When We Fall for the Lies of More... A Five Minute Friday post.

Apparently I need to reset an alarm to remind me of #fmfparty on Thursday nights!  I got a new phone and realized last night around 8:45pm how much I relied on those little reminders! (I wonder what else I missed out on this week?!)

So no party last night for me, but here we are on a gorgeous Friday morning...
You know the drill:

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: MORE

{GO}

"There is no striving..."

I am in love with Rita Springer, and her newest CD Battles is amazing.  I first heard this song when she was singing with the worship team at Bethel a few years ago.  To find it on the album was a gift... a much needed gift in this season of declaring over and over things like, "It's not what you DO, it's who you are!"

So, this song is what is on repeat as of late around here.

Apparently, I need the reminder! 
I think we all do, really!

Because we DO strive... 

We fall for the lie that whisper-yells that
what we really need is MORE... 
What is really missing is (fill in the blank)...

And yet... we know the Truth.
(It's just that sometimes we forget!)

When God Removes Your Comfort Zones...

Honestly... I. Just. Can't.

I thought, "I know today is a writing day, Lord. But I just can't. I can't find words for all of my feelings and my emotions are not allowed to boss me around when there is so much frantic noise and so I just am not feelin' it today. I'm sure You understand, right? Surely - You had a day or two when You were here in the flesh, putting up with all this mess..." (fades off, ducking head.)

Yeah.  Some days it is hard. 

Life comes at us and can seem unfair (It is.) 
And unjust (Again, it is.) 
And brutal (...)  

It can feel like it would just be easier to escape with Netflix... to turn your back... (to turn off the t.v. --which is really not bad advice, btw!) 

It can feel like we miss the days when we were sleeping in ignorant bliss...

How Small Wonders Add Up to Something Big...

Remember how my #OneWord365 is Wonder, and how my Honey's word is Change? 

...how he wanted to be less predictable and more spontaneous?

Yeah. That.

Well then, we are on the right path!

I wrote about it on Friday and I'm pretty sure this will not become the church plant blog, but you guys... we are gloriously in over our heads! For real.  But we also know that our team is His team and He is leading us.

Here's the deal though:

He, who is never in a hurry, is moving FAST, y'all! 

It feels rushed and too quick and maybe even a little reckless. 

...Or maybe it just feels like there is no comfort zone.

Yes. Maybe that's it.

When a Writer's Conference Connects More Than Writers and Opens More Than Doors... (Part Two)

* This is Part TWO regarding the Faith and Culture Writer's Conference. Please read Part ONE here!

It's Wednesday afternoon as I am writing this and I should be doing a number of other things, like preparing for our small group, restocking our empty cupboards... probably a ton of other errands or tasks that I normally scratch off my bossy list on Wednesdays. 

But not today. 

Not yet.

Today I am giving myself grace and a bit of space... I am letting go of all the Should-Do's and Must-Get-To's and instead, I am sitting quietly, praying intently, and waiting for God to continue to bring form and focus to a blurry vision.

Small Wonders... Post-Easter Thoughts of "What Now?"

Here we are... the day after Easter and the baskets are all strewn about, the eggs are found/deviled/consumed, the candy is gone and the Tomb is still empty.

After all the build-up and anticipation, it's easy to feel the Monday blah's mixed with a holiday hangover and sit in the midst of returning to regular life and think,

"But now what?"

Even in that, we know we are not alone!

Surely the disciples and followers way back in the day wondered the same thing: "So, praise God and Hallelujah, He is Risen! But now what?

Letting Go of Lent, and Leaning in to this Brand New Life - aka Easter, and Carrying the Cross...

So I was going to sit down and get all real and honest with y'all and tell you how I sort of let go of Lent this year... --how I blew it and gave up without even noticing, and how the real challenge came once I DID notice because the thing I was 'giving up' for Lent was Negativity, so... you know: Hard.

But then my friend Kim went and already wrote that post so I thought - whew... off the hook, right? 

Yeah, not so much, because lately He has been shelling out grace while calling me to lean in, stretching me thin, and He has been reminding me, once again (again), just what Easter and Lent and this whole Holy week is all really about! 

And it's all about this:

When it turns out that He makes a better Boss after all...

You know how it goes...

It can be with anything... you can fill in the blank, but God opens a door and you begin to make a plan.  You start to decide how things will go after you walk through and you start to flesh it out and make it happen.  

It doesn't matter if it is something new or something you have done a thousand times... in your mind you see the open door and immediately begin to create an outline; a safety net; you know --a comfort zone of how it's gonna play out.


