🎧 Before You Begin: Listen First, Then Lean In
This week on the podcast, we unpacked what it really means to let God pace your life — not just spiritually, but practically. We talked about how pruning is not a punishment, but a protection of your stamina, your sanity, and your fruit. We looked at the biology of grapevines and the biblical wisdom behind John 15, Galatians 5, and 1 Corinthians 10 to expose how easy it is to confuse activity with alignment. Many of us are tired — not because we're disobedient, but because we're carrying things God never asked us to sustain.
We’re producing leaves, not fruit.
If you haven’t already, take time to listen to the full episode before completing this assignment. Let the Word do its work, and then come back here ready to respond — not just emotionally, but strategically.
Step One: Locate the Strain — Then Check the Symptoms
Start by telling the truth: where are you tired in ways that rest hasn’t fixed?
Some of the clearest signs that your pace is off don’t show up in your calendar — they show up in your body, your emotions, and your inability to recover between tasks. You may not realize it, but your symptoms are often spiritual signals. They don’t mean you’re weak. They mean you’re out of rhythm.
Before you move into evaluation, do a quick symptom check. Ask yourself:
- Am I constantly mentally foggy or experiencing decision fatigue?
- Have I noticed a drop in joy, peace, or creative clarity — even in things I used to love?
- Am I functioning outwardly, but feel spiritually numb or disconnected underneath it all?
- Do I have energy for everyone’s needs but none left for basic care of my own?
- Am I operating with a low-grade irritation or tension that never fully resets?
- Is bitterness creeping in beneath all my “faithful” activity?
These aren’t minor issues. They’re diagnostic. They let you know something deeper is misaligned — and no new planner or productivity system will fix a pace problem that’s rooted in spiritual misplacement.
Step Two: Conduct the Pacing Audit
Now that you’ve located the strain, it’s time to look at what’s driving it. Make a list of your current responsibilities, rhythms, and relationships — anything that requires your time, attention, or energy in this season. Don’t filter. Just write it all down. Once you have your list, begin sorting it into three honest categories:
Assigned: These are the things God has clearly called you to right now. They may stretch you, but they align with His voice and produce fruit — even when they require sacrifice.
Allowed: These are the “good” things — the roles, habits, or efforts that may have served a purpose in the past, but no longer carry the same grace or alignment. They’re permissible, but not necessarily profitable.
Artificial: These are the things you’re holding onto out of fear, pride, guilt, or performance. They are not Spirit-led — they are self-protective. These roles or routines often look healthy but feel heavy. And over time, they suffocate your capacity to be present where it counts.
Don’t overthink or over-spiritualize this. Let the Holy Spirit help you name what’s been extended beyond its season.
Step Three: Make the Cut — One Clear Shift
After you’ve completed your audit, identify one thing to release this week. You’re not being asked to overhaul your life in a day — you’re being invited to take one step into clarity. Choose something specific: a task, a commitment, a pattern, a responsibility — and be honest about why it needs to go. Not because it’s “bad,” but because it’s out of pace. It’s leafy, not fruitful.
Ask the Holy Spirit:
- What am I maintaining out of fear that You never assigned to me?
- What part of my identity have I attached to overperformance?
- What would I have room for — emotionally and spiritually — if I released this?
Write down what you’re pruning and what it’s costing you to keep carrying it. Then take a practical action toward release this week: decline a meeting, delegate a task, have a conversation, delete the draft. Whatever faithfulness looks like — start there.
Step Four: Share One Insight
When you're ready, share in the thread. You don’t need to post your full audit. But offer one clear insight:
- What did you prune?
- What truth hit hardest during this process?
- What permission did God give you that shifted your thinking?
This is not a performance — it’s a practice in spiritual honesty. Your reflection may be the clarity someone else didn’t know they needed.
Final Word
You were not created to live in chronic exhaustion. And you were never asked to maintain everything you built in a previous season. When Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11, it wasn’t because it was barren — it was because it was deceptively full. Full of leaves. Full of the appearance of fruitfulness. But empty underneath.
Many of us are walking around spiritually leafy — full schedules, full hands, full platforms — but internally we are dry, distracted, and disconnected. We’ve mistaken being allowed to do something for being assigned to it. We’ve spiritualized strain and called it stewardship. We’ve built altars to pace-less performance and wondered why we’re still tired.
But God is not punishing you — He’s pruning to protect your fruit.
Like the vinedresser in John 15, He cuts what looks lush but is stealing your strength. He cuts to make room for what He actually planted. And when you resist the pruning, you don’t just delay fruit — you distort your pace, you dilute your stamina, and you slowly drift out of sync with His Spirit.
Pacing is not weakness.
It’s wisdom.
And it is a form of warfare against the pressure to perform your way into identity.
So this week, you have one assignment:
Be willing to look at the leaves.
Let the Holy Spirit show you what’s still growing that no longer serves.
And make the cut — before it cuts your clarity.
There is fruit on the other side of this.
But only if you’re willing to stop pretending that full equals faithful.