I am all about Quiet and Calm... About Slow and Sabbath. It took me years to give in to it, to embrace it. But this is actually how I am wired. As in, God made me this way on purpose, for a purpose. I used to fight against it... I used to try to keep up. And then I just gave up and didn't try at all for a season.
But here's the deal: I still have to do stuff! Being wired Calm... being a slow, internal processor is not all sleeping in and being alone (aka: introvert dreams)... It's not about being passive or ineffective. It's about being extremely intentional and very effective, within healthy boundaries. It took me years to figure out what those boundaries look like.
What is this? 2013? Tonight makes FOUR weeks... in a row, people!!! The Tribe that gathers online on Twitter on Thursday nights that make up the Five Minute Friday community is the best gathering of Flashmob writers around! We wait for the one word prompt and we throw caution and hesitation and editing to the wind, and we let our fingers fly and our feelings feel and we just wait and see what flows out in five minutes (or so! Because, grace!) and we hit Publish without second guessing or backspacing! Tonight one of our own seems to be nearing the end of life on this side of Heaven... and so in Andrews' honor, as we pray for God's Presence to be thick around him, our one word prompt is:SURRENDER! {GO} Surrender. I see the word and I think, yeah. That. And a heavy sigh quickly follows.
Why is it that when we think of Surrender, it's all shadowy and defeated? Immediately we feel the loss --of something, even if we don't know what! We see the giving up or giving in parts, but we don't often rush to fully embrace the ceasing and yielding parts. There can be such Peace in those parts! Why do we kick against actually doing the Surrendering when it can so often lead to relief and rest? I think of the modified hymn, I Surrender Some...
I was so honored to be on this Book Launch Team for Jo Saxton's new book, The Dream of You. Because - well, first off: Jo Saxton!Y'all maybe fell in love with her like I did while watching her speak at the IF:Gathering the last couple of years. And also: Identity... man! If you spend any amount of time around this little corner of the interwebs, then you know! Identity... I can't stop talking about it...
Actually, it's Identity +God-sized Dreams+Intimacy with Christ+ Prayer and what that equals is my jam! I promise you, I am not listening to The Greatest Showman soundtrack right now. (It's on Pause... literally!) I didn't want it to influence EVERY post I write this month... but I will say this: The Greatest Showman is all about waking us up to Dream again... to take risks --and yet to not lose sight of priorities... and this book? Yeah... this book is also all about waking us up to dream again... it's about our willingness to follow Him and take risks and be who He created us to be(--yes, I am TOTALLY hearing "This is Me" in my mind right now. It's fine.)while not losing sight of what is really important! In other words...
Three weeks in a row... and sadly that is some sort of record lately! My goal in January was to get back to writing twice a week... but this week was stealing all my words --at least the ones I would want to bleed out and hit publish for public consumption! Praise God we know not EVERYTHING is meant for the Internet, right? Still - it felt great to be back in this chair, with this Tribe, ready to let our fingers fly as we follow His lead with the One Word prompt! Tonight, that word for Five Minute Friday is:INTENTIONAL! Let's do this! {GO}
Intentional... Oh yes... let's be that!
Let's be intentional in how we spend our hours... days... lives. Let's be present and invest in those around us. Let's keep our eyes and heart open... I think Intentional is such a great goal... I mean to be it... to do it... but sometimes I forget! Sometimes it feels like there's not enough time, right? Say you feel it, too.
I'm not sure what kind of crazy 2018 is starting out with, but I managed to make it to the party two weeks in a row... even if only for a little bit! PLUS... I went to see The Greatest Showman again today, so it's shaping up to be a pretty stellar Thursday! Enough small talk... (We're not big into that around here, just in case you hadn't noticed!) Today, the One Word Prompt for Five Minute Friday isSIMPLIFY! {GO}
I see the word and I recognize it.
I've seen it over and over and over across all the social medias in the past few weeks! Maybe it goes along with the whole clean slate, fresh start feel! It sounds familiar because it makes me think back to simpler times... an uncluttered mind... an unhurried pace... an undivided heart. It makes me think of times in my life when life felt right and good and - you know- doable! A time when it seemed as if I was nailing it. (--at least more often than I feel like I am now!)
