I am Woman, Hear Me Pant

I don't know about you, but I am in a constant state of self-improvement.  It's not that I'm unhappy with myself, but that I feel I can always be better.

My current improvements are centered around exercise, cooking, knitting, reading, my spiritual life  and my future.

Actually, reviewing the list I just typed, I  realize none of these are new,  I'm always trying to improve myself in these arenas.  Well, darn, if that isn't a discouraging revelation.  You'd think I would have nailed at least one of these by now.

• Exercising?  This has been a part of my life since my 20's.  I've tried all kinds of exercise for various amounts of time.  I think I get bored.  Currently, the 30-Day Shred is my exercise challenge.  That's where the panting comes in.  I did day 11 today, the first day of Level 2.  Can I share that I really suck when it comes to cardio exercises?  I love strength training and am determined to nail those abdominal workouts because of that horrible middle-aged belly fat, but cardio?  I think I'm going to have a heart attack.
• Cooking?  I got bored making the same old dinners back in January and have been going through the recipe box trying new, enticing meals.  It's a lot of work.
• Knitting?  I love it, I've been doing it for six years, I'm still slow.  On the needles currently is a cabled men's winter hat, a prayer square, a purse, a pair of socks and a shawl.  Projects demanding to be started include a second cabled hat, another prayer square, an afghan, a tote bag, a baby blanket and a summer sweater.  Maybe I need to give up on the cooking thing so I can pick up speed in the knitting thing.

Enough of this.  I'll pick up on the other three topics next Monday.

Is there anyone else out there who can't leave well enough alone and keeps trying to remodel themselves?  Share your story so that I'll know I'm not alone.

Grit - A Tale of Sailors and Oysters

Five Minute Friday

Grit is such an odd word, one we don't usually use.  It brings two images to my mind.

First I think of something I once read by Elisabeth Eliot.  She referred to someone as having  a lot of "sand".  By this she meant that the person had a lot of strength of conviction.  They knew what was right and they stuck to it.  I picture a seaman in his nor'wester standing on his ships's deck, legs planted firmly apart, riding out a vicious storm.  This takes courage, grit, "sand".

The second image I have is of an oyster. I was fascinated when I learned that pearls are formed in an oyster because of a piece of grit that gets into it.  The oyster covers the grit with layer upon layer of nacre that it produces until the grit is covered and no longer an irritant.  And that grit-covered nugget becomes a pearl

How magnificent if we could cover the grit in our lives until it is so smoothed over that it produces something of beauty and worth.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.


Confession time - I correct my spelling and grammar errors.
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A Lenten Soul in a Mardi Gras World

I was musing about the season of Lent today because I noticed on the calendar that it was Ash Wednesday.  When I was growing up, the church my family belonged to observed Lent (the 40 days before Easter).

As a kid, I went to our church school and every Ash Wednesday my teacher would go up and down the rows asking all of us students what our "Lenten Sacrifice" was going to be.  That is, what we were going to give up for Lent.
The usual sacrifices we offered were to give up candy, television or fighting with our siblings.

I don't remember if I ever actually made it through those 40 days without regressing to my usual behavior.  And knowing the kind of kid I was, I probably thought the whole thing was dumb.

But I wondered today about the reason for Lent.

You probably saw all kinds of news stories yesterday about Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and around the world.  The party-like atmosphere, color, and excitement are just the type of story reporters love to cover.  But, did you see any Ash Wednesday stories broadcast today?

Let's face it, stories of people with ashes on their foreheads or attending special church services aren't exciting.  Who wants to talk about sacrifice, and death on a cross, and changing your life?

Mardi Gras is crazy, fun, self-indulgent celebrating.  Lent is offering up what is wrong, what is sinful about ourselves and praying for change.  Mardi Gras is purple, green and yellow.  Lent is grey, the grey of ashes, the grey of a tomb, the grey of death.

Mardi Gras is instant gratification.  Have a good time now, laissez les bons temps rouler!  Lent is waiting, waiting for 40 days, commemorating a death, a sacrificial death, anticipating a resurrection, a resurrection that doens't celebrate us but celebrates a Savior.

