That Thing I Do Now - Vol 82

So... we're just not going to talk about the Super Bowl.  For reals... moving right along now...

I am here to hook you up with a Gathering of Awesome reads from all around the Interwebs!  There is so much goodness to be found out there, but every week I find a few Must Read posts that I think will incourage or challenge you in all the best ways! This week is shorter, because mostly - the 'video' I am sharing is Live Streaming and I want ya'll to catch it if you can!

Featured today are posts by Deidra Riggs, Alia Joy, Tammy Hendricksmeyer, Adriane Dimmitt, a post from right here... and - of course - a video to wrap it all up! 

Happy Reading! 
(Ya'll know to click on the authors' names below to read the entire post, yes?)

* This post by Deidra Riggs with Iterations of Grace...

"Grace calls us to walk a different way. We fall into grace, and for most of us, we discover grace at the end of a long road filled with trying and striving and holding grudges and wondering why and what for. This is the grace of God: rising up to meet us when we finally lose our grip and wonder who will catch us, now that we are falling."

* This post by Alia Joy with On Surrendering Envy and Being Enough... 
"I’ve sown a lifetime of envy into my soul, and reaped a harvest of fear.

Fear that I didn’t add up. That I wasn’t good enough or smart enough or pretty enough. Because there was a time when my skin was smooth like marble, and my body was strong and young, and I was cute-store-sized and I wasn’t enough then either.

And when I got married and had kids, everyone else seemed to remember to put the laundry from the washer to the dryer without having to rerun it 3 times.

Other women managed to keep their houses clean and artfully decorated with book page art and thrift store finds repurposed to look like Pottery Barn catalogs. Other women serve in children’s ministry with homemade healthy snacks and hand-sewn puppets. Other women didn’t show up to the community bake sale with cut and bake cookies and spit up on their shirts, their buttons wonky from misaligning one.

Other women ran marathons and started nonprofits and had careers and wrote books. Other women travel and speak languages and have passports needing additional pages. Other women have degrees and letters dangling off their names from prestigious universities. Other women speak and people listen, they fit in and throw their heads back when they laugh, wide toothy smiles, they don’t hunker down in the sofa and pull the throw pillow over their belly while trying to think of something to say.

Other women match ankle booties to skinny jeans and layer infinity scarves without strangulation of any kind. They can tackle a messy bun without looking like a small woodland creature is nesting in their hair. Other women wake at 5 am and have quiet times next to their vases of fresh cut poppies grown in their gardens which they Instagram next to their journaling Bibles with handwriting that looks like a custom font. They cook steel cut oatmeal for their children who eat it without complaint. Other women homeschool their children who are all fluent in Latin, have memorized the Epistles and have raised money for refugees in Africa, the homeless in their community — all while starting a clothing company from fair-trade-organically-sourced ministries in their spare time.

Other women do it better. Other women are better. I’ve believed it for far too long."


* This post from Tammy Hendricksmeyer over at outside the city gates with On Comforting the Spiritually Homeless - A Contemplation... 
"I watched the comment thread of folks who love their traditional church share about the good things offered for them. And I cheered them on with a bit of nostalgia, I did. So many churches have molded me, helped me spiritually grow, pushed me outside my comfort zones, and all of them good for changing me. Every last, single one of them—agents of change.

These days things are less known for me. In the past, I was sure there was an absolute right way. I stood my ground and drew lines in the sand. Many times those lines changed from denomination to non-denomination to organic and back again. Each with a bit of learning that widened the boundaries of how big my God is in our blips of eternity."


* This post by Adriane Dimmitt over at Lori Harris' blog with On The Porch...
"I continue to ask, she continues to answer, each response less guarded, filling more space than the last. She tells me of the high points, the moments of sheer joy since welcoming her daughter into the world. She tells me her plans and dreams and I feel the weight of responsibility that comes with each word shared.

I lean in to a conversation I could have easily avoided. I could have looked “busy” checking emails on my phone, or turned my head in my husband’s direction to catch earfuls of his conversation with a friend.

But God’s spirit is at work, tuning me in, slowing me down, giving me a desire to see, to hear, to engage the people around me."


* This one from right HERE with On How Declarations of Wonder Are All Around You...
"Wonder has shown up in laughter and tears, in faith rising and questions lingering, in the comfort of what is known and in the discomfort of being pushed out into wider open spaces of the unknown.  

Wonder has caught my breath, stopped me in my tracks, and caused audacious giggles to escape my lips unaware. 

Giddy... that is what Wonder can do to you.  
Childlike comes to mind.

Wonder is meant to stir us up and make us contagious... make HIM contagious..."

Lastly, we wrap This Thing up with a video because that is how we roll... Valentine's Day is still be bit far off, but this commercial - yeah.  This is a great challenge invitation!

...and this... This is the 'video' I really want to share! The If:Gathering is live streaming today (Saturday) and oh my goodness... make time if you can and pop on over!        

Happy Weekend! 

P.S. Check back on Monday for a fun Valentine/LOVEly Giveaway! (Ya see what I there?)