Sometimes He lets us play like that. But sometimes He likes to stretch us and grow us and remind us that He moves inside and outside of time and that He makes a better Boss.  

You're Loved No Matter What - A Book Review

So, it's Wednesday and apparently the kids these days have this little thing they call 'Woman Crush Wednesday' and while I don't love the title, there is this:

(And these are just the ones that I haven't loaned out right now!  There are others, too!)

I sort of do have a 'crush' on Holley Gerth!  She is an encourager, a believer in fully investing, a life coach and counselor, a friend and mentor and sister to all who cozy up for a cup of coffee or tea (whether it be face to face, or virtually over in her little corner of the interwebs, or at the site she co-founded that we all love, Incourage.me)  She is a stirrer-upper and igniter and releaser of God-Sized Dream(er)s and, really, who doesn't love (and need a bit of) that?

It's true... pretty much whatever she says/writes/posts, I think y'all should read because reading her words is reading her heart, and reading her heart is letting His heart beat stronger and louder and clearer -in you, for you, and through you. 

Thin Ice over a Deep Well... or, We Don't Have Time to Maintain These Regrets.

"Thin Ice over a Deep Well..."

I wrote this phrase in a post last week. As I went back and reread it, it caught my breath because rivers of living water should be free to overflow - as in, out of our bellies... out of the deep deep wells.

I prayed and asked God what the 'thin ice' represented and immediately He reminded me of a comment on that post by my friend Natalie Busch:

That's where I'm at too. I have never observed lent, but I like how that and advent are becoming more "christian mainstream?" if that's what you want to call it. Loved hearing your heart in all of this, it makes me think of the song "He Loves" where it says "I don't have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about the way He Loves us"...

Yes. That.

That is what the Thin Ice is... it is our regrets.

The "Thin Ice" is our regrets that stop up the flow of the Spirit.

Lent: the Giving In, the Giving Up, and the Giving Thanks

I mentioned last week that I had plans of writing about Lent.

Until, that is, the God of everything beckoned me to lay aside my time management goals and the blogging schedule I had been keeping and just come and sit with Him.  

At first I began a feeble attempt to explain to Him how I have this schedule and it's not bossy, but it is consistent and comfortable while still stretching me. I explained how I had plans already and, well... you know how that can go.  

Really - it can go either way. He gives us that choice.
But last week, well- I chose the better part.
(At least on Wednesday, anyway!) 

I told ya'll last week that I am no expert. 
Um, let me be clear: At. All.

I have no religious background with Lent. 
I have no list of how to do this Lenten thing 'right'.
To be honest, this may be the only reason why I am willing to try!  

Last year was the first year I ever even considered it. 

The Wonder of Time... How It Can Be a Gift or a Burden, and How Our God Isn't Bound to It!

Time has been my focus this year. --Or more specifically, remembering to spend it like money... to invest it and be mindful of managing it better... not wasting it away (or netflixing it away, or busying it away...) but staying present and purposeful in the time allotted to me each day.

If you do this well, then you love all the quotes about how we've all been given the same amount of time... you relish in how it feels to get All The Things done and somehow have time to spare.  To spare, ya'll! I have days like that too, but lately- not too many in a row, and I am working on that!

I am in a season now where I have a lot of time on my hands... my nest is empty and my hours are plenty and yet, still, I can find 5pm sneaking up on me too quickly with little to show for my day!  

I am reminded of my Summer of Silence (#10) and how God taught me that doing nothing and resting are not the same, and that often, when I am willing to be still, He is at work deep down and while I have nothing on the surface to show productivity, productivity that is eternal is happening nonetheless!

But here is what He is reminding me lately...

A Valentiney Post of Sorts --because, of course! (A Look at Hosea)

So you know how it goes... It's getting close to Valentine's Day and I have already told ya'll that I am a romantic and I am sure that was a surprise to no. one. And yet.

And yet, I really didn't want to write about Love, or Valentine's Day, or whatever.

I mean, really. The Internet is flooded with posts - some even great posts - about this upcoming 'holiday' and I even posted a Giveaway about it this week. (imagine brushing crumbs off of hands and walking away. There.)  Only not.

Because, here's the real deal: As much as I may have other things floating around my head and heart to write about - at the very core of who I am... well... there is this truth:

On How Declarations of Wonder Are All Around You...

A #OneWord365 progress post on how "Wonder" is showing up so far...

Here we are, one month in.  January has come and gone and with it, many lessons and revelations.  If last month is any indication, this year is going to be full!