To Simplify... who doesn't want to do that? I mean, really? Our lives can feel like they are spinning out of control and as if we have crammed way too much into our days. We run around breathless and tired and we think, "Man, if I could just get a handle on my life..." So I stop and think back. I do a little silent reflecting and I discovered a life hack for you, sweet reader! Do you want to know the sure-fire way to simplify your life?
I love a full calendar and a bossy list of things to do --but not because I love to be busy... (read:I do not.) I love filling in and filling up a new week on my day planner because much of what I pencil in and write down these days are meetings with friends. I am scheduling Gatherings where I'm being intentional... Some of them are just casual meetings or one on one time set aside in order to build up and pour out. Sometimes it is simply to catch up over coffee and chat, and sometimes it's to set aside time to pray together and press in and release His Kingdom... on earth, as it is in Heaven! I hadn't been able to keep or make many of those kinds of meetings throughout most December. It seemed my Honey and I just kept passing some sort of bug back and forth in our little house throughout the entire month (or longer, to be honest!) and I was growing rather 7-ish in my impatience. You know, childish... stomping my foot a little in how my prayers were not being answered right now, today! Right? Please say I'm not alone in this. I think we all can fall into this stance without really being aware of it! So a couple of days ago, I was reflecting over the past few weeks and I decided to simply ask Jesus what His thoughts were on it all. (Brilliant, I know!)
Let me back up a little... This is what had happened:
Oh my Goodness... Joy! What Joy to be able to hang out on Twitter last night for the Five Minute Friday party! I have missed this Tribe and it was so good to be back and reconnect! Here's to a brand New Year... and getting back to a lovely routine that includes spending a bit more time in this little corner of the interwebs, pouring out my heart! I have missed connecting and interacting with y'all! So here we are: The first Friday of the year... and you know that means that we are gathering a flashmob of writers to type free and fast... all centered around one simple word. That One Word Prompt today isMOTIVATE --because, of course, right? (This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat, add a few photos, and hit Publish!) {GO}
Ah yes... MOTIVATE... Motivation... Drive...
It all goes right along nicely with the New Year. I'm not one for Resolutions as much as I am one for Goals - both short term and long term, but I will be honest here... (of course!) : Last year was rough. It's no secret. Some of the ways are out in the open and some of them are held close to our hearts. We were wounded and broken through much of 2017. Many of our plans were... well, you know how that goes!(Prov 19:21) We laid down a lot of what we wanted... or what we thought we wanted... and we gave room --made room-- for grace! Of course --there were high points and blessings, too! It turns out if we will keep our eyes wide open, there is always a mixture of both high and low... of both mountain tops and valleys... So here we are, at the break of a new dawn and this is when we huddle in close and we awake to dreaming, yet again! This is a new day... a new year... and we feel Joy already coming for us, even when our weary hearts and healing bodies are slow to line up with the Truth! We feel Hope arising and let me tell you...
HAPPY NEW YEAR, friends! I can't speak for you, but for me? 2017, man... good riddance!
Today starts the very very beginning of a brand new year! Blank Calendars, Day Planners, and Hope-filled Goals stare us down, waiting to be written and planned and lived out loud!
No matter how 2017 unfolded for you all, here we stand in the freshness of 2018 with a clean slate, a new chapter, a brand new year just waiting for us to step into it and begin again... New Years Day, for me, always starts out the same way...
There is something about a brand new calendar and a clean slate... a fresh start and blank page that just stirs up all the feels for me! Also - who doesn't love a calendar or day planner to fill up with possibilities and dreams for what's to come? (Stay Tuned for more on that below...)
I joined this movement way back in 2012. I've played along with the growing community ever since!
We pray and wait... lean in and listen, and we pick one little word... --actually, we allow one little word come and pick us! It seems to be more long-lasting than the resolutions I used to make and forget about in less than a week or two.
This year, my OneWord365 was "Dwell" and in the beginning it felt Oh So Romantic and Swoon-worthy! I couldn't WAIT to invite Dwell into my life for 2017!
