Category Archives: Writing

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 6

31 Days Button

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 4th
“Rise”

Genesis 6:6-8 (NLT) – “ So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, ‘I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.’ 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.”

Put yourself in Noah’s sandals for a moment.  Imagine living in a world where man has become so evil that God is sorry He created him (and her).  The Creator, the One who had created an entire world to express the essence of Himself, Love, was so sorry He had made man that He was willing to destroy them.  If the state of the world was heartbreaking for God, think how hard it must have been on Noah to live in the middle of it every single day.

But Noah found favor with God.  The Hebrew word for favor has in its root the idea of God bending, stooping in kindness, extending Himself to man.  God came down to Noah and extended Himself out of Love and compassion to Noah.

Do you know what the favor of God looked like to the human eye?  It looked a whole lot like Noah’s circumstances went from bad to worse.  When God flooded the earth with His grief over sin, Noah’s human frame was caught right there in the midst of it.  He had a front row seat for the destruction of humanity (except for the handful of family on the ark).  And while it rained for forty days and forty nights it appears from Scripture he was cocooned in that ark for a lot longer than that…maybe about a year.  Let me remind you, he was in that ark with a remnant of animals and a remnant of people (given evidence after the flood, the remnant of people didn’t seem to be of stellar character).  Five minutes after God closed the door on the ark I would’ve have been climbing the walls!

I don’t know about you, but if I had been in Noah’s position I might have really struggled with the idea of what it means to have the favor of God.  But that’s what happens when we judge eternity by our circumstances.  Life viewed from our position on this spinning globe does not afford us the correct position to judge our circumstances as good or bad.

As bad as things looked, Noah couldn’t have been in a better position or safer hands, even though it literally looked like his world was falling apart with the rocking of that ark.  Day after day on that boat, with every rise and crest of a wave, he probably felt like he was coming unglued.  And if you’ve ever spent even a brief time in tight quarters with your family in a stressful situation, you know he wasn’t the only one coming unglued.

But having the favor of God, having God come stoop right down to his human level wasn’t about his circumstances.  It was about a relationship with the living God IN his circumstances.  It was experiencing a new level of trust and belief in the only sure and safe thing there is, the God who is Love.

On this side of the cross of Jesus Christ, we have the favor of God and we miss the point when we waste time judging the good and bad in our lives.  Right now in the middle of where you are, can you throw wide your arms, letting go of expectations and outcomes in a fallen world, and simply receive Love Himself?  Can you trust Him implicitly even if your circumstances never change or, like Noah, actually get worse?  Can you simply trust He’s coming for your heart in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that comes your way?  He’s bending low, stooping down, bringing all of Himself to you right this very minute.

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 5

31 Days Button

 

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 3rd
“Where Are You?”

Genesis 3:8-9 (NLT) – “So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.  Then the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?”

In my last post I mentioned how as a little girl in Sunday School my big take away from The-Gospel-As-Behavior-Management presentation of the Creation Story helped launch me into life simply trying not to make mistakes because it makes God mad.

Trying not to make mistakes (which unbeknownst to me at the time is IMPOSSIBLE) led to a life, and I use that term loosely—closer to existence–of hiding.  Hiding from God, hiding from myself, hiding from those closest to me.  Hiding took many forms and many masks.  Let me introduce you to a few of them:

“Responsible Girl” –        She was responsible for EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING even remotely connected to her life.  Unfortunately this really made everything about her, including significant world events.

“Self-sufficient Girl”-      She never needed any help for anything even if she was dying…and she was, on the inside.  Her twin is named “NOT the Needy the Girl”.

“Good Girl”-       She couldn’t stand for anyone to ever think she did anything wrong.  If anyone ever did think she had made a mistake it completely undid her and sent her into an emotional tail spin.

“Smart Girl” –     She made me feel better when in my high school career I only had two dates.  And on the nights of my Junior and Senior Proms when I sat at home alone she told me it was going to be better in college and I needed to keep focusing on my grades because some girls were pretty and loveable and some girls were smart.

 

Photo Credit: Wikimedia.org

And on and on it goes.  Underneath it all the only thing I wanted was to be seen and to be known and to be loved for who I was, not what I did.

The truth is, I was seen, I was known and I was loved for exactly who I was, I just didn’t know it.  And just like Adam and Eve, in the midst of all my hiding, Love was asking, “Where are you, Kim?”  My fear that God was angry with me for all of my failures and mistakes kept me hiding and wearing masks for many more years…so long in fact, that I am now only beginning to know myself.

