Today:
Author: pamela
Keeping Up
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately… you know, keeping up. Not the Keeping up with the Joneses sort of keeping up, but the staying strong and keeping up with the times sort of keeping up. It’s been going on for awhile, but I hadn’t noticed it so much in the last few years as much as I have recently.
On a recent trip down to SeaTac airport, there was some questioning who’d drive and who’d stay home. I volunteered to drive and as I was driving and the miles were passing… maybe it was mile-marker 14 or so, I mulled over the thought that I wondered am I going the right way — or will I miss my turn-off? Then I thought, O, that’s absurd, I go down to the airport at least once a month, if not more. Then I got to thinking, there sure have been a lot of changes to the Bellevue skyline and in the number of cars on the road. And I felt old. Music was playing… I hadn’t pushed any of the buttons (preset to stations I didn’t even know) and I noted that everyone in the vehicle was using some sort of device… listening, talking, texting… texting… texting. And somewhere along the way, I thought: Omy, I really must work at keeping up. A few minutes later, arriving at the departure gates, my daughter said I ought to go in and that she’d drive the van around; go ahead, mama, go ahead, I’ve got it.
Eventually I obliged and got out… still thinking, still feeling old, still thinking I need to keep up, I thought: Yes, you’ve got it; I used to have it and now I feel like I don’t. And time seemed to stand still for a moment as I waited with the others for the passengers to deplane. A bit later, as we made our way home, I commented to the driver, I need to keep driving sometimes — I need to stay sharp, I need to keep up.
She smiled and said, don’t worry, I don’t mind driving. And I thought, me neither. She doesn’t know I need to drive. She doesn’t know I need to keep up.
memories…
A few months ago, our son married his sweetheart and it seemed that those days brought about as many tears as they did smiles as we remembered — over and over again — days gone by. I’ve been thinking about that recently as I’ve been daily thinking of things for which to be thankful over the last thirty-five years. I’ve been overwhelmed with thankfulness to the Lord for my husband and for the blessings — the heaps of blessings thirty-five years have brought us. It’s amazing how many memories have come to mind — and possibly more amazing is that I cannot recall so many things that I’m sure were extremely significant at the time. It’s as if the flood of events and experiences have sort of washed over so many of them that most of them have been covered over — buried under the more significant events and experiences. Nevertheless, perhaps one day, I’ll be rocking in my chair and will remember things the way they were. I got to thinking of a song that was popular around the time of our wedding… and the words reminded me to remember the laughter… and the way we were…
Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me – Would we? Could we?
Memories
May be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it’s the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were
♥ favourite things
Here you go… favourite things… some great ideas and inspiration!
Love what you do.
You’ve likely heard the phrase: “Do what you love, love what you do.” Well… I got to thinking about that phrase sometime back and thought: one can’t always do that. And then I thought, maybe I feel like I can’t always do what I love [to do], but I can learn to love what I do (and change my whole outlook in the process). And so there was a turning point in my journey. One of many turning points. :o)
Lemme give you an example. Just this morning, I came into the kitchen planning to unload/reload my dishwasher (and to check out the horrific noise it makes when it’s running) and, upon opening the door, immediately coming to mind was the thought that this dishwasher smells bad. Smells awful, really. So I emptied the dishwasher and took out the racks. There was gummy-dirt in the crevices – what?!?!? This is a dishwasher — a stainless-steel interior that has multiple sprayers in it. How could the rack’s crevices be dirty? I took the racks out and put them in the bathtub and sprayed them down with cleaner. I proceeded back to the offending dishwasher and began to dismantle the sprayer and the spinner deal. I sprayed them with cleaner, too. I scrubbed the gasket… gunk was in the gasket of the hinged part of the door. Well, bleck. And then I thought…. and thought…. and it dawned on me that I could love to do just about any job — because it struck me, I’m not necessarily doing these things because I love to do them specifically — I do them because I love who I do them for — I love to have things be taken care of — not just for myself, but for my family, I love for my family to have their things properly cared for and I want my husband’s home to be a blessing to him. So, essentially, I do what I love and I love what I do.
