A Sign for Me

Prompt: Sign

// Lots of BLAH in my day today. Several things to feel very frustrated and discouraged and fearful about. BUT I looked out the window this evening and saw a magnificent cloudscape that reminded my heart that the One who made the heavens holds all these things in His hands. He is right here with me in the midst of my blah and my heaviness and my weariness. In fact, He's carrying those burdens for me.

“And this will be a sign for you…”

These moments where eternal truths settle down deep in my heart are often heralded by a simple sign, a pointer that leads my gaze back to the only solid foundation – the work of Christ on my behalf. It may be a moment of glory in God’s creation or a simple word of encouragement and truth, a Scripture that so perfectly addresses the thoughts of my heart or a song that combines beautiful words, beautiful melody, and powerful truth. //

These are signposts that point me back, again and again, to the peace that is beyond understanding and that guards my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

One Step to Global Impact

Prompt: Global

// Yesterday our family dinner conversation centered around the question of whether or not one person can change the world. It was interesting to hear what the kids thought about this. Most of them were quick to say, “no.” I began to think of people who I would say have changed the world and tried to explain what that meant.

I was struck by the thought that the people I think of as changing the world, like Mother Teresa, didn’t actually set out to change the world at all. They simply met the need right in front of their face, in their little space on the map (whether they traveled to get there or not), and loved one person at a time. 

But because love and self-sacrifice is that powerful, because it is inspirational and transformative and beautiful and shining, it spread out and touched the whole world. There are many acts of love and sacrifice every day that may never be noticed by the world at large, but I wonder, in the unseen realms, about the ripple effect. 

“Oh, like Harriet Tubman?!?” my kids asked. //

YES. Exactly. She just set out to risk her own life to save a few others, and then more and more and more. How could she know that her love and courage would still shine today? They have profoundly impacted my own children. They have changed the world.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

The Battleground of Blowouts

Prompt: Blowout

// Two things come to mind when I think “blowout.” One involves lots of gross, maybe some tears, tons of laundry, and the occasional onesie sacrificed to the trashcan because I just.can’t.even. The other brings images of the perfectly glossy locks of a certain princess who is well known for her stellar blowouts. 

As a mother of 4 one has been a decidedly more pronounced part of my life. I’ll just let you hazard a guess on that one. 

Two very simple things really, but they are a good expression of the sacrifice mothers are given the opportunity to make every day. It’s here, in the tension between two different blowouts, that a battle is being fought for our hearts. For our worship. //

I choose this day, and every day, who I will serve. Will I serve my Creator  by serving the “least of these” in the form of my own precious children who need me to clean their poop? Or myself? 

Obviously, I’m not going to leave my baby sitting in her own refuse, but the attitude I have as I deal with the yuck is my battleground. 

Will I begrudge them the care they need from me and the sacrifices I have to make to give it to them? Or will I joyfully give up the glossy blowout for the stinky one?

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

Letting Go and Turning Off

Prompt: Off

// My husband is blessed with the blissful gift of being able to turn his brain off and go to sleep minutes after lying down most nights. I, on the other hand, just turn out the lights to face all of my check-lists, questions, concerns, and anticipation in the dark. Usually the dark does nothing to improve upon these thoughts. 

I find myself getting more worked up, adrenaline kicking in, as I make plans and have lengthy conversations planned out just in case I should need to defend my mode of being to someone who operates differently. Usually I want to browse meaningless things on my phone or else to get up and work on one of the projects under construction in my brain. Sometimes I get up and write during those late, quiet hours when my creative juices start flowing.

But lately I’ve been learning to spend those long minutes (hours?) in prayer. Not so much for the things that are bothering me as for the many needs and concerns of people I know. Family members who are sad or lonely or grieving, friends who have big uncertainties in front of them, children I’ve never met and am unlikely to have any contact with who are suffering and need someone to love them. 

I take these things to the One who cares and my eyes are taken off myself, focused on this One who holds me and all the world, and given perspective as I consider others and their struggles and place in the world. In this way I settle more contentedly into my own place, trusting my Father who put me there, and I drift off… to a restful sleep. //

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

Parks, Perspective, and Appreciation

 Prompt: Park

// There is something about being in nature that is intensely restorative and healing to my soul in a way that nothing else is. 

Not that it is more important than anything else, but there is nothing that can really take its place. Since we live in an apartment complex in the middle of a very concrete city that leaves me constantly seeking ways to enjoy the nature that is not accessible just out my “backdoor.” One of those ways is to go up onto our rooftop porch and enjoy a view of the mountains at sunrise and feel the untamed motion of the wind. 

Another way is to enjoy the gorgeous park at the end of our road.

This park is the scene of early morning moonlit runs with my good friend, family picnics to celebrate special days, and nature walks for our homeschool. I think of how the national park system began in the US, the way the Byzantine Emperor Justinian legislated the public “ownership” of beaches and water ways so that all people could have access to and enjoy them, and the presence of public and national parks in our current home… and I am so grateful. //

We’ve been told by friends who live in other parts of this