As I read those verses above in Genesis 3, though, now I don’t hear anger in God’s voice.  I hear a Loving Father searching for His children.  He’s concerned for them and He misses their presence.  He’s asking the question, “Where are you?” not because He doesn’t know where they are, but because they don’t know where they are.  “Where are you?” was an invitation to pause, take stock of their current position and run, not walk, straight back to God.  He was calling them back to Love.

And in a lifetime of hiding, I can now look back (hindsight’s always 20/20 you know) and hear the echoes of the voice of God in my life, “Where are you, Kim?”

He’s been coming for us, for you and me, since the beginning.  And He’s still coming for us, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 4

 

31 Days Button

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 2nd
“Life Begins as a Love Story”

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) – “So God created human beings in His own image.”

As a kid I used to wonder why God created humans last.  In my childish way of thinking, I would have created the most important thing first.  But growing up in a church tradition that was way more concerned about good behavior than a relationship with the Creator of the universe, we tended to focus on the part of the story where Adam and Eve fell and sin entered in.  My big take away from that emphasis on human failure was to spend the bulk of my life simply trying not to make mistakes because it made God mad.

That’s not living.  Trying not to mess up, trying not to sin, trying not to fail is not the abundant life Jesus came to give me.  Behavior management is always an inferior goal.  The gospel, what God intended all along, is so much more than that.  But I digress…

Back to Creation…beyond childhood Sunday School, I hadn’t thought much about it until a few years ago our Bible study group did an intense study of Genesis.  For several weeks I was immersed in the study of that first week and the wonder of all that happened.  As we talked about the order that came from nothing it became apparent to me, as I am sure the rest of the class already knew, that man was created last because God was preparing a place for him first.

My practical, efficient mind that strives to sort and order all the information it takes in, blessed God’s decision to do it that way, and so I finally said, “Oh, that makes sense.”

Well, of course it makes sense, but recently I’ve been looking at the totality of Scripture a little differently.  Instead of looking at it as a sum of 66 parts of information, I’ve started seeing it from beginning to end as one continuous Love story.  As I move through Scripture and allow God to reveal His Love for me, the journey has changed.  It’s no longer about gathering facts to build a case for why we must live up to God’s perfect standards, it’s about knowing the Author and allowing His Love to transform me.  The journey has become about intimate relationship with Him and it’s no longer about behavior management.

So once again back to Creation, now I see that yes He was preparing a place where we could live.  But it’s more than that– He was lovingly preparing a home for His bride.  All of Creation was intended as a gift for us to enjoy.  The Creator wanted to “Wow!” us with His Love and beauty.  He wanted us to be wonderstruck at just what great lengths He would go to in order to Love us well.

He’s been coming for us even from the beginning.

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 3

31 Days Button

 

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 1st pp. 1 – 7
“It is Advent: Come”

This first Advent reading selection is based on Isaiah 11:1 (NLT) – “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.”

Out of the stump of Jesse, Isaiah writes. I don’t know about you, but to me stumps represent things that once were and what no longer is. Things that appear to dead.

My husband and I still live in the home we bought one month before we were married over 22 years ago. It seemed so large and grand when it was just the two of us and not one stick of furniture. All we brought to that house were ourselves, some hand-me-down furniture (some of which I still own), our dreams and some memorabilia of life before we were an Us.

I don’t remember taking note of it before we bought the house, but once we moved in and started taking stock of our little homestead, both of us quickly fell in love with a little mimosa tree in the front yard. I don’t think I had ever seen one before. When it was in bloom each morning as the sun came up it would unfurl its fronds as if to display its beauty just for us to see. At night the branches would sort of close in on themselves as the sun went down, like the tree was going to sleep. I think that it bloomed twice a year. And for those few weeks each time it bloomed, it was like receiving a personal, “Good morning” and “Good night” from the Lord, just for me and Popey.

People who knew about these trees warned us that they are fragile and usually don’t last very long, but ours did. For 18 or 19 years that tree welcomed us every time we pulled into the driveway and even tucked us in at night. It beckoned a newlywed couple into an adventure of life together; it smiled on us as we brought home three beautiful babies from the hospital; it comforted us as we arrived home from funerals; it sent us out into the world each day with a smile; and it waved at kids getting off the school bus every afternoon. That tree said, “Home” to me and my family.