I know many of you are snowed in, storms - both literal and spiritual - are coming hurling at you, one after another... for some, this Winter is cold and long and dragging on slowly in other ways. Some of you, somehow --you love Winter!

For us, well-- I've written about it a few times already, but for us, we've been fogged in for what feels like forever... no sun in sight. With all the mist and fog hanging low for weeks, romance gives way to darkness and it can start to feel heavy, even if we know it is just an illusion.  

When Fog Looks Like Glory and It Helps You Remember...

For me, the fog always reminds me...

I wrote about it a bit the other day --how we've been shrouded in fog lately... how it unfolds in layers and is constantly moving around and shifting, but it is not lifting. It's not completely burning off.

For us, well-- this is not normal.  We are a Sunshine-for-290-days-a-year kind of town, and too many days without blue skies can play tricks on your mind and press heavy on your heart if you let it.  

It can make you feel alone... hidden... unseen.

But for me... the fog looks like Glory and it helps me to remember that I am never truly alone.  

On Access... Both Freely Given, and Completely Denied... and How It's Really Up To You!

Last night, amongst our people, My Honey and I stood side by side, eyes closed, palms open, head back... and we collectively, intently slowed our thoughts by slowly breathing in deep - the whole group of us.  

Fully inhaling... holding on while letting go, inviting Him to come in and spill out and to linger all around us.

We gathered to talk of how we host His Presence.

What tools we use... how we tangibly pay attention to the fact that we are carriers of His Presence and our desire is to leak Him out wherever we go.

We are a Kingdom People... a Royal Priesthood... worshipers and lovers of God... We are Community and Communion and One with Him, while being wildly for each other. 

An Invitation to Put Down Your Mask, and Ask God a Question...

(and then WAIT, and Listen for the Answer.)

Don't you love it when you are digging in to something, and suddenly, that 'something' is all around? It seems like out of the blue, everyone is talking about it... you see it show up wherever you go, in whatever you read or listen to or watch? I know there is a scientific name or phrase for it (Baader-Meinhof) but really, to me it is God pouring out confirmation... 

For me, lately - it's been all about Identity.
   ~Who and Whose we are.

I have written about it all over this little corner of the interwebs and I will never ever stop shouting it from the mountain tops and whispering it soft into hair and hearts and tears... It is a vital message... and in order to answer the call to be real and live authentic and be vulnerable, well-- we simply must know who we are.

Too many of us... quite probably all of us -at one point or another- play act and put on masks and we will be whatever we think you need or want us to be... in all that pretending, we lose sight of the real us. But I am excited to tell you that those days are nearing an end!

Can I get an Amen?

For over a decade, God has been reminding me of who I really am... He sings it over me, He loves it in to me, and when I am tempted to believe old lies, to revert to old ways, to put on old masks, He laughs at me with wonder... because He knows...

He knows the truth.

Hope - It's What We Want... What We Really, Really Want...

Hope...

(We're gonna ignore that ya'll were just singing a SpiceGirls song in your head.  We'll just leave that one alone for now...)

Hope. Joy. Peace.

I know.  I know it's after Christmas and the boxes are (getting) put away and all the festive Advent talk can be pushed aside... there is an exhale that we made it through. 

We survived. And it was good... In this weary world, Christmas - Christs' coming - it is always good.

We catch our breath, and then comes the New Year with all it's Clean Slates and Righteous Ambition... with all the new ways we are going to be Nailing it in 2015 and whether we say it loud and proud, or pencil it in quietly, we are just praying that it's true.

Why I Love a Flash Mob... and why you probably do, too!

It's true! I love a flash mob! I mean as in, stop everything and watch it unfold while I am somehow undone.

Every. Single. Time.

It could be a breakout into song and/or dance, a marriage proposal, or a joke or ...anything.

Webster's defines Flash Mob like this:

FLASH MOB:  a group of people summoned (as by e-mail or text message) to a designated location at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing

This is the first Flash Mob I remember seeing falling in love with! (Because, really... who doesn't love lunch - and hello? Fun!)

There is something about a Flash Mob that just right undoes me.

Rejoice! Rejoice! (A Christmas Giveaway!)

I know, right?  Who doesn't love a Giveaway... but a CHRISTMAS Giveaway?  Well, come on!

If you are like me, then reading yesterdays' post about being ahead of the curve with a self imposed deadline and being almost done with all things Christmasy was just a fun little confirmation to just keep on being you!

If, however, you are not like me, and you are behind on all things Christmasy... well - Good news! I am feeling rather Festive and got a little carried away in both my crafting and in my shopping, so I am here to help a Reader out!