I get it. You probably haven’t seen anything like this today. In fact, I’m sure the world has told you otherwise. Boss babe and side hustle are more like the hashtags you’ve scrolled through.
There’s this idea that if we work hard enough we can get the life that perfect girl has on Instagram. Or if we just keep the oil burning on both ends, we’ll hit that big break, and our business will take off too. We just need to hustle a little more, work a little longer. Strategize and energize.
Instead we’re left exhausted, never content, and feeling like failures.
I don’t want to hustle.
Because you know what? If I have to hustle, it’s probably something I don’t want anyway. If I have to strive to get there, I have to strive to stay there. And that’s not abundant life. It’s not the abundant life Jesus bought for me.
There’s so much more.
Do you know how many emails I get asking how to start a blog? Or how to grow a following? Or how to start a ministry?
Do you know my response every time? “You don’t. Holy Spirit does it.” From the very beginning, I haven’t done the “blogger” things I’m supposed to do. At the end of the day, I don’t care about an algorithm or peek time to post or email list tips.
Two summers ago, Holy Spirit woke me up around 3:30 am. I wasn’t sure if He wanted to chat or what, so I asked Him what was going on. Immediately I remembered a picture of Selah and me that I loved, He told me exactly what to write about the picture. I posted it at 3:30 am and went back to sleep.
I woke up the next morning and it had gone viral.
Papa God taught me so much from that.
If God wants something to grow, He’ll give it the nutrients it needs to do so. I didn’t have to work or strive or burn the midnight oil. I was literally RESTING. He woke me up out of my rest!
There’s something extremely powerful about partnering with God through a posture of rest. When I realize that the ministry He has given me isn’t actually mine anyways, it’s His, and I take my place colaboring with Him to bring His plans and purposes from heaven to earth, everything shifts. Because no longer am I responsible for the growth, He is. His ministry, His responsibility. I simply get to do what He says. I get to be apart of the family business, and colabor with my Dad. I’ve always wanted to do that.
So when I don’t know what to do, I ask Him. I listen, and then do what He says. I still had to wake up that night and write the post He gave me. I could’ve chosen not to, but I did it. I’m not saying we sit on our tails and do nothing. Or we do things without excellence. That’s not our Father’s heart either.
I think Believers should be the best at what they do. I think Believers should be at the top of their companies, the most creative in their industries, and innovative with everything they put their hands to. After all, we have Holy Spirit. And having Holy Spirit is an unfair advantage, because we have access to ALL of heaven’s resources.
I am saying there is power in our posture.
photos by Jenna Mills Photography
I could work and strive and hustle and maybe only see fruit from a few hundred trees, and that would be my only reward. Or I could colabor with my Papa, out of a posture of rest and watch Him bring in fruit from ten thousand trees. There’s not much of a decision for me.
I don’t want to hustle.
If I’m going to hustle, it’s going to be towards Him. I’m going to keep working for my Dad in the family business. Listening, loving, and laboring with Him.
Don’t believe the lie that the only way you can get there is to hustle. Don’t fall into the trap to believing that the only way to be successful is to strive.
There’s a much better way, friend. And the marketing strategy is real simple, are you ready for it?
Get up close to your Father, listen to His voice, and do what He says.
It really is that easy.