Maybe a couple of you remember when I needed an attitude adjustment regarding laundry a few years ago (yes, it’s been that long). My husband asked me to just do it as a service to our family, not murmuring, not reminding them they were told to put the laundry in the hamper, not counting the numerous items — just cheerfully do the laundry. And from that moment, I have sought to do it that way. And I marvel at how a simple decision completely changes one’s outlook (and thinking!). You see, I decided that’s exactly what I’d do. And I did… and do. And I type this to the hum and the click, click, clicking of rivets and snaps whirling around in the dryer. I do a lot of laundry every day, so I get a lot of time to consider the decisions I make.
On any given day, I fetch things for others, pray and sing songs, I mend things, wash and iron, pray and carry sorrows, plant and dig up, listen and advise, fill cracks, pick up shatters, pray and dream dreams, clean up messes, make bigger ones and clean them all up again. I’m home. I do what I love and love what I do.
A few minutes ago, I looked up on the “white-board” to see a freshly written note: “We love our mom…. WLOM” And I thought: this is why I do what I love. This is why I love what I do.
Wherever you are: begin (again) there.
Now, this seems like such simplistic advice — it’s so obvious that it’s almost laughable. But when you stop and think about it, it’s true for lots of us that we cannot start fresh when we’re in the middle of something — or that because we’ve already messed up the beginning or have failed to accomplish the previous task, we’re sort of stuck into thinking we cannot just pick up and move on.
At the thrift store (or in my cabinet) I occasionally see notebooks or undated planners that have writing or notes in the first few pages. You know, like some mother had best intentions to start journaling or keeping a diary or baby-book or whatever and then “life” happened and entries didn’t continue. So, rather than just beginning (again) there — one of two things usually happens, the book is taken to the thrift store as a way of sort of gifting the problem book to someone else — that, or the previously written pages are torn out and the resolve to journal begins (again) there.
I know this because this has been my story in the past (actually I may do it again someday). But somewhere along the way I began to just write wherever I left off or in whatever journal/notebook was handy. I know this is a sort haphazard way of doing things and certainly messes up any semblance of order one might be seeking to achieve, but in the end, a written account is what’s desired and that’s what’s important. Get it written down and don’t get caught up so much in the process or presentation. Besides, the journaling is for your own mental sorting out and not for other’s opinions anyway.
So, wherever you are, begin (again) there. If you’ve got a notebook you first began using five years ago — and you filled only the first third of the book, it’s probably still got a lot of life left to it, so begin (again) there. Maybe you have a beautiful journal that you began using last year but quit on the 5th of January. Get it… start using it and begin (again) there. O, who cares if one year’s gone by. In the later pages you can sort out what went on in the interim. The point is that you can just begin (again) right where you are. Today.
Consider these verses from Philippians 3.8, 10,12-15
…that I may win Christ… That I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death… Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus… Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
You see? wherever we are, we just need to begin (again) there. Here are some things I’ve been thinking about in this last week or so. No, I didn’t complete my Bible reading for the year (read through in a year). It’s only the enemy who seeks to put me in bondage, reminding me of my failure and relegating me to start back at the beginning (adding to my doubt that I might finish it this year). Instead, I need to just press on… I need to begin this year (again) right where I am. And should I finish reading through, I can begin again regardless what the calendar date is. And my beautiful journal? I can write in it today — regardless the date of the previous entry. You see, it’s just bondage — unnecessary bondage — to keep feeling like a failure or to keep giving up. Galatians 5.1 says:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
It’s early in the year and yet many are already feeling like failures for not keeping to “resolutions” or goals. Maybe you intended to lose those 20 or thirty pounds and you already feel like you’ve failed since you’ve continued in your holiday eating mode. Maybe you planned on getting up earlier, to start running, to stop being quickly angry, to keep your tasks done. And now, already, the fifth day of the year, you haven’t succeeded in achieving any of them and you feel like a failure. Be done with those feelings — they’re powerful and they paralyze — they’re not freeing at all — and you’ll never move ahead from where you are if you’re entangled by those failure-thoughts. Resolve that wherever you are today: begin (again) there. And tomorrow, wherever you are: begin (again) there.
Living Sacrifice
As I’ve been mulling over my previous post, it dawned on me that sometimes language is confining and that what we think is commonly understood is not necessarily easily conveyed or understood/accepted by others. I think we sometimes put people off by the very things we say, think or do. As if, our goals or what we do or say is the “end all – be all” and that’s not what was intended at all. So, that said, here’s the song that was playing in the theater of my mind as I read and considered all the different aspects or areas I’m seeking to lay on the altar before the Lord today and my petition before Him. May it be a blessing to you, as well.