It grew so tall that it overshadowed everything else in the front yard. It felt like a protective canopy spread over our home. I loved that tree. I even loved it when the wind blew its fronds to the ground and the driveway and yard were covered with the tiny seeds. I loved it still when the blooms died and fell onto the driveway. I loved it a little less when it rained on top of those blooms and fronds and made our driveway so slick that you could practically skate down it.

Sadly a few years ago we woke up one morning after it had stormed and a significant branch was lying across our driveway. We had known the mimosa was too big, too weak and even though we had cut down some of the dead branches it wasn’t enough. It was time to cut the whole thing down. To me it was like cutting the hopes and dreams and expectancy of those newlyweds down. It was like saying good-bye to those two precious, unsuspecting kids who, in spite of themselves, had made a home in the blue house with the beautiful mimosa.

What had once looked so welcoming and comforting to me, looked barren and sad after Popey cut down that tree. In some ways it felt like I moved from a season of everything being a new adventure to the middle years where a heavy sense of resignation moved in for a long, cold visit.

A couple of years later, I pulled into the driveway one day and for some reason glanced over at the stump that used to be our grand mimosa. Right in the center of that stump were several mimosa shoots starting to pop up. I couldn’t help but smile. In the middle of that ugly stump was the hope of something new, something potentially grand. Popey told me not to get my hopes up, that it is very unlikely they will ever grow into a full-sized tree. But my hopes are up, I can’t help myself. I am smiling right now thinking about it.

As I read the verse for the first day of Advent, it reminds me that in things much bigger and more important than trees, I can have hope in the stump-y seasons. Right in the middle of seasons that seem dead and impossible. The coming of Christ two thousand years ago was the hope, the promise of new life in the middle of the dead stump of humanity. He came and He’s still coming. Every day, He’s still coming for us.

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 2

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection pp. xiii – xiv, “Jesse Tree Invitation and Instructions”

Before beginning the journey of leading readers through the 25 days of Advent, Ann Voskamp includes two brief pages inviting us to decorate what she calls a Jesse Tree, each day. Each of the reading selections that follow include a picture of a paper ornament that could be a family craft project to work on together to help process the truth that “He has been coming for us from the beginning.” It’s an artistic way of internalizing the journey.

Let me say up front, if I haven’t before, I am probably the least “craft-y” girl you know, but I live with extremely talented, “craft-y”, artistic people. There’s a beautiful mix of visual artists, performing artists and musicians that live in my home that I get to share my life with…and unfortunately, for most of our time on this earth together I have completely misunderstood and probably misrepresented them as messy, inefficient people who would be so much more “productive” if they would just focus more.

When my oldest was a little girl, maybe 3 or 4, someone gave her an ENORMOUS bead making kit for Christmas or her birthday, I can’t remember which one. Within five minutes, which was as long as it took her to figure out how to unseal the case, that kit had exploded in my living room and about five million beads went everywhere. I remember saying unkind things under my breath about the person who gave her the kit, as I spent the rest of the day on my hands and knees trying to clean it all up. We had an infant learning to crawl and all the beads just looked like a snack to her.

It became apparent that all those beads were never going back into their case, so I found a huge gift bag with handles and just started dumping stuff in the bag. Once it was all in the bag I handed it to Liv Loo and told her she could play with it as long as everything went back in the bag after she was done. Well it didn’t take long for her to start putting her other valuables in the bag. She stuffed it not only with the bead kit, but glue sticks, bits of string, construction paper, gum wrappers, play dough molds, safety scissors and anything else that looked interesting to her. When asked what was in that bag she would say, “That’s my make-stuff.”

She carried that “make-stuff” bag around like it held the crown jewels.  She even slept with it sometimes.  Or more likely she simply fell asleep in the middle of her “make-stuff” when she pulled it back out long after the door was closed, the lights were off and she was supposed to be asleep.  She would sit for hours dumping it all out and creating beautiful art. She was processing her world. Her art included Barney, Popey and me, her sister with the “tight ears”, Mimi and Cod, Aunt Missy, her blue house, her green van and her school.

Back then I cringed every time that “make-stuff” bag came out because it meant days of finding beads and bits of string and paper everywhere. But in hindsight I smile and love all the beauty that came out of that mess.

