Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Soaked in God's Word, Sprouting Seeds of Faith

Great Harvests Come from Small Changes

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I am a creature of habit. My iPhone seems to be just like me. Each weekday morning, this is her message: 

Only 40 minutes to work, take Highway 90, traffic is light. 

Really sista? You need to update. Traffic is NEVER light! You need to get with the program. You need to change.

Yes, Ellen, so do you. It’s time to get with the program.

Ouch. I (almost) hate it when God speaks to me like that. I’ve been trying to roll with the changes in my life, but some of them have thrown me for a loop. So many little changes need to be made to adjust to the larger change. I have struggled with it, I’ll tell ya’.

Throughout, my prayer has been “Lord, what do you want to teach me with this? What is Your heart for me in this season?”

By and large, the answer I’ve been hearing is Yield.

Pretty hard for someone as stiff-neck and stubborn as I am.

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Exodus 32:9 ESV

Yield.

The dictionary defines yield as “surrender; give up the struggle.” Does that mean I have to give up or give in? Does that mean I can’t take a stance, fighting for what I believe?

While there are times to stand firm, what is important right now is to yield, especially to small changes that need to be made. 

I didn’t want to shorten my quiet time with God. But ten extra minutes each morning has lowered my stress level and my road rage.

I didn’t want to auto schedule my bill paying (Horrors!! That’s a loss of control!). However, it has made the process much faster and more streamlined, ultimately saving me time. 

I didn’t want to miss a week of blogging. My goal is to post weekly. Sometimes, I’m not able to do this. But you know, it’s ok. The world didn’t end. Hard to imagine, but NONE of my twenty or so followers contacted me to complain or ask what happened.

Photo courtesy Dreamstime

Yield. It is also defined as “produce or provide.”

So, what has surrendering provided for me?

Great peace.

And a glimpse of how yielding to Christ can bring a harvest.

Have you ever seen the head of a mature sunflower that bends low with the weight of its seeds? Eventually the seeds drop to the ground. In due time, they’ll sprout and grow new flowers.

Same with yielding to Christ. When I bend low in humble obedience to the small changes He wants to make in me, the result can bring a great harvest.

I think that’s worth yielding and changing for, don’t you?

Grace be with you,

Get Out of Your Rut!

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She was an odd cat. Not at all a slave to routine like other cats – or even like me, her own human mama.

She would sleep in her bed…or my bed…or the couch. She didn’t have to have her food first thing in the morning, like my last cat. She would eat when she was hungry. Well, I suppose she did have one routine – when we sat down for Sunday lunch, she would eat Sunday lunch, too! Crazy cat.

There’s a lesson to be learned here. Our cat lived a life of routine in all her days: same house, same rooms, yet none of it was routine to her. She made every little thing new and different.

“Maybe tonight I’ll sleep on the iComfort bed. Ooh, tomorrow night I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom! There’s cushy pillows in there! I like looking through the living room window, but tomorrow I think I’ll get the view from the bedroom window.”

As we face this new year, and think about goals and resolutions, we can take a page from her book:

Our ordinary days don’t have to be routine.

Studies show that every thought you have digs a small trench in your brain. The more often you have that thought, the deeper the rut. When you have daily habits that you do over and over, it seems like you don’t even have to think about them, but your brain is actually following the trench – or rut – that has developed over time. Your brain has kicked into auto mode. Why, I have ruts so deep in my brain, they crack open my sinus cavities!

If your life seems to be filled with routine, if you feel like you’re in a rut, take a page from the cat – do something different! Change things up.

See your ordinary, everyday life through new eyes.

Here are some small changes you can make that will shake up your routine and get out of your rut:

1. Take a different route to work. But don’t just drive. Notice where you are, the different scenery! You may be pleasantly surprised at what you see. Make your commute into a journey!
2. Listen to a different radio station. I’m doing this now. You know what? I have rediscovered classical music. I find Mozart relaxing.
3. Listen to podcasts instead of music! One of my favorites is Live the Promise by Suzie Larson. Good stuff there
4. Watch a lot of TV? Try reading a good book.
5. Tap into your creative side: Start a project. Build, make, or practice something. Give yourself something to do and think about. Sometimes ruts are a result of stress, and projects can be a vacation from stress.

Why is it important to get out of our ruts?

A recent study in Newsweek found that a particular ares of your brain (the posterior cingulate cortex) seems to get excited when you shake up your routine! Imagine that!

[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]Small changes over a long period of time will result in a big change: You![/tweetthis]

Go ahead, shake up your routine. Get out of your rut. Make 2018 a year and a season of change! Not the same ol’ same ol’ – I’m going to give it a try, how about you?

Let me know in the comments what small changes you are going to make to shake up your routine.

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Grace be with you,