Here’s the song, Living Sacrifice… by Betsy Benefiel
Living Sacrifice
I want my life to be a living sacrifice
A sweet smelling incense for my Lord
An offering of thanks, an offering of love
I want my life to be a sacrifice
In Jesus Christ I too am crucified
Dead to this world by finally alive
He gave new life to me, to live eternally
That I might let Him live His life through me
I lay my life now on Your altar Lord
And give to You what rightfully is Yours
My body, heart, and soul, I give You full control
I want my life to be a sacrifice
2013… Endeavors
It’s a new year, a clean, fresh start… be done with lesser things, be a woman who seeks joy, peace and love — start today doing foundational things… and what are these, where can they be found, Who is the Source? The source is Jesus… Faith in the Living Lord Jesus and being found in Him… daily looking to Him; daily abiding in Him; daily watching at His gates and following in His Steps. All of these “Endeavor-To-Be’s” are nothing if not founded upon the Faith of Jesus and His Life in and through us — know this “in my head” and I seek to know it — truly know it practically: in my heart.
I pray as you read this that you’ll join me in this endeavor… that you’ll join me in seeking to press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. We read this in Philippians 3.14 And for this calling, I seek to have my heart fixed: endeavoring to be, and do, these things in a renewed desire to be a living testimony of the Mercy and Grace of God… for He alone is Worthy. In the end, I know I want my life to be a living sacrifice. This has come to mind in recalling different women in my life whose lives were truly a living sacrifice of praise and because they were faithful women it was always evident that their lives were worthy of emulation. And so, when I think of these women — along with women whose life stories I’ve read — it’s as though God gave me living pictures to bring to remembrance.
And so, today as I was mentally gathering the different virtues that characterized them — I realized there are so many qualities I have long desired to see bear fruit in my life and in order for that to happen, it occurred to me that I must prayerfully set my life on the altar that I might die to self, die to past failures and regrets, unmet expectations, disappointments, bitterness, shame, envy — all of these things, for they stand in the way of the fruit of the Spirit. When I allow any of these things ‘place’ in my life, it’s as though I invite the devil in for tea… to do and say, act and control anything he wants… it’s as if I let him set up housekeeping in my life — and I know that I know that I know I don’t want this to be the case. And so, God being my strength and my guide, my help and my source… I lay my life down at His feet that He might raise me up to be a vessel He uses, a vessel that gives Him glory and honour. Thus, my resolve is to have a life well lived and fully yielded to Him…
I Endeavor to…
Be in the Word daily.
Be in prayer daily.
Be thankful for each day and for whatever each day brings.
I Endeavor to…
Be a woman of the Word.
Be a woman of Prayer.
Be a woman who Seeks the Lord.
Be a woman who Listens for His Voice.
Be a woman who Obeys His commands.
Be a woman who is Faithful.
Be a woman who Believes.
Be a woman who Trusts and is Trustworthy.
Be a woman who Loves her Husband.
Be a woman who Loves her Children.
Be a woman who is Wise.
Be a woman who is Discreet.
Be a woman who is Respectful and Respectable.
Be a woman who is Thankful.
Be a woman who is Godly.
Be a woman who is Content.
Be a woman who is Chaste.
Be a woman who is Discerning.
Be a woman who is Kind.
Be a woman who is Honest.
Be a woman who is Gentle.
Be a woman who is Charitable.
Be a woman who is Modest.
Be a woman who is Grateful.
Be a woman who is Hospitable.
Be a woman who is Generous.
Be a woman who is Prudent.
Be a woman who is Merciful.
Be a woman who is Industrious.
Be a woman who is Courteous.
Be a woman who is Careful.
Be a woman who is Thorough.
Be a woman who is Honourable.
Be a woman who is Just.
Be a woman who is Good.
Be a woman who is Considerate.
Be a woman who is Forbearing.
Be a woman who is Honest.
Be a woman who is Resourceful.
Be a woman who is Meek.
Be a woman who Waits.
Be a woman who Listens.
Be a woman who is Gracious.
Be a woman who is Healthful.
Be a woman who is Diligent.
Be a woman who has a Tender Heart.
Be a woman who is a Living Legacy.
I Endeavor to…
Be a woman of Hope.
Be a woman of Joy.
Be a woman of Peace.
Be a woman of Patience.
Be a woman of Kindness.
Be a woman of Gentleness.
