February sure was a lot to say grace over, with wine-laden giggles with couple friends across a long farm table … the long-stem rose I was handed after a Valentine’s Day date with my favorite human …  chilly mornings watching steam rise off my mug as I got caught between chapters of books … and our tiny ranch homestead filling to the brim with Simply for Creatives Brittany Griggs and her hubs Jordan of The Dapper Drive (follow #TheUltimateGolfRoadtrip!) parking their RV in the drive for an extended weekend, while sweet Nevica Vasquez slept in the guest room — welcome to ATL, everyone!

But it was also a month where I realized I still don’t rest well.

I mean, I really don’t rest well.

I tell you to work from a place of rest in lieu of 24/7 hustle … yet I haven’t taken a day off in, well, I’m not quite sure when. I work on Sundays … every week.

This must end.

Here’s the thing. I have exactly two speeds: 150 miles-an-hour, and naps. Pardon the illustration, as I’ve no idea what motherhood beckons, but some days, this year-old business feels infantile, and I LOVE feeding it. Nurturing it. Trying new things. Playing with systems. But that’s an addiction, and I know I’ll be more equipped to serve my tribe and steward my call by honoring the Sabbath.

Jen Hatmaker calibrates the Sabbath well in Seven, which I read last month.

“Not only do I not take God’s command for rest seriously, but I act like it’s not in the Bible. Ah, Sabbath. How cute and archaic. Good for the Hebrews!

Clearly, I believe my labor is more encompassing than the ancients, what with their little cultivating the land and harvesting their own food and making their supplies and raising gobs of children and traveling to festivals and worshipping at the temple and dodging enemies and getting captured and released and whatnot.

Oh, you Israelites don’t even know busy! I have 31 unanswered emails from yesterday! Perhaps you managed rest between the spring harvest and impending war, but I have to write 3,000 words today and meet someone for lunch. I don’t mean to be condescending, but God expected more from you because of your lack of discipline and little idolatry problem.

Ahem.”

-Jen Hatmaker, Seven

Thus, in attempt to plumb the depths of REST a little bit more, and to dig into my 2017 word “rooted,” March will be a time of rooting deeper still, back into things that make me, well, me.

“End the March madness,” I scribbled in Sharpie at the tip-top of my tending list last night.

Challenge accepted.

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Powersheets Progress: February Recap

We live in a digital world, but we’re surprisingly analog creatures, and I count on my Powersheets so I can see the things I want to cultivate in my life each year. The thing I love about them is you can start whenever … there’s nothin’ fairy-dust magical about 1/1!

I did start mine at the top of the year (you can read more here about my 2017 goals!) — here’s an update on my February goals progress!

Monthly Goals

1. Memorize Romans 8:5-8 :: Yes, even if I’m not the best reciter … I need to keep at it!
2. Study the book of Hebrews :: Check!
3. Hold 1 tech-free day :: Technically, I was on my computer building out Copywriting for Creatives on 2/26. See issue with rest, noted above. ????  But I didn’t pick up my phone or hop on social media all day.
4. Go on 4 dates with Wes :: Check!
5. Load in a welcome sequence into ConvertKit :: Check!
6. Complete website refresh & add testimonials :: Check! I still want to add a portfolio, though!
7. Build out my signature course, Copywriting for Creatives, 2.0 :: 3 more modules left!
8. Set up Mint.com for our fam :: Nope.
9. Nancy Ray’s Legacy Challenge months 1 & 2 :: Nope.
10. Hold month 2 of the Contentment Challenge :: Check!

Weekly Goals:

1. Read 4 books :: Check! Seven, Weird, The Love Dare, & Launch. Skip Weird, the rest rock.
2. Drink 2 smoothies/week  :: Check!
3. Doing for self-care each week :: Check!
4. Blog 2+ times a week and create a PDF to serve my tribe :: Check!
5. Cook something yummy 2x a week :: Check!

Daily Goals:

1. Eat green things :: Check! Almost daily!
2. Check-in with Jesus in the afternoons :: 3/4 of my days I did this, and it always makes me remember what’s important.
3. Track my time and review my day before leaving the office each day :: Nope … I only did this twice.
4. Read the news & 1 gospel-driven article daily :: Maybe did this half the month!
5. Answer all texts before going to bed :: Nope, not even close to daily. Cute idea, Ashlyn. Still working on this!

So. Those daily goals were a tish rough … Progress, not perfection, right? ???? I’m giving myself GRACE in those “nopes” — which tend to be alchemy for a Type A’er like me, who writes things on her to-do list just to cross them off.

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Powersheets Progress: March Goals

March, you’re a fresh start, you darling spring kick-off season, you. Here are my goals, ready-set and still newly Sharpie-scented minted over here!

Monthly Goals

1. Take the Sabbath & keep it HOLY :: This means I need to organize my week to do this, instead of just thinking “I’ll just work Sunday, too.”
2. Nancy Ray’s Legacy Challenge months 1-3
3. Study the book of James
4. Go on 4 dates with Wes
5. Finish my Speaking Mentorship course with Jessica Rasdall
6. Prayerfully hire new team member(s)
7. Finish paying off our CC debt by end of Q1
8. Grow email list by 2K
9. Finish Copywriting for Creatives course build out and launch plan
10. Pray about & find a Bible study or small group
11. Hold 1 tech-free day
12. Finish the Contentment Challenge

Weekly Goals:

1. Read 3 books (thinking Ask by Ryan Levesque, What Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam OR The Sleep Revolution by Ariana Huffington, and His Needs, Her Needs by Willard Harley — here’s my 2017 book list post, if you’re a reader, too!)
2. Write 2 blogs that serve others & 1 thing for myself each week
3. Do 1 thing for self-care and to center myself on who I’m created to be each week so I can pour into others (long prayer walk, manicure, massage … something to try to wind my anxious heart down!)
4. Drink 2 smoothies to get some greens or fruit in
5. Cook 2 fam dinners
6. Recite scripture memory to Wes each weekend

Daily Goals

1. Love on Wes!
2. Hold PRESENT mornings (you can read more on that here)
3. Eat something green or raw
4. Mint.com check in
5. Afternoon check-in with Jesus
6. Read the news for 15 minutes or an article online that isn’t business-focused

Ok, it’s your turn! What are you working on for March, and how are you feeling about the progress you made in February?