Pastor Jeniffer Rodriguez

I did not start the year the way I wanted. I started feeling really tired. I had no energy and I thought everything was related to all the hard work I put in during the advent season, until I discovered I had COVID. Nobody wants to start the year like that. Adding to that was all of the anxiety of managing two kids at home and doing all the work that needs to be completed.

Even though it was not the way I wanted to start the year, it has been a good time to reflect on my life and everything I have been doing in the past year. During this time that I was forced to slow down due to my health condition, I discovered I was not enjoying every moment or action. I have been doing things for the sake of accomplishing them and spent little time processing everything that I had been doing.

We get so focused on reaching the goal, which gives us little room to enjoy the process. The experience that I relate right now I can see in Ecclesiastes 3:1-17. We usually focus on the first 8 verses of this chapter, where different circumstances in life are exposed. Ecclesiastes 3:1 starts saying: “There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens…” I can continue this statement adding, There is a time to be active, a time to slow down. There is a time to run around and a time to be static.

I have been involved in a lot of activities during the past few years. I have felt really productive and have been able to accomplish so many of the tasks. At the end of the day, I have been reflecting on those tasks, since I did not have the time to digest what I had done. Everything was so fast. I feel everything was in a rushed moment and I thought it needed to happen so it would not collapse.

Those things that I was able to accomplish did not collapse. Those things were able to be stable and continue on their course. Now, the question remains, what about me? I have been reflecting on this question for some time and more intentionally at the beginning of the year. Everything has been blurry because I was more focused on having things done than appreciating the moment.

 

I do not want to get to the point where I will be fully blinded and do not feel the joy that we are supposed to feel and experience because everything that we do and everything that we have around us is to be engaged with. We are to have a relationship with it and not just one way around.

I know clearly that:

  • When we are overwhelmed we do not focus on what we should do
  • When we are overwhelmed we lose time making precise decisions
  • When we are overwhelmed we lose the vision of what God has actually created
  • When we are overwhelmed we do not allow our hearts to open
  • When we are overwhelmed we lose hope for a better tomorrow
  • When we are overwhelmed we los
  • God is calling me to slow down in this year. The message has been clear and consistent. This will be a time to connect with my family, my friends, the people I love, the people I have neglected because I have been doing so many things for others but little for me.

During this year, I have decided to slow down because I have heard the voice of God telling me to take care of myself so I can serve others. During this year we need to take the time to hear the voice of God that is constantly telling us what we need even though we rarely pay attention to it.

Be healthy, be loved, be at peace my sisters and brothers. If you need to slow down, take the time you need because you deserve it.