#30: living in a tension

“I used to think that life is constantly meant to be lived on a tension and it is a stressful one but I don't think that is entirely true.” - eleni k.

We still do live on a tension but that tension depends on a lot of things and not just the stresses of life. A lot of time the stresses of life are being gratified to the point that it clouds our minds and it becomes the only thing that we see. That living in a tension can be a beautiful combination of love, chaos, truth, adventure, brokenness, dreaming, heartbreak, hard work, travelling, and the many things life has to offer. It's the combination of battles and blessings. On one end, we yearn to never get into any battles and on the other hand, we crave to be blessed in all areas of life.

Life as complicated as it is, it is one that we are to discover on so many levels; at different seasons of our lives.

A couple of months back I had a conversation with a very dear friend of mine. He said “I don’t believe in giving your 100% in the things that we do”. Of course that pique my curiosity so I asked him why. He said you should give maximum your 80% in all you do and leave that 20% for the Holy Spirit to move. He couldn’t be more right! It is so ingrained in us to give 100% and even 110% at all times but that subconsciously makes us rely on our own strength and ability.

That 80+20 gives you the perspective that "hey, I need the Holy Spirit and I am making space for Holy Spirit to move in this specific area". It helps me to cultivate within me to intentionally lean on the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. As I do it more and more in the different areas of life, I'm leaning in more and giving the Holy Spirit more space to acquire in my life.

Cultivating the 80+20 is actually an act of surrender. In 80+20, you learned to let go and not hold on to things so tightly. You learn to surrender areas of your life, your mind and your will to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our mind is one of the hardest battlefield we would need to fight and 80+20 helps to train the mind to come into submission to God.

So there is definitely a constant tension of the combination of battles and blessings that we’re living in, but cultivating the 80+20 in our lives helps us to surrender ourselves to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit.

This is what God intended for our lives to be; not that we go through it alone but with Him, be it in our battles or in our blessings.

Originally me,

Eleni K.

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