Celebrate With Intention

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

I want to start with a thought prompt, what does celebrating look like for you and your family? Have you ever given this much thought? I was never intentional with how I celebrated, I always just did what everyone else did, until a few years ago when the Lord started to lead me to a more healthy and vibrant lifestyle. I would be on such a great routine and and feeling so energized, and then a holiday weekend would come and I would feel terrible at the end of the weekend for not making space for my healthy habits and just falling back into old habits.

 When you think about the way you celebrate holidays, you might start rhyming off things you have always done, traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation but when the long weekend is over and Tuesday morning comes, how do you feel and how do you want to feel? If there is no disconnect, amazing, you are celebrating in alignment with your values. If you wake up Tuesday morning feeling exhausted, foggy and bloated and you hate that feeling, you might be operating out of alignment with your values. 

We joke about feeling terrible, eating too much, being exhausted from the busy schedules and excessiveness of a holiday weekend which has made it the norm but I hate this because the Lord has revealed to me that were were created to live abundantly John 10:10 and there is more for us in a Thanksgiving weekend, an opportunity to be filled up in a way that has us excited for the week ahead so we are overflowing, not empty when a new week comes.

I know it can be so challenging to break free from habits and traditions that you grew up with, that no longer serve you but if the Lord is calling you to something different, to something more, He will also guide you every step of the way. Psalm 23 is a comforting scripture to remind us of the ways the Lord lovingly guides us. 

If you have never done a value list, I challenge you to do it and get more clear on your values and then start building decisions based on your core values, like how you celebrate a holiday weekend. Check out this value list from Brene Brown.

If you don't want to wake up Tuesday morning feeling depleted, bloated and sluggish, I encourage you to rethink the way you celebrate holidays and a long weekend. 

I have always loved Thanksgiving weekend, it was filled with so much fun, food and family but when Tuesday morning would come after all the hustle and bustle, I would be exhausted and filled with anxiety in my body and mind about how I felt, physically, financially and spiritually. I had done what was always done and not given any thought as to how I could actually celebrate Thanksgiving in a way that aligns with my core values. 
 

I would overextend myself in every way to keep up with what everyone else was doing and I never owned the fact that it was hurting me. In hurting myself, I hurt my family.

I would complain about not getting the results I wanted in life but was not willing to own the truth, that it was within my power to change that. 

We can make excuses like “its just normal, this is what everyone does” but that mindset is keeping you stuck and small AND the world needs more leaders who are willing to challenge the norms. 

Matthew 5:13-16 The Passion Translation (TPT)

“Your lives are like salt among the people. But if you, like salt, become bland, how can your ‘saltiness’ be restored? Flavourless salt is good for nothing and will be thrown out and trampled on by others. “Your lives light up the world. For how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.”

I want to add flavour to this world and I have learned that I can do this best when my eyes are fixed on Jesus because He knows what is best for me and what I need. This often requires that I go a little against the grain of the world and sometimes causes discomfort in some of my relationships. That can be challenging but draws me into deeper intimacy with Jesus because I care more about what He wants for me, than what the world thinks of me. 

I want to give you permission this weekend, to do what you need to do, to live in alignment with the way the Lord created you to live. You don't need to do things just because that is what has always been done. The Lord is doing something new in you, your rising self awareness of how you want to feel and desire for more vibrancy, is proof that it has already begun so keeping digging in and pressing forward and relying on Him to carry you to new levels of healthy living. Stay salty and shine your light!

xoxo Heather