Help! Where Is The Reset Button?!?

One of my favorite memories as a little girl was waking up to Dad making breakfast. He would whistle while he worked. I loved to listen to him. If we were having trouble getting out of bed, he would come turn our lights on and tell us it was time to get up. If we still struggled, he would come back and tug our blankets.

Every once in a while, I would wake up on the "wrong side of the bed". Often Dad would try to tease me out of my funk.

I remember that icky feeling. It was deep inside, in the core of my being. You know, that feeling that makes you want to pick a fight. That physical feeling of ugh! I didn't like it.

If I came to the breakfast table with that feeling, I would make it through the blessing, maybe a couple of bites of food and then I would ask to be excused to go to the bathroom.

There, locked away in the bathroom, I would sit on the side of the tub with my head in my hands.  Because "hate" was an out of bounds word, I would tell God how much I disliked that feeling. In those quiet moments, on the side of the tub, God's Spirit would wash over me. He would honor my cry for help and cleanse me. He would wash that feeling out of me. He would give my day a new start. He would "reset" my spirit.

I got better at catching that feeling and learned to quickly run to God for help.

Fast forward to when I was a young Mom. Mornings with littles can be chaotic, worse if they follow a poor sleep. Now I was the one in the kitchen trying to get food on the table. There was not a lot of whistling going on!!! The demands of surviving overwhelmed any awareness of that " icky" feeling. Just feed the kids and hope nap time comes soon!

With the tasks and needs of others, I became slow to recognized the signs that my spirit was unwell. Sometimes I would get half way through the day before recognizing that I needed a special touch from God. If things were really bad, a whole day could go by. It was harder to get to an alone space and spend some focused time in God's presence.

I needed to get creative.

In order to give God space to "reset" my spirit, here are a few things that worked for me.

1. Dance Party. While the kids thought we were just rocking out to some kickin' tunes, I always picked worship music that allowed me to enter the presence of God.

2.  I would go stand at the kitchen sink and as I washed dishes,( there are ALWAYS dishes!!) I would ask God to refresh my soul and take away that gross feeling.
If I was desperate, I would plunk the kids in the playpen and go sit on the edge of the bathtub, my old faithful spot.

3. Listening to a Focus on the Family podcasts during a quiet time helped give me new perspective some days. Regardless of my soul state, it became a habit.

4. Sometimes, I would meditate on a verse. Nehemiah 8:10 "The joy of the Lord is your strength"

5. Laughter. I would pull out a classic activity that was guaranteed to make the kids giggle uncontrollably and we would just laugh together. Blowing up a balloon and then let it fly as the air escaped making that crazy sound, the kids chasing it to try and catch it. Bubble blowing. Silly sound contests. Whatever! Anything that would make us dissolve into giggles. It "resets" the soul.

I know this is not an exhaustive list.  There are lots of  ways we can invite God to "reset" our soul's.
 What are some of the strategies that work for you?