Be a woman of Temperance.
Be a woman of Inner Beauty.
Be a woman of Purity.
Be a woman of Grace.
I Endeavor to…
Be a sweet woman… a woman who seeks to be a sweet, fragrant offering… a memory maker… a sweet, sweet, memory maker. I want to gracefully move through the seasons of my life… fully in season… fully engaged… everywhere I am, I want to BE there…all there.
Empty Spaces
I don’t know what it is about “empty spaces” and my (and maybe your) insatiable need to fill them, but both are there: the empty spaces and the insatiable need to fill them. I guess I attempt to fill full spaces, too… but that’s another story for another day.
I was tempted to take the beautiful new calendar my daughter bought for me and insert it into the oak calendar frame and rehang it clean and fresh — empty — for awhile. But before I knew it, I was filling in birthdays — deciding to limit the notations to ‘family’ birthdays (and use my day-planner for these and everyone else’s birthdays) and other significant dates and events.
That’s when I began to think about the insatiable filling of space… spaces in rooms, on shelves, closets, cabinets… and: scheduling. While considering all this, it struck me: I cannot recall ever scheduling empty space — making time for nothing; read: no thing. Through all the many years of homeschooling, I’ve never scheduled time for “nothing.” I’ve scheduled “free time” but it was not for *no-thing* it was/is for all the stuff that couldn’t be done in a day and somehow the hope was to get it done during what’s loosely called free-time. I always find ways to fill and overload my “free time” so I’ll seem more productive.
Now, I know I’ve had days “off” with no real plans and I’ve frittered away the time doing nothing important and so I guess, to some, this would constitute a day of nothing — and — I have set aside days for which there are to be no “outside commitments” or no appointments, etc. But a day or a portion of time set aside for “nothing” on purpose?!?! — this, I don’t recall ever doing. Generally, when there’s down-time, it’s a result of cancelled plans or sickness or whatever — but not something scheduled on purpose — and it seems to immediately get filled.
My dear old friend, Florence, used to say that she scheduled a day of NO THINGS after each retreat or workshop for which she was the guest speaker. She’d do this to recharge — to rejuvenate — after speaking engagements that always tended to run long and require much “counseling” with attendees — generally coupled with long distance travel. I always knew this was her great joy and passion, but it took its toll on her — both physically and emotionally. I admired her careful planning and ordered life. But, truly, I also knew that her days of doing “no” thing were anything but days of *no* things. I know they were times of recharging, refocusing, resting in the Lord, thinking on His Word, listening to restful music and mulling over what all had transpired before the day of “no things.”
It was good for me to remember this as I was gathering my thoughts for this blog post… and I’m needing to consider this a bit more as I plan for the days ahead and all the different needs of this home and family. And… just like I’m trying to eliminate clutter from our home’s cabinets, closets and drawers, so also, I want to eliminate clutter from our schedules — AND — to plan for more *do no thing* times — scheduling some empty space times. I want us to be careful to follow the Lord in this so that it doesn’t become a time of silly things or a time for irresponsibility… I believe prayerful consideration and wisdom will be key in this.
And, as an aside, while I know there’s a good place for scheduling in different seasons of life — and some seasons will have some fairly intense scheduling — but when it’s all said and done, I’ve come to think it’s wisest to simply make a list of things that must be accomplished by certain times each day – and do them. And then a list of things that should be done at least every-other-day — and do them. And then a list of things that must be done weekly — and do them. You see? This way, we are trained and our children are trained to accomplish important things — decently and in order. I think it takes some times of *no* things to focus on, be ready for and appreciate the times of more things.
So… I’m working on creating some more ’empty spaces’ from time to time…
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas
by – Carroll Roberson
On the first day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: salvation full and free.
On the second day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the third day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: Peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the fourth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: love for all men, Peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the fifth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the sixth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me; power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the seventh day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the eighth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: a robe and a crown, a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the ninth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: mansions above, a robe and a crown, a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the tenth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: streets of pure gold, mansions above, a robe and a crown, a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the eleventh day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: a thousand tongues to sing, streets of pure gold, mansions above, a robe and a crown, a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.
On the twelfth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me: eternity to praise, a thousand tongues to sing, streets of pure gold, mansions above, a robe and a crown, a body glorified, power from on high, joy for my soul, love for all men, peace in my heart, everlasting life, and salvation full and free.