We’ve done it. For 31 days we’ve journeyed from jealousy to joy. We’ve identified lies, broken down old habits, made space in our hearts for joy. Whether or not we feel like we succeeded, we’ve at least taken some significant first steps toward breaking that legacy of jealousy for the next generation.
Well done.
And lean in. Because this is where it gets harder. As the holidays approach and we go off on our own and the busyness sets it, we’ll stumble a bit. We’ll probably find ourselves tired and overwhelmed, maybe falling back into old habits. Keep going anyway. Even if you find yourself in a moment of jealousy you thought you’d long ago overcome, you are not a failure. You are a work in progress – and so am I. This is only the beginning and I, for one, have no intention of stopping. It may well be my own thorn in my flesh that I have to fight every day for the rest of my life – but because I know my “why” and I know what is true and I know who I am created to be, I can keep going.
When I don’t think I can keep going, I can lay the whole mess down at the foot of the cross and rest, grateful that our God will fight for us, and we can be still. Our lives are messy. We make mistakes. But you are not a mess, and you are not a mistake.
I know it’s not easy to figure out what to do next, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas staring us in the face. Where do we go from here? Do we dive into the chaos of the holidays or do we do something differently this year? I’ve been thinking a lot about this next topic for over a year now, and I would love to invite you to explore it with me. If you resonated at all with this series on jealousy, maybe you, too, have a tendency toward “hustle.” Trying to do it all and keep up with everyone, cross off all the checkboxes and prove yourself worthy?
Me, too.
But I don’t believe that hustle is the new “four letter word” most people have made it out to be. You see, I think that we were created to work hard, make a difference, get stuff done. But I don’t believe that we were meant to hustle after our own glory. I think we were created for “holy hustle.” I’ve found some stories in the Bible that show the blessing that comes from a life of “holy hustle” – working hard to bring God glory and do His will.
So I’d like to invite you to join me for a special 5 part email series that will run the week of November 7th. Each day you’ll receive an email with a shareable graphic and a story that I pray will redeem the word “hustle” in our vocabulary. At the end of it, I hope we’ll be able to see the benefit that comes from hustling after the calling God has uniquely given each of us, and how that might just be the ticket to another piece of freedom in this journey from jealousy to joy.
What do you think? It’s free, and it’s only 5 days. You won’t see any of the content here on the blog, so you’ll need to sign up at bit.ly/holyhustle. I hope you’ll join me!