How old fashioned is that?  I have to wait? There's a celebration eventually, but it doesn't focus on me?  That's what cultivating a Lenten soul in a Mardi Gras world is all about.  Waiting and focusing on someone else, a Savior.


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Shake it Up Baby

Do you know how easy it is to get stuck in a rut?  Day by day, by month, by year and suddenly a decade is gone; a decade!  And you look back and ask yourself "What do I have to show for it?"

Have I actually accomplished anything?  Do I have anything to show for all of the days that have sort of blended together and passed at warp speed all at the same time?  Those approximately 3,652 days (depending on how many leap years there were) that have gone by?

Whether you're on a career path, a homemaker path, a travelers path, a  motherhood path, a homeschooler path, a retiree path, some other path altogether or any assortment of these, it is so very easy to get so caught up in the daily routine that you forget to look at the larger picture of life.

You focus so intently on the one square inch of canvas you're dwelling in that you completely forget to look at life's large and colorful painting.

I am a believer in looking back and analyzing the past, but not dwelling in it.  Life can end in a blink, literally.  Living in regrets and mistakes from the past, and living (or existing) just day by day are such a waste.

So maybe you don't think you've done anything worthwhile in the previous decade (but I suspect you have and are just being too hard on yourself), make a promise to yourself to make the next decade count.

So shake it up, baby!  Try to live each day with purpose even when it's just a routine day.  Begin learning something you've always wanted to learn.  Work on changing that thing about yourself that you've never liked.  Make a plan for something - anything - and outline the steps you can take to make it happen.

Dream the dream you used to dream but stuffed in the drawer all those years ago.

Carpe Diem!

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Delight - simple, beautiful

             5 Minute Friday

What a happy word, delight.  I am filled with a sense of delight as I sit in a small rocker with tapestry cushions in the corner of my bedroom.

 It is a blue sky day with puffy white clouds,  The wind is blowing briskly sending my neighbors many, many wind chimes singing and clattering.

My fingers are still adjusting to the different keyboard configuration of my new 5-day-old laptop.  A gift from the delight of my life, my husband of almost 26 years.

I said this is a great Valentines present and you're off the hook for my birthday in March too.  He said really?  But not happily because he delights in pleasing me and blessing me.

The delight my husband bestows on me lifts me up and makes me a better person.   I want to be as  nice a person as he is.

I want to be delightful.  To bring delight to others.  To bring delight to my Lord.  To delight in my Lord.  To be as full of pleased happiness and thankfulness to Him the giver of all good things as I am pleased with my husband who excels in delighting and blessing.

I relish this five minutes of delight and peace.  A brief stolen moment in time.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you and leave an encouraging comment.


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Take Back the Day

St. Valentines Day is one of those tricky "holidays".  It celebrates love, more specifically, romantic love.  But, what if a woman doesn't have a husband or a boyfriend?  What if she doesn't have children or parents?

What does a  woman alone do when presented with all of the seeming evidence that everyone around her is loved, but not her?  Her co-workers discuss romantic dinner plans and receive floral deliveries and flash their diamond engagement rings and all she can do is smile and nod and perhaps feel a little empty inside.

I think we need to re-define Valentine's Day and make it not a celebration of love received, but of love given.  God's kind of love.  Perhaps our goal could be to see how many ways  we can show love to others.  The kind of love that gives with no expectation of a return.

I challenge you, and I challenge me, to see how many people we can show love to on February 14.

 Maybe we can start with those people we don't even like, let alone love.  How about the unfriendly neighbor, the  driver who cuts you off, the supervisor who makes your life miserable, the rude sales clerk.  God's kind of love is the kind that loves the unlovable.

Who are the unlovables in your life?  How can you show them  a God kind of love on Valentine's Day?



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Trust

Welcome to 5 Minute Friday.  This week's word is Trust.