So, now as I look forward to the season this year of celebrating the Christ who is Love and who has been coming for me since before time…coming for me right in the middle of my mess, I have a much greater appreciation for the “make-stuff” bag. Life is a lot more art than formula. A lot more messy than neat. A lot more about expression than production. It’s all about Love and not having everything tied up with a pretty little bow.

On this 31 Day journey, my artistic processing of these truths will be with my words. But this December I think I’ll see if I can find that “make-stuff” bag. And if I can’t maybe it’s time for a new one. I am pretty sure if I moved some furniture in the blue house, I’d still find a few beads and bits of string.

by

31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 1

31daysbuttonsophie

31 Days :: Day 31

31 Days :: Day 30

31 Days :: Day 29

31 Days :: Day 28

31 Days :: Day 27

31 Days :: Day 26

31 Days :: Day 25

31 Days :: Day 24

31 Days :: Day 23

31 Days :: Day 22

31 Days :: Day 21

31 Days :: Day 20

31 Days :: Day 19

31 Days :: Day 18

31 Days :: Day 17

31 Days :: Day 16

31 Days :: Day 15

31 Days :: Day 14

31 Days :: Day 13

31 Days :: Day 12

31 Days :: Day 11

31 Days :: Day 10

31 Days :: Day 9

31 Days :: Day 8

31 Days :: Day 7

31 Days :: Day 6

31 Days :: Day 5

31 Days :: Day 4

31 Days :: Day 3

31 Days :: Day 2

Welcome to 31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 1! (Yes, technically this is posting on September 30th, but since it’s late in the evening, we’re all just going to pretend it’s October 1st.

As I shared last week, I decided to join the 31 Days of Writing party at The Nester’s this year. It seemed fitting given that not having a blog to wear to the party last year is one of the things that inspired me to actually start my blog this year.  Practically speaking, this post will be an index page for all of my 31 Days posts, sort of a one stop shop.  So if you don’t want to receive an update every single time I post this month (that could be annoying), you could simply bookmark this page and come back when it’s convenient for you to read and then temporarily unfollow my posts.  I promise, I won’t take it personally if you choose to unfollow me this month.   But do please come back in November.  If you choose to continue receiving email updates throughout the month of October, well all I can say is THANK YOU!   You are the most amazing follower EVER!  Now onto the first post…

********

Five pages into Ann Voskamp’s latest book, The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas, I was inspired to spend these 31 days of October reading selections from the book and writing out my own Advent thoughts and responses. Maybe a little heart-tuning to Advent in October will bear fruit of gratitude in December when everyone else’s attention also turns to the Babe in a manger.

As the book opens on page vii, with “Your Invitation to Unwrap the Gift”, I read words that have a familiar echo in my own heart in recent months: “…without the genealogy of Christ, the limbs of His past, the branches of His family, the love story of His heart that has been coming for you since before the beginning…” (page viii) and, “This, this is the love story that’s been coming for you since the beginning,” (page x).

The Advent season, the waiting, the coming of Christ, didn’t begin with the Immaculate Conception. It didn’t begin when an angel spoke to a young girl that she would be the earthly mother of Grace wrapped in humanity. It began before a promise to David, before a covenant with Abraham, and even before the promise and comfort in the middle of a curse in Eden.

Advent began before time when Love, in community with itself, decided to create an object for its affection. Christ, Emmanuel, God with Us was never Plan B. He was not Father God’s response to our poor decisions. He is The Plan and He always has been. Pure, unconditional Love wrapped in flesh, inserted into time and space for you and me.

“He’s been coming for us since before the beginning.”

by

31 Days Idea

Last year one of my favorite bloggers, The Nester, announced that for the fourth year in a row she was going to write for 31 days straight about one specific topic in the month of October.  And for the fourth year in a row she invited others to join her and link up their posts on her site, every single day for the month of October.

I really wanted to join in, but alas at the time I had no blog.  I had nothing to link up with.  I had no place to post my thoughts.  So for thirty-one days I read her series.  And I read some of the others who linked up with her.  Twelve hundred folks linked up to her blog and participated in the 31 Days series.   I know this is a bit ridiculous and probably slightly dramatic, but I felt a little like Cinderella…I was invited to the party, but I had nothing to wear so I couldn’t go.

So when I started my blog in January this year, in the back of my mind was the spark of hope that this year, 2013, would be my opportunity to join in the fun.  I finally had a dress for the ball.  I realize writing for 31 days straight about the same thing might not be anyone else’s idea of fun, but it sounds very intriguing to me.

