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The other day I was sitting in an online meeting and we were talking about developing rhythms to support our faith AND our business and life goals. ❤️
At the time I wasn’t “doing” a lot of rhythms.
I was building the Stuck Pattern Finder which was a huge project and I was giving my whole heart to that endeavor. And while I was doing so, I was seeking the Lord for help with how to tackle it.
I actually felt led to keep up only my most important regular rhythms so I could devote myself to completing this project. ✅📝👩🏻💻
Our wonderful leader of that group made this comment at the time:
“Mary, your rhythm is listening to your own heart.”
Well, THAT was an awesome thing to hear! ☺️❤️🥰
It’s stuck with me. It’s encouraged me.
And made me think of this story from the Bible:
Joshua 14:6-8
(And scriptures will be quoted from the Modern English Version.)
Here’s what’s happening:
Joshua and Caleb are having a convo about that oh-so-fateful time when they came back with the ten other spies with a report about what they saw when they went to check out the Promised Land on behalf of the nation of Israel.
I love this kind of Bible passage because who doesn’t love getting to listen in on a conversation?
Caleb says:
"I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy on the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart."
AS IT WAS IN MY HEART. ❤️
Other translations say things like a true and honest report. ❤️✅
This is a PIVOTAL story in the Old Testament.
Twelve spies sent.
Joshua and Caleb come back saying
the Promised Land is AWESOME! 🙌🏻🍇🍯🎉
And the ten other spies say,
Yep. Totally. But we can’t have it. There are giants there and that land will consume us. 🐛
And in this passage, Caleb is looking back to that time and says,
I brought word back as it was in my heart.
He wasn’t performing. He wasn’t saying what he “should” say. It was genuinely what was in his heart.
Which makes me think of another favorite scripture:
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Luke 6:45
An aside and a mini bonus: What’s in our hearts WILL get spoken out of our mouths. If you want to know what’s in your heart? Listen to what you say.
Caleb goes on to say:
My companions who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt,
but I wholeheartedly followed after the Lord my God.
And on that day, (v. 9) Moses says about Caleb “you completely followed after the Lord my God.”
Caleb saw the same land as everyone else.
BUT
What was in his heart–how his own heart responded regarding what he saw was a direct result of completely following the Lord with his whole heart.
Same land.
Some of the hearts melted in fear.
A few said, Let us go up at once for we are well able.
Here’s what’s crazy about the story from Joshua:
ALL twelve spies came back and reported what they believed about what they’d seen.
In that sense, they each spoke from what was in their hearts.
What was in Caleb’s heart was reliable because he completely followed after the Lord his God.
I’ve been thinking about what my friend observed about me:
“Your rhythm is listening to your own heart.”
AND what the Bible says about Caleb.
Why has this stuck with me so much?
I think even as a young kid, I was pretty introspective. I was alone quite a bit. I journaled a lot. I learned from a young age to pay attention to what’s going on inside me. Which is a gift, I know.
I can distinctly remember some very specific times when I’d not know what to do, or how to handle a certain situation. I wasn’t even a Christian at that time (though I didn’t quite realize that.)
But I remember praying and asking God to show me. And it truly felt like I was tuning into my heart and listening for an answer. And I’d get this impression inside me–this is what I should do. The choices were always good ones, but what strikes me even more than that, is once I got to that place, I had confidence in what to do.
This is the thing.
That day in my meeting when we were talking about habits we wanted to cultivate and why, I had this confidence that I was in a project season and focused, deep effort was the right course for then.
That was what was in my heart and rather than work on “balance” or
being “well-rounded” or
having certain days focused on different areas that needed work–
ALL good ideas. All good advice–
I was all about the Stuck Pattern Finder.
And It’s finished!
(Which is a big deal. My projects often breed new projects and wind up all piled on top of each other.)
Introspection isn’t the same thing as having a heart that can be safely followed.
That’s why this Caleb story means so much to me.
His heart wasn’t his authority.
He was obeying what God had said!
In times of stress and uncertainty, I’ve wanted the relief of someone else’s system or advice. The relief of ditching the boring, exposing, irreversible action and moving onto another idea that has me excited. 😬😅
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with either of those but the challenge is distinguishing between:
- generative thinking that’s producing genuine insight, and
- repetitive thought loops that are postponing a decision.
And now?
Project season is over.
I learned so much about MYSELF in this last one!
And now I’m wholeheartedly pursuing a rhythm of communicating what God’s put in my heart.
💌mary-muses is a result.
I’m posting regularly on instagram.
Are these working? 🤔🤷🏻♀️
I’m believing God they will bear good fruit. 🙏🏻 🙌🏻
But I’m mostly trying to follow Caleb’s example and Wholeheartedly pursue the Lord.
Hearken to His voice first. Seek Him.
And then do what’s in my heart.
I am so blessed.
I get to spend hours and hours of my week talking about how to KNOW who you are in Christ–to pursue what He says, and to know who you just are.
And to live from that.
And I teach it because I’ve lived it, but talking about it all the time has made it that much more alive in me. 🥰🤗
Cool, Mary. Good for you. This matters why??
I mentioned above how I LOVE to START projects. And while I’m doing them I get ideas for more projects.
Different projects.
Probably better projects.
At least that’s what my mind tells me.
That is a part of who I am in my ENFP-ness.
It’s a strength, but it has a downside, too.
In the past, I’d let this get to me on an identity level.
🤷🏻♀️ Why can’t I finish anything?
🤷🏻♀️ What’s wrong with me?
🤷🏻♀️ What organization system would work best?
🤷🏻♀️ Is there an app for this?
And believe me. I’ve bought plenty of all of those “solutions.”
(This is classic Self-Help Veteran behavior in the Stuck Pattern Finder, by the way.)
And I felt guilty.
I’m doing this for God!
I “should” be doing this better!
Here’s my system.
(And it’s completely free.)
🙏🏻📖 Pursue the Lord.
❤️🥰 Listen to your own heart.
🎬👍🏻 Follow through on what you find there.
🙏🏻📖❤️🥰 Keep checking in with that.
🎬👍🏻 Repeat.
And for real, what’s in your heart lately?
Let me know in the comments! ❤️
P.S. Maybe you want to be able to say–Yeah. I know who I am in Christ and also just who I am. That’s what my coaching program is for. The first step is a lovely conversation with me and you can schedule it below.
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