According to my calendar, Spring is still officially 10 days away, but as the sun comes out after yesterday’s rain, it looks like Spring to me.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20
Grace and Peace!
We traveled to visit family this past weekend, to celebrate my father’s birthday, and get a major chore out of the way. Taxes and celebrations don’t usually go together, but this time they did. Having the paperwork completed meant I could relax and move on to other things…like having a whole day to spend with my parents and hear them laugh and tell stories…and it was good.
Riding home Sunday morning, I learned that my husband had arranged to take Monday as a vacation day. It was unexpected and I was delighted…and made absolutely NO plans at all. We would rest, do small chores, and rest some more…ok, I made some plans…and they were good.
I woke up yesterday morning and realized that the day had finally arrived when I could start a Bible project I’ve been wanting to do again. I had kept it as a treat for when I finished with the paperwork. With all of that behind me for another year, Genesis awaited. I focused on Chapter 1, noting again all the details of creation. They get me every single time.
“God said…and it was…and it was good.”
That’s enough for a whole faith series right there! Creation details aside, I am encouraged by the fact that Scripture says, “it was good” so many times right out of the gate. It does NOT say, “it was perfect.” I need that distinction as I create things even now, be they art projects, delicious meals, time set aside for family and friends, planning my own new garden, doing chores, or revising the budget. I need the reminder that “good” is a worthy goal when I (WAY too often) set my sights on the “perfect” and miss out on practicing the delights of the “good.”
Voltaire supposedly said, “Perfection is the enemy of good.”
Winston Churchill added, “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
I think they were both probably right, but then Salvador Dali capped it all by saying, “Have no fear of perfection–you’ll never reach it.” Ha!!
All things considered,though, the past few days came pretty close…and it was good.
Grace and Peace!
i have at least 1 half-written post in my draft section for this blog about forgiveness. I’ve been considering this topic for quite some time now. As I have been focusing on practicing the character and the ways of Jesus this year, it is a topic that continues to come up in conversations, readings, and prayer.
We ALL know what God has to say about forgiveness. I could list each verse from Scripture below for us to read again…but until we CHOOSE to be obedient, more reading of what we already know won’t be helpful.
I know all of this for a fact because I am working and walking it out in my own life right now…about a situation that happened more years ago than I’d like to say.
You should know that I just erased almost 3 paragraphs from this post. Apparently, God isn’t ready for me to share more about that right now. Fine. I can take a hint…and this is the one he sent me earlier today as I checked my IG account.
Maybe the hint isn’t just for me.
Grace and Peace!–and, oh, yes…forgiveness.
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28-33 (NKJV)
I’m thinking about this verse while clearing out some old clothes, and enjoying the lilies today. Practicing spiritual (and house!) maintenance with a smile and a wink at God who makes all things beautiful in His own time.
Grace and Peace!
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4: 6-7 (NKJV)
Today is a “heavy” prayer day. That means my inbox and my text streams have been getting a workout. As I came to one request, in particular, I was reminded that God heals us in many different ways. As I began to thank God for that, the verse above came quickly to mind. Even as I pray for physical healing, I know there is also a need for mental, spiritual, and emotional healing attached to each request…and most of those are never mentioned.
I pray for them anyway. Many of the regular requests on my list involve situations that we have endured and survived, as well. Knowing what I do, I tend to pray along the lines of what WE needed when we were “there,” and always, always that God’s best would be applied in ways that draw others toward Him and bring Him glory.
Some people aren’t always happy with what God brings, but I’ve learned that if I am to be “anxious for nothing,” then I need to remember that God’s plan is always best even when it isn’t always easy. Knowing that gives me a completely different perspective and a brand new way to read these words. When we allow ourselves to be drawn into a spiral of anxious thoughts, it is a waste of time and energy which amounts to nothing.
Talking to God, asking for His best, and being determined to be grateful for His loving Presence with us whatever He chooses to send seems a much better use of the gifts of life we’ve been given. As you pray for those you love today, remember to ask God to heal the hurts they never mention and that they would truly be anxious for nothing.
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.“
Psalm 5:3 (NIV)
Grace and Peace!
The other day I shared a screenshot with a friend who is taking a sabbatical from social media. It was of a rustic blue door with writing across it which read, “Temporarily closed for spiritual maintenance.” I thought it was brilliant!