Honestly, I am not even sure I can do it, but I would like to try.

Now, I’ve had all year to think about what topic I would write about for 31 days, but last week when the proverbial rubber met the road, I drew a complete blank.  I almost started to panic because I have looked forward to this for a year and now that it’s here I was coming up empty…until the light bulb came on and inspiration rang through me like a bell.

Allow me to elaborate…a few weeks ago Ann Voskamp’s new book came out, The Greatest Gift:  Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.  The book is laid out in 25 daily selections meant to be read in the Advent Season (the first 25 days of December).  When I ordered my copy of the book I intended to save it for the Christmas season, but how could I wait????  It’s Ann Voskamp for goodness sake.  So I started enjoying myself a little Christmas in September last week.

That’s when it hit me that I would love to read a selection of her book each day in October and then write a response to it.  Her book includes thought-provoking, reflection questions at the end of each reading selection so if I get stuck I could use the questions as a launching place.  The only obvious problem is that there are 25 reading selections and 31 actual days in October, so I think I will just choose six selections and write two responses to them.  Again, it’s Ann Voskamp, finding multiple themes and layers to write about from one selection should not be a problem.

I am posting this on Monday this week so that I can take the rest of the week to plan and start working on this little 31 Day writing project.  There are a couple of tech-y things I need to try to figure out and honestly the tech-y stuff is not my strength.  I am excited though to debut this neat little graphic that my 13-year old helped me design (maybe I should just hire her to figure out ALL of the tech-y stuff):

31 Days of Advent in October

The other reason I am posting this on Monday is in case any of you would like to read the book along with me and then post your thoughts or responses to it in the comments each day.  If you are interested you have time to pick up a copy of the book before October 1st.  If there are no takers, that’s fine, after waiting a year to do this there’s not a lot that will squash my excitement.

by

In Which I Learned Something about Myself

And there is still another layer to the riveting drama in my Winn Dixie post earlier this week. When I sat down to write that post on Monday, I had been really thinking about it and talking to the Lord about it for the better part of a week. The revelation of God’s profound demonstration of love for me in the midst of my brokenness and how he moved heaven and earth to show me that love was very overwhelming for me. While I am prone to exaggeration for comedic effect, I do mean literally that He moved heaven and earth because Popey had just been transferred back to the US after being stationed in Egypt for a while.  In fact, his poor lips were still scarred from the middle eastern sun and he had white lines around his eyes from squinting.  And we met at exactly the right time.

Anyway, as I was processing all of the emotions that welled up over the extravagance of God’s love, I wanted to share that with the man God used so wonderfully. So when he came in from work on Friday evening (now remember, I had been thinking about this A LOT and even shed a few tears) here’s how that conversation went:

Me: “Thanks for chasing me down in the Winn Dixie all those years ago.”

Him: (smile) “You’re welcome.”

Me: (my heart was full and my mind went completely blank and nothing else came out)

I was so frustrated with myself for not being able to say what I was feeling and actually have a conversation about it. And then I couldn’t even say that I was frustrated with myself.  But then we had ice cream and it was all good.  We deal with a lot of things over ice cream.  Which by the way is a tradition that started back in my Winn Dixie days.  Popey would drive home from Fort Bragg just to see me on my 15 minute break at work and we would go to the little frozen yogurt shop around the corner from my store.

Soft ice cream

Fast forward to Saturday morning. One of my daughters shared with me a particularly painful situation she is walking through and how her heart is broken (Just know there is a future post I am developing about how hard it is to watch your kids struggle and that Jesus really is enough for them too). On the inside I had a lump in my throat and a heaviness in my own heart, but when I tried to say something my mind went completely blank, AGAIN. I felt terrible for her. She poured out her heart and I went blank.

But I realized that I actually feel this way often, when my emotions well up somehow words don’t flow from my mouth.

Later on Saturday I apologized to my daughter for not being able to articulate my feelings earlier and she said, “It’s ok Mom. I get it when you write. I cry every time I read something you write, whether it’s a blog post, a text or an email. That’s how you communicate your feelings. You write them.”

Study

And that’s what I learned about myself…I am pretty good at verbally communicating thoughts, ideas, information, even instructions, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t say what I am feeling.

