Welcome July!! I am continuing my Intentional Summer Slowdown (ISSD). I’m excited to share part two of what it looks like in my life as I slowdown from my role as a caregiver, a ministry leader, and spiritual mentor.

Last month I talked to you about what it means when I intentionally focus on being refreshed and resetting my priorities. You can read that here. Summer Slowdown Pt 1

Today, I want to shift my focus to–removing and reclaiming. What does that look like?

Remove–I struggle at times with removing myself from situations that cause drama, chaos and confusion mainly because that’s what I do for 9 months out of the year. I live in the thick of these things because of the call on my life. I find that I need to be intentional about removing that hat during my ISSD. Its hard though, because I love to enter the tunnel of chaos to find peace on the other side. It gives me life. You see, I consider myself a conversational bridge-builder, if you will. That means–my heart is drawn to tearing downs walls of division by having tough and truthful conversations about hard issues. It’s not always pretty and not always easy but it’s what I’m called to. It’s rewarding but as you can imagine, those conversations can bring a boat load of drama with them. I have to know when enough is enough and remove myself from being entangled–For the time being.

My ISSD is a great time for me to also remove myself from at least half of my social media interactions/distractions. I want to interact with those who are physically in my presence much more–my husband, children and grandchildren, for example. How many of you know that takes some intentionality? It’s so easy to get caught up on social media so much so that hours have passed without me even realizing it. Can you relate? Even though my calling expresses itself somewhat through the social media platform–I need to keep that in perspective, too. I need to control it and not allow it to control me. I intentionally focus on this during my summer slowdown.

There are surely other distractions and toxicity that I need to remove from my life for a slowdown season, if not permanently. I let God speak to me about it.

Reclaim–once I’ve made a conscious choice to be intentional about removing myself from situations that I know have a potential of elevating my stress level, I reclaim my time, peace, serenity, etc. How? I play my favorite worship songs, I reconnect with and pray for others, I rest my eyes in a quiet room, I retreat to my front porch with an ice cold tea (with 🍋) and my favorite magazine or a book. One of my favorite things is to watch good natured tv shows. Yes, they do exist!

How about you, dear one? Could God be speaking to you about removing and reclaiming this summer? What would that look like in your life? Listen and obey.

Stay tuned for my final post of this topic.

Kathy