Many people want to feel emotionally and spiritually well, but aren’t always sure how to get there. The Plumline blog offers practical guidance that will help you get unstuck, find rest, and experience peace.
“To be steady while the world spins around you…”
It is a new year, but the task is still the same. Stillness. Yes, in this restless world you find yourself in, there can be sanity. There can be stillness. Stillness is what Jesus had the night a furious storm came and waves swept over the boat. Stillness is what the archer accesses when she aims her arrow. Maybe you’ve felt stillness on a walk long overdue, or halfway through a favorite novel? Stillness makes
“What do you want?”
Jesus is famous for asking questions. Perhaps the question of his that resonates most around the new year is the one he asks blind Bartimaeus? “What do you want me to do for you?” This question is not without context. Bartimaeus has already let everyone within earshot know that he wants something. At one point, Bartimaeus is begging so loud for Jesus’s attention that even Jesus’s followers try to silence him. “…But he shouted all
Understanding What Keeps You From Rest…
It can be difficult to find rest in any season, let alone the busiest one of the year. If you are already starting to experience the signs of burnout and exhaustion this December, consider this: You are a limited human being with needs for love, rest, and stillness. In fact, your ability to experience God’s restorative love is directly proportionate to your willingness to be in need with him. As you step into sabbath this
Setting New Boundaries in Old Relationships
The holiday season is often a re-entering into your oldest relational wounds. In another week or so, you’ll go sit across the table with those who you have a history of hurt with, and maybe some level of tension. If you want to continue on in a relationship with them, but you want to do it in a wiser way than before, this is where the “boundary” conversation comes in. A boundary is this: What
“Relaxed.”
When he was still with us, Dallas Willard was asked by a student of his to describe Jesus in one word. Many options are on the table for such a question, as those options include, Healer, Savior, Redeemer, Lover, or Lord. Willard’s answer was equally striking. Sitting back in his chair, as though he was reviewing his relational history with Christ, the late philosophy professor from USC answered in this way: “Relaxed.” I don’t know
Can Loneliness Kill You?
You may have been tricked into believing that it is not “good” for you to feel lonely. This is not true. Loneliness is either true for you in any given moment, or it is not. In fact, loneliness exists to remind you of something that has always been true about you: You are made for relationships. When you do not have quality, mutual relationships, you feel lonely. If you ignore this loneliness long enough, you
What type of soil is in your heart right now?
Sometimes when I ask people how they are doing, they respond by saying, “I’m crushing it.” They are not wrong. Driven forward by The Smothering Grind, they are crushing the life out of their lives. I’ve written about how The Grind pushes us into burnout, flame out, and tapping out. Now it’s time to talk about how to silence his villainous lies so we can become who we truly are and live the lives God
The Grind wants you to tap out
Over the past two weeks, I’ve described some of the ways The Smothering Grind of Life kills our joy and sabotages our lives. We looked at burnout, that state of mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion. Then we looked at flameout, which happens when dissatisfaction with our lives drives us to sabotage ourselves. This week, it’s time to look at the most insidious of all The Grind’s intentions for you: tapping out. Unlike burnout (which drains)
The Grind wants you to flame out
Last week, I wrote about how The Smothering Grind of Life drives us into burnout – a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. But here’s the sobering truth: The Grind is not content with simply exhausting us. While it loves to render you useless with burnout, it wants to destroy everything you’ve built and the things which matter to you the most. The Grind wants you to flame out. Pushing you toward self-sabotage, moral
The Grind’s first destination: burnout
I’ve written a few times this year about a villain I call “The Smothering Grind of Life.” The Grind shows up in many different shapes and sizes. It’s the pressure businessmen feel to work late, avoid using personal days, and constantly monitor their emails while on vacation. It’s the guilt that moms feel when their kids don’t make the travel ball team or deliver a 4.3 GPA. It’s the fear that ministry leaders feel when
The 4 parts of our spiritual anatomy
“We have been designed by God to live, love, and lead with uniquely designed parts.” Instinctively, we know this is true. However, a lot of teaching on this topic – teaching that often centers on the concept of “calling” – leads us into confusion. We’re told that we need to search and pray that God makes our calling clear to us, as if our true identity is somewhere out there. Jesus didn’t talk that way.
What does “spiritual anatomy” mean?
If you’re new to Plumline, you might be wondering what we mean when we talk about your “spiritual anatomy.” That’s a fair question! Last we checked, biology textbooks don’t make any mention of it. In those high school science classes, we learned that our bodies are made of systems: each of us has a respiratory system, and a circulatory system, and a skeletal system, etc. Working together, these systems keep us alive and keep us