So to everyone in my life who has ever shared something painful, joyful, heavy or crazy and I just stared back at you like I had no idea what you meant, I would like to offer my most sincere apologies. Please know that I heard your heart, I felt your pain, I shared your joy, I was grateful for your gift, but my emotions closed off my throat and I was literally at a loss for words. Next time I will write you a note. 🙂

And if you are asking yourself, “Does she know herself at all?”  The answer is definitely no, but I know the One who does and He’s revealing it to me every day.

Amen.

by

The Party’s Over & Some Lessons Learned (It’s a Two-fer!)

The Party's Over

The Party’s Over (Photo credit: BrianTuchalskiPhotography)

It’s a sure sign that the party is over and school is back in when by 8:30 a.m. on a Monday morning I have showered; dressed; brushed my teeth; put on make-up, or at least some of it; done two loads of laundry; completed carpool; gone to the grocery store (because I actually know what I am making for dinner); made my bed; unloaded the dishwasher; had two cups of coffee; have had two separate, full-length, adult conversations; and am sitting down to write my SECOND blog post of the day. This won’t post online for a few days, but just know I was thinking about you during my coffee buzz.

As a side note though, I just walked past a mirror and realized that while yes I did actually put on lipstick this morning before going to the grocery store, I didn’t do it well…as in it wasn’t all ‘in the lines’ so to speak. Apparently I either did it in my sleep or without my glasses on. So I apologize to anyone I may have frightened while in the Harris Teeter. I sort of looked like Heath Ledger’s The Joker in The Dark Knight…only I did shower. The other bothersome thing about this lipstick-gone-wrong episode is that at least one of my children saw me that way BEFORE I entered the store. I think I know what we will be talking about over dinner tonight…

So this post is sort of a continuation of what it means to me to have written 70 posts, although now it is officially 71. I was thinking about things I have learned. I no illusions that I am an expert a mere nine months into this blogging journey, these are just things that have blessed me and given me a sense of freedom.

  1. It’s ok not to know exactly what you are doing when you start. It only took me an hour to set up the blog (thank you Word Press!), but it took me another month to learn how to appropriately add links to my posts.  Adding photos took even longer. Yes I could have asked others who know more than I do (and I did some of that), but in the beginning it took all the courage I could muster just to press Publish for each post. So for a while I just focused on getting words down and clicking Publish. And that was enough.  There are still a lot of techie things I would like to learn, so I am taking them one thing at a time.  The most important thing for me is actually the content, even though that may not always be apparent, so that’s where I tend to put my energy.
  2. You don’t have to do it exactly like everyone else. There are many folks out there who willingly share their expertise on how to blog and I enjoy reading their ideas. Sometimes I try on their ideas and if they fit I use them.  If they are just not me then I drop them like a hot potato. If you follow all the how-to’s and formula approaches to blogging (and there are many out there) then your work will look just like theirs. That’s fine if that’s your goal, but I am not sure it’s mine. I realize that certain ‘rules’ apply in terms of achieving social media success, but for me this is more art and less science; it’s more about expression than displaying work product.  I know that’s a little Pollyanna-ish, but that’s where I am.
  3. It’s perfectly ok to try out different writing styles and voices. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you are comfortable with and what you like. I have enjoyed this trying-on process. There’s freedom in knowing every piece doesn’t have to ‘sound’ the same. For instance, I am the same woman who has written about tube tops and Speedos and Bible study and theology and deer in her back yard. I have at times worried it may come off as schizophrenic, but what can I say? I am some amalgamation of Steel Magnolias meets C. S. Lewis meets Stevie Nicks meets Kay Arthur meets Lord of the Rings meets The Middle (Is that the opposite of not being June Cleaver?). It’s bound to come out in my writing.
  4. Every time you sit down to write you don’t have to produce something for public consumption. It’s ok to play with words. It’s ok just to write.  It’s ok to have fun and enjoy writing for its own sake.
  5. Sometimes you just have to let it go. The truth is my ‘need’ to manage your opinion of me makes me want to edit everything to perfection. But my desire for connection on a level deeper than grammar and punctuation makes me click Publish many times before I feel like I am finished. Communicating the message, expressing my heart, and connecting with the reader is a higher goal than someone thinking I am a Grammar & Spelling Ninja. Personally, I think perfection and connection are mutually exclusive. It’s virtually impossible to do both and ever actually get your ideas out there for discussion – at least in the blogging format.
  6. It’s ok to work on more than one thing at a time. Initially I felt like I had to finish everything I started before I started something else. If I set one thing aside to work on a new idea, it felt like adultery. But then I heard someone mention that they have over 200 unfinished posts in their Drafts folder that they periodically pull out, polish and publish.  It was a light bulb moment.  Now I too have a Drafts folder. She is my friend. She holds ideas for me that aren’t quite complete or didn’t develop the way I wanted. And at the right time when the idea starts to gel, I can go back and finish it or totally rework it. I don’t know if I will ever use everything in the Drafts folder, but I like keeping my options open.
  7. It’s ok if people don’t like your work. Again, I am sure others might not struggle with this, but it’s hard when someone calls your baby ugly. But it really is perfectly acceptable for other to disagree with you, or not understand your point or even get angry with you. While I hate conflict and I don’t like being perceived as rude, sometimes we need to be provoked by another persons thoughts or opinions in order to cause us to look at ideas with fresh eyes and a new perspective. If you can express yourself without trying to simply convince people to like your work, it is very possible you can help them see from a different perspective. You can help shape your culture within your sphere of influence. I am sure even now water sport enthusiasts everywhere are rethinking their position on Speedos (major SARCASM)!

