life and show you what you need to self-care

Where are you
IN your leadership - in your staying in the position of being in the hands of God as a parent, as a spouse, a child - in the hands of God as a business owner, leader pastor - - - 

 Are you going to take the time to let God speak to you about what areas need to be sharpened?

And then seek the Lord about what you need to do to sharpen?
 
 And will you consider letting me know what God is sharing with you?
 I love to connect, grow together

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Leading From The EdgeBy leadingfromtheedge