BE UPDATED :: A State of the Thing Address

BE UPDATED-SLIDER-01

There’s this weird pressure, you know? To stay out there and in everyone’s news feeds to not let them forget about you.

And everything you read reminds you how important a launch plan is and how vital building a mailing list is and don’t forget to be on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest and if you have an extra few minutes a day, do a newsletter every month, too, because people want the inside scoop.

Even if there’s nothing left to scoop from the inside.

Oh, and that’s on top of making pinnable graphics for your posts, and writing tweet-worthy sayings and link, link, link to everything you can in your post.

And pretty soon, the outside of the Thing becomes more important than the inside of the Thing. And certainly more important than being of the thing.

[Which in our case, is slightly detrimental to our entire cause.]

We’re suddenly Be Busy Be Bound instead of Be Still Be Free.

And if that happens, how can we encourage you to Be Still when we can’t do it ourselves?

When we took a time of advent, we prepared to rest and be still and be with our families and set aside pressures of doing.

And the goal was for it to be just a couple of weeks. Just a quick blip of rest and we’d be back on the podcasting and posting and pinning bandwagon, recharged and ready to go.

Except – the opposite sort of happened.

As the weeks wrapped up, there was no recharge. There was no ready. Instead, there were questions:

  • What is our next series?
  • What can be tweetable?
  • What do we promote and launch the Bible Study?
  • How do we get “out there” more?
  • Should we stop altogether?
  • Is there anything new to link to?

Then the laundry list of DOING grew and grew and grew and our hearts palpitated and raced and then gently, God whispered across our spirits…

Be is not the boss of you.

And we paused.

Then an exhale came that lasted about three weeks and we slowly released the pressure that had been self-imposed evaporated and finally, for the first time, we were still again. Really and truly still…the sinking down, letting drop and relaxing kind of still.

God clearly told us a year and a half ago that Be was to start out as a podcast. But He never said it needed to stay a podcast, or to make it weekly until His return. And He never said we had to spend more time promoting it than living it.

It’s so easy for our perspectives to subtly shift to the success of the cause, instead of the authenticity of the calling. It’s so easy for our godly enthusiasm to turn into manmade effort; for the cause to become our life instead of be an overflow from our life.

It’s too, too easy.

We want to stay in the flow of God’s leading, and not get more consumed with the marketing than the Maker.

That said, we’re paring things down a bit in 2015, and getting more intentional:

  • We’re scaling back podcasts to about every other week (-ish. We’re staying completely non-committal and are totally okay with that.)
  • The launch of the brand-spankin’ new Be Together Bible Study in February (definitely our primary focus right now)
  • A few new series’ later this year
  • Less posting-for-the-sake-of-posting on social media
  • Prayerful exploration of how to create community and do some life together
  • Complete intentionality in Being Still first and letting our doing come out of the overflow of our being

Things might end up looking different than before…we might move toward things that keep in line with the authentic message of Be. We just want to make sure to follow where God is leading us…not where pressure is leading us.

Our prayer is that Be Still Be Free will always come out of the overflow of opening our hands and letting God take control, giving Him permission to change the direction of it any time He pleases. We desperately want to live that well.  

[ALL THAT SAID, we do have an incredibly new fun podcast and a giveaway for you next week with the hilarious and awesome Sophie Hudson (aka Boo Mama), so please make sure you come back for that!]

Thank you for bearing with us with grace and love as we navigate these waters. We adore you to pieces.

Be blessed, and go be a blessing today. 

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