I know it’s weird to stop after number seven, but I could probably go on ad nauseam because the truth is a year ago this blog thing was just an idea without a name. It was a hope without an expression. So every single thing I have done has been a lesson learned. And every day that I hop on here and string words together, well, I am just grateful the internet is free and I don’t have to pass any certification exams to join the party.

by

Enjoying the Summer

Y’all, I have so been enjoying this summer.  It’s not so much what we have done, but probably what we haven’t done that has made it by far the most enjoyable summer on record for me.  The only really big thing on our calendar for the last few months was our annual trek to the beach (documented in some of its hilarity here, here, and here).  It’s the first summer that I can remember that I didn’t feel guilty about having down time so I filled it up with worthwhile and productive projects.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually did start off with a Summer Manifesto of sorts that I put in my desk drawer, but instead of allowing myself to be berated by a list of things to accomplish I decided to throw caution to the wind and not worry about it.

So I didn’t get my kitchen painted (hopefully that will be soon because my poor family has been forced to dine with various color samples on the wall for seven months while I agonize over Just The Right shade of whatever); I didn’t get up at 5:00 am every day to write so I could finish a couple of goals I have; I haven’t gone through my closet to pare my wardrobe down; and I didn’t even make up my bed every day (gasp).  I have just tried to go with the flow and enjoy time (a rare and precious commodity with working and driving teens) with my family.  Once again, in the interest of full disclosure, I was informed today at lunch by two of them that I am “always so tense about everything that it’s ridiculous” so I guess my version of going with the flow is different from theirs.  What can I say girls?  My blood sugar was low and you have my most profound and sincere apologies.  🙂

With that said I just wanted to share some interesting and funny quotes that have come my way recently.  I REALLY love a good quote!

“Hell hath no fury like a narcissist told no!” by my good friend and fellow Grace Girl, Holly (shared over lots of laughter and dinner).  I have chewed on this for weeks, because it is so true.  I think we can all relate to at least one time or one person in our lives this applies to.

“Why do I get my best ideas in the shower?” supposedly said by Albert Einstein.  Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way shares Einstein’s words when discussing the difference between our logic-brain activity versus our artist-brain activity.  According to her, showering and other things like cooking, driving, and washing dishes are all more related to our creative brain activity than our logical more linear brain activity.  The reason I love that quote is because this happens to me ALL THE TIME and I thought it was just me.

English: Albert Einstein Français : portrait d...

“The Living God dwells in us, we don’t have to meet Him at a specific address,” said by me.  I actually heard myself say this to a friend as we talked about why sometimes people don’t feel like they are “doing well with the Lord” if they miss church.  Why do we feel like we have to meet God at an address?  Christ IN us is the hope of glory.  The New Testament talks about Christ in us about as much as it talks about us in Christ.  Why?  Because we are in relationship together.  We are ONE, in union with Christ.  As believers we don’t have to go looking for Him somewhere outside of ourselves.  That’s what is so amazing about the New Covenant, it’s internal not external.  Any time we want we can simply start talking with Him because He never leaves us or forsakes us.

I love a good quote, please share some with me.

That’s enough for now.  Let’s just enjoy the last few weeks of summer and embrace every season no matter what it brings.

May the Lord give you eyes to see His daily new mercies, ears to hear the songs of Love He sings over you, and a heart able to receive and accept that Love.