She and I have been having a many moons-long discussion about how we feel the need to step back, go smaller, and slow down. Our secular culture fights these ideas, but we find them to be perfectly in line with what God is doing, not just IN us, but also FOR us.
It is not our job, or even our desire, to live in the chaos of where we’ve been. Moving forward, we will be among those who are quietly rejoicing as we work to create lives that focus on our faith walks, our families, and our friends. That doesn’t sound radical, does it? It isn’t. In fact, I think we would both say that we have done life that way for decades…but somewhere along the line, we over-served our plates, calendars, and mental capacities with too many “yeses” in which our commitments to “good things” began to encroach on our abilities to choose the “best things.” We chose to be Marthas instead of Marys…and, though it took awhile, it caught up with us. Big time.
Fortunately, we serve a God who not only modeled rest from the beginning, but sent His Son to save us from our sins AND teach us about how to come away, start over, renew our spiritual hearts and minds, and be better prepared to serve in more effective and affective ways.
“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:31 (NIV)
This week, I am practicing deliberate spiritual rest even as I prepare for taxes, upcoming family birthdays, future travel, and all the definitely Martha-type tasks that keep my physical house in order. It is my spiritual house that requires more than just my best intentions, and I am making a conscious choice to see that spiritual maintenance becomes more than something else to check off my daily to-do list.
What are you doing to take care of yourself and your relationship with God? Share with me, please.
Grace and Peace!
“What if your markers of success were how well you slept at night? how many books you read? how easily you laughed? how much time you spent storytelling, feeling warm in the arms and homes of people you adore?”
IG: @thedailyrest
“…part of living well in ordinary time is letting this day be good. Letting this day be a gift. Letting this day be filled with plenty. And if it all goes wrong and my work turns to dust? This is my kind reminder that outcomes are beyond the scope of my job description. “
Emily P. Freeman, Simply Tuesday: small moment living in a fast-moving world
Praying for a successful weekend–and LIFE!–for all of us!
Grace and Peace!
I spent most of last week driving through the countryside and doing paperwork in a hotel room. This week has been a catch-up week. I’m never quite sure how being gone from home means more chores when I return, but it seems to work that way no matter how much I try to “plan ahead” before I leave.
While I am quite enamored of keeping things organized and staying up-to-date in every area, The Move managed to disrupt my normal pattern quite a bit with regard to paperwork. My pattern–or practice!–of staying on top of this area had been temporarily discarded, so my process was broken, the result of which was a growing physical pile of paperwork, and an even larger knot of frustration every time I thought about it. Oh, I paid all the bills on time, but starting over in a new place always means more papers to be sorted, filed, and shredded than I remember from the last time.
I had handled the sorting and gotten all of the to-be-shredded stuff taken care of thanks to a local “free shred” day. That left the filing and the final accounting issues to be completed, so I carted a considerable stack of papers across 3 states so I could really focus. Sounds extreme, but it worked. While my husband went off to the job that pays the bills, I sorted out the ones that would be needed come time for filing our taxes.
As I did so, I once again vowed to keep current with all the paperwork going forward…just as soon as we get through taxes. I’m giving myself some grace until then. In the midst of all my vowing and organizing, I kept thinking about the quote below:
“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.“
Friedrich Nietzche
Nietzche’s “long obedience in the same direction” speaks to me of practicing ALL the things that will make our lives better in some way. While paperwork isn’t (usually!) life altering, so many other things, which might seem just as unimportant to some, will have a far greater impact on our futures. We get busy with all of the “expecteds” and leave out some of the “criticals,” like taking time to be in the Word, spending time just chatting with God about the little things, remembering to be kind, choosing to act in a patient manner even when we don’t “feel” that way, and reaching out to check on far away loved ones–or even those closer to us!
We don’t always think of those things as areas in which we need to be “obedient,” but each one allows us to learn more, become more, and share more about our God. What could be more important than that? Our long obedience in the same direction becomes an open avenue for our faith walk to be on display–and since our faith walk will be evident to all who see us anyway, practicing it in deliberately tangible ways will always help us enjoy a “life worth living.”
Grace and Peace!
My email verse of the day from yesterday (Thank you, YouVersion!) was Ephesians 5:1-2 (CSB), which says,
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.“
I opened the email just moments after I posted yesterday’s blog on practicing contentment. SO many things went through my brain all at once!!