I wrote a bit about Dwell here and here and hereandhereandhere--but really, a lot of what Dwell did was boss me around... from creating space for me to slow and rest and dwell with Him, to coarse correcting when I began to dwell NOT on Him --but other distractions that were stealing my peace and my joy, to causing me to Dwell when all I wanted (or thought I wanted) to do was cut and run!
In reflecting over 2017, I realized that Dwell was super bossy in both the good ways and the not so great ways, too.
Hey Sweet Readers! Here we are near the end of 2017 and even though this year was hard and threw some serious curve balls and knocked me off my reading game, you know how I love me some books... (or 'berks!' as in, "Ermagherd! Berks!") So this is the post where I take time to reflect back over the year and revisit some of my favorite reads!
Here is a random list of books I read and loved this year! I feel like I slowed down a bit in all the reading this year... growing a (church) family took priority over both blogging and reading a bit more again this year, and then there was all the days and weeks in hospitals and with family and friends both in recovering and in grieving.
Still... 2017 offered up a FEAST in words... Here are a handful that stayed with me!
I didn't really INTEND to take a little holiday hiatus but it seems as if that is what is happening! Life has been full (read:busy!) lately and I've been fighting to (re)find some margins! This truth, plus the fact that it's Christmas time and things have been a bit heavy and hard all year long, and the fact that I am an internal processor, and the fact that I am just plain old tired, y'all... well - all of that adds up to not much blogging as of late! I have intentions in writing book review posts and end of the year fun and other things, too --but let's just keep this real! I'll pop in when I can for the remainder of the year and will find a normal routine in writing hopefully come January yet again! Until then, I'll just play along with this -our final Five Minute Friday link up of the year! The One Word Prompt today is DIFFERENT.(This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat, add a few photos, and hit Publish!) {GO}
Hmph... I was talkingcomplaining to God about this just yesterday! About how this Christmas season feels different. I know we have experienced lows (goodbye Dave!) and highs (hello Lil Miss!) this year and yet the holidays came quickly and I didn't feel ready for them... I wasn't in the mood, yet! (Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?) I kept thinking the Christmas Spirit would come... but even by mid-December, I was still waiting for it to arrive. Christmas this year feels different... void... Traditions are still shifting and changing and we are making necessary adjustments but it feelsnot the same... somehow not as good. At least that is what the enemy whispers loud to me in the corners of my spinning mind...
I've been preparing Him room in my heart, but it's my MIND that is overworked and overcrowded and lately it seems I just can't get it to take a break, already!
Tonight is the last night of our Ladies Bible study that I accidentally started on Thursday nights! The good news/bad news is that while we are finishing up in time for the holidays, my Honey and I are praying about starting up a new group in January... but we have not yet decided on an evening. (It's just that Thursdays now seem normal... but we shall see!) For now... I'm just gonna quietly play along, last minute like, and sneak in under the radar on the One Word Prompt of FAMILIAR.(This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat, add a few photos, and hit Publish!) {GO} Once again, I accidentally saw the word prompt and immediately didn't want to write. In fact, I had decided again and again that I was just going to skip it this week. And yet here I sit... and the sinking feeling of Familiar will not go away. So I breathe in deep and slow... exhale fully and feel that old familiar ache.
That all too familiar issue... You know the one... it's splashed all over headlines and whispered about in workplaces and it is completely ignored at family reunions... It's the #MeToo of our time and when I see the word Familiar... oh I know... it is. It IS familiar... A couple of weeks ago, Facebook suggested I 'friend' the neighbor kid who sexually abused me...
Just a few more weeks before I can officially rejoin the Five Minute Friday Community of Flash Mob Writers who love to party it up over on the Twitter on Thursday nights! Until then, I'll just play along here and over at the Link Up! Let's go: This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat on the one word prompt of: EXCUSE {GO} I see the word, and I know what it means... but I hope I can uncover something different because, ...you know, ...excuses!