In God We Trust.  Or so it says on U.S. coins.  A strong, profound, planting both feet on the ground statement.  But do we really mean it on a personal level?

If we truly trust God, we won't worry, be anxious, stay up sleepless at night fussing and fuming over this decision or that.  If we truly trust God, we will put aside our fears, anxieties and worries, close our eyes and go to sleep.

If we truly trust God, we will have a heart of peace knowing that our lives are not spinning out of control, but are perfectly IN control ... just not our control.  Are we willing to live with that?  Are we willing to give up the control over our lives, circumstances and decisions and really, truly trust God to work on our behalf?

It's a bold step to say and mean In God I Trust.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3.Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them.

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It's All About the Plan

Fourteen bananas are decomposing in my refrigerator.  Every time I open up the fridge, I can smell them.  I planned to make banana bread on Saturday, but that didn’t happen.   

I sort of forgot about them on Sunday, but then again I don’t usually bake on Sundays.  And then Monday came, which is always busy.  The bananas are still there and  I have to do something about them TODAY, or I’ll be sorry. 

Those bananas used to be jammed in the freezer because that’s where we toss unwanted bananas that languish on the counter slowly turning brown.

And you might be wondering, “What does this have to do with anything about life, transitions, plans or anything significant at all?” and “Who cares about you and your dumb bananas?

There is a point, and the bananas are my illustration.  That point is, you have to have a plan.  I knew I’d be busy Saturday and Monday and I knew I wouldn’t bake on Sunday, so I should have kept those guys stuffed in the freezer for a few more days.  I didn't have a plan.

And when you’re facing a life change, I mean a change you are expecting -  because some life changes come out of nowhere -  you need a plan.

It’s easy to let weeks go by, being occupied with all the things in life that keep us busy, and not make plans to handle impending life changes.  If you know you’re having a baby in six months, you know you have to buy baby gear and get prepared.  You don’t wait until you’re waddling along during month nine to get things ready.

Do you see a big change on your horizon like unemployment, empty nest, elder-care, divorce, new baby,  returning to school?  What’s your plan?  What do you have to change about life as you know it in order to adapt?  What changes can you anticipate and provide for?

Of course, you can’t anticipate every situation and possible outcome about that impending life change, but you can start to plan.  You can research, seek support, and discuss it with others who are involved and elicit their help.  

Are there any big, life-changing events in your future?  What are they?  How are you preparing to meet them?  I'd like to hear about it.

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Real..

Welcome to Five Minute Friday.  Today's word is Real

Now here's a challenging word, real.  In a world that is so ready to believe what is false, people so ready to behave falsely it is more than hard to be real.  We become used to pasting on the false smile and saying we are "Fine!"  when fine is generally the last thing we feel.

Why do we feel the need to lie?  Why are we so unwilling or so afraid to be real?  Maybe it's pride.  Who wants to appear less than perfect to all the perfect-looking people around us in their perfect-seeming worlds?

I struggle with being real and always have, I feel like I have to cover up the less than perfect person that I am.  I think I am afraid others won't like me if they discover who I really am.

And so I behave as falsely as everyone else in the land of cosmetic surgery called America.

One of the goal-ish ideas I've had since the year began is to be more honest with myself about who I am and my failings faults and strengths and to try to be more real with the people around me, not pretending I have my life perfectly tied together and that I am perfectly......

Five Minute Friday
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them.


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On the Loss of Her Child

Dear Nichole,
I can only imagine that this has been the hardest week of your life.  Losing a child  is a tragedy.  There is no other word for it.

I wish I were there to sit by your hospital bed holding your hand, praying with you and just being there.  I have cried for you and your loss every day. Can the tears of others wash away some of the pain?  I don't know.

What would be the words that anyone could offer you right now that would comfort?  I'm so sorry, I love you, God is with you....all good words, all true words, but not enough.

I know I am one of many pouring out a steady stream of prayers to the One who knows your pain, the One who lost His child too.  I hope you feel Him surrounding you with love and strength.

I am praying for you continually.
Love,
Your Sister in Christ

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