- Practicing godliness (God-like-ness) is the same thing as “imitating God.” (from 1 Timothy 6:6)
- If I am to get the “great gain” from 1 Timthy 6:6, then I need to learn contentment as God illustrates it!
- In Genesis, each time God created something, He called it “good” and He quit for the day. He didn’t come back and try again on the same task 6 ways to Sunday over and over and over. He did a good thing and He moved on to the next task. While practice is still necessary for us mortals to gain mastery or improve skills, there is a very fine line between expectations and lunacy…at least for me. Honestly, I am WAY harder on myself than I am on anyone else–I always have been. With others, I can see, appreciate, and genuinely compliment their efforts at almost any given task. That’s the way we treat “beloved children” and how we are supposed to treat each other. It recognizes effort and encourages growth!
- While that part is easy for me as an encourager, I don’t always treat MYSELF as a “beloved child” of God. I am a pretty harsh critic of Becky. While I generally like me just fine, thank you very much, I demand more and better–even in the face of obvious improvement. This is not a result of comparing myself to others. It is strictly in comparison with what is in my own head, my own expectations just for me, and the image of whatever task I have conjured up as acceptable for ME to accomplish.
- It is probably harder to learn contentment, much less practice it, if you hold unrealisticly high expectations for yourself or compare what you have done and done well with what you might have done better in some mythical other option or circumstance. I can easily acknowledge that I did something well, but just as often, there is the idea/”knowledge” (insert eye roll here!) that I still expected more from myself.
- Perfection IS the enemy of good enough and, if I know GOD is the only one who is perfect–and I DO know that!–perhaps I can start learning contentment by cutting myself a little slack in hopes of learning to be content.
- I am grateful for a husband who recognizes my tendancies in this area and frequently encourages me to “stop being mean to his wife!” Ha! Perhaps I should start listening…she says as she draws more wild and wonky flowers…on purpose, this time.
Grace and Peace!
“Choosing to be thankful and learning to be content will fill your soul with peace and kindness. It is a choice, a habit of practice, which will indeed create in you a more beautiful soul.”
Sally Clarkson
That phrase, “a habit of practice,” immediately grabbed my attention. It was just another in a long string of things that God has continued to put before me about the word “practice,” right? Maybe.
I couldn’t find my notebook, so I grabbed a nearby cocktail napkin leftover from breakfast in the hotel and scribbled the words to take with me. It wasn’t especially pretty, but it was portable and that was more important.
Although the words are now inscribed in my notebook and ringing in my brain, the napkin has remained. I keep moving it around the room as though, by osmosis, it will continue to penetrate my consciousness and somehow become engrained.
What is it about these words that speaks to me? At first, I thought it was all just about the practice-thing. This morning, however, another phrase caught my heart: “learning to be content.”
Contentment is learned?! As my cat Smokey used to say, “Hmph!” I really hadn’t considered that before now. Contentment was, for me, a by-product more than an objective state to be pursued. When I got all of my stuff done, when I mastered this particular skill, when we finally completed a goal and took a short break…you see what I mean? I could be calm and peaceful even in the doing of something, but I wouldn’t have necessarily associated that with contentment.
My mind immediately raced to words from 1 Timothy 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” Well, who doesn’t want great gain?! Yes, of course, I have wanted to be godly, but I never gave much thought to the fact that, just as practicing what God does makes us more like Him, practicing contentment was a real thing. I’ve experienced it,of course, but have most likely called it by other names…”doing” names like, task completion, goal achievement, gathering/feeding family or friends, helping, and decluttering or having things organized “just so.” Always with the “doing” and rarely with the “just being.”
Maybe they aren’t completely separate for me. All those “doings” usually make me smile. I am a “fixer,” after all, but I think I’m going to start seeing if I can practice learning contentment with an awareness of that being my goal. I’m going to make it a habit of practice and see where that takes me. It is a choice after all and, like most things we try, we have to deliberately choose it.
What about you? Are you in the habit of choosing contentment? Have you already learned how to be content? If so, PLEASE feel free to share your insights. If not, feel free to share that, too. (Smile.) In the meantime…practice, practice, practice.
Grace and Peace!
Where observation and imagination meet nature in poetry.
the wanderings and wonderings of a grateful work in progress
the wanderings and wonderings of a grateful work in progress
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quiet ambitions: 