Gah! My mind goes immediately to exactly where I do not want it to go. Avoidance and excuses are not Kingdom ways... And I want my life to reveal Kingdom in every area. Conflict is not my favorite and as I wrote last week, we are a people of Peace. However, Peace will not reside in the midst of denial and excuses. ...Oh but the enemy will. The enemy will reside right in the midst of those things and make himself super cozy and at home there.
I have not been able to make it to the party on Twitter for a LONG time... (I accidentally started a Thursday night Bible Study - ironically going through Lisa-Jo's We Saved You A Seat.) . Still - it will wrap up in a few more weeks and I can't wait to get back to the Tribe! But until then, I will still play along in this little corner and over at the Link Up! Here we go: This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat on the one word prompt of: SILENCE {GO} I know... with all my talking about and putting into practice REST, and with the season of life as an Empty Nester, and with the fact that I am an introvert, one would assume that Silence is my jam. (I know... but I can't stop saying it.) And it IS! Normally... I love me some Silence...
A little slow and quiet space to soak and to unwind... to think and to pray... to recenter and refocus and to re-calibrate my heart to the rhythm of His. It is my jam... But then there are the times when the Silence is simply adding to the Noise in your head and for the love, Peace is elusive and the quiet can feel maddening, right?
No Fear In Love... I love this song... and if there is any anthem I want to sing over Lil' Miss, it is this one!
"Stir in me a love that's deep
A love that's wide, a love that's sweet
And help me Lord to never keep it to myself
And if my heart should dimly burn
And if my feet should fail to run
Call my name and I will come right back to You
Cause there's no fear in love
There's no fear in love..."
Go ahead... turn up the volume and let this song wash over you! (I encourage you to listen to the song before we pray!)
Let's pray:
Father God...
We thank You that there is no fear in love.
We thank You that even when worry and doubt
and unbelief and confusion begin to
whisper lies to our hearts,
we know Your Truth whispers
louder and sinks in deeper.
We thank You that You call our name...
As we transition to Mama's and Mimi's,
the enemy throws all kinds of unknowns
that attempt to sow fear
--sometimes out in the open,
and sometimes quietly,
almost undetected.
The cry of our heart is that
Love will chase away fear,
and faith will rise up
and take root in our hearts...
and in the heart of this
precious new Little One, too!
We pray for peace...
and we pray for boldness and brave.
We believe they can go hand in hand!
We pray that we will not keep
Your Name or Your Love a secret
but we will shout it out from the rooftops
and whisper it soft as we are
rocking this gift (back!) to sleep!
Lord, we really DO just want
to stay close to You!
Help us to keep it
that simple!
We thank You, Jesus
for how you cast out all fear,
for You are Perfect Love!
(1 John 4:18)
Holy Spirit, we thank You
that You are constantly interceding on our behalf
and that You reveal all truth.
When fear sneaks in,
he tells us lies that are easy to believe.
But You rush in...
You sing over us.
Help us to lean in and listen closely!
May we hear the sounds of Heaven
and the Voice of our Beloved,
as the answers to our prayers are released!
Amen!
***
"I wanna stay close to You
It's really that simple
I wanna stay close to You
Just as simple as this song
I wanna stay close to You
It's really that simple
I wanna stay close to You
My whole life long."
THAT is my prayer... for myself, for my Girlie and Lil' Miss... and for you too, sweet reader! And lastly, a picture just for fun:
Can you EVEN with her adorableness? #Gah! #Swoon #TotesAdorbs #Preshie
Can you believe we are already almost DONE? Tomorrow we will dig in to the topic of Healthy Boundaries a little further! No matter WHAT season you are in or what role you have... we ALL need to remember the vital importance of setting and respecting boundaries! I hope you'll join in on the conversation!
Today is Day Twenty Nine of 31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi! If you click over to the official 'Home page' for this series HERE, you can catch up! You will find links for each days' postings, added daily throughout the month. If you'd prefer to have them delivered right to you, I invite you to enter your email address to the right ('Subscribe Here') and subscribe to the blog. That way, once a week, each post is delivered to your inbox in a single email over the weekend and you'll be sure not to miss a thing!
