Wake Up.

Go to work.

Memo pads.

Copy Machines.

Exchange staff pleasantries.

Take care of the kids.

Schedules.

Coaching.

Nurturing.

Rearing.

Scribble check marks on to do lists.

Family demands persist.

Dinner.

Husband.

Sunset.

It’s best you rest.

Sleep.

Wake Up.

Repeat.

Wait,

You forgot to breath.

Auto piloting life puts boulders on shoulders

Mountains tops grow on your forearms

Until your back arches with heaviness

And your body caves in around you

No one notices

You still move

Each day

With a closed chest

You move

You survive solely to fill the space

In your home, your office, the hearts of your family

You survive solely to fill the space

Sunrise.

Wake Up.

Sunset.

Repeat.

Each day forgetting to breathe.

Woman

You are a woman

And it is no secret that you catch others’ tears before they fall

Becoming everyone else’s reservoir

You balance climbing responsibilities

And walk a tight rope of insurmountable expectations

You bleed as you perform externally

Woman

You are a woman

And in order to live, you must open your chest

Straighten your back

And tend to that woman that exists inside

You owe it to yourself to love within first

And to do so gently

To stop surviving to fulfill needs

But to thrive by

Seeking healing for the woman internally

By loving the woman that exists internally

Quietly, disarming yourself so that she can breathe

Feeding her stillness

Nursing her with prayer

Sojourning to the dead places within

There is usually trauma there

Massaging out the pain

With patient, tender care

Communing with God for your healing

Birthing wells of bottomless reassurance

Woman

You are a woman

With courage and divine loving

You will watch your life unfold before you

Flow from you…

if you breathe

***************************************************************

Sunrise

Good Morning

You gulp each moment up with steady inhales

Work

You find wonder in hidden opportunities

breathe

Kids

breathe

You are loved, capable, able

breathe

Dinner

Husband

breathe

You are not alone

You notice that God has shown you the light throughout your day

And suddenly your days turn into a life filled with purpose-sustained certainty

breathe

Your inner woman flourishes in light of your creator’s beauty

breathe

breathe

(inhale)

This is what thriving sounds like

Woman,

You are a woman

And your life is for  l  i  v  i  n  g…

Don’t merely settle for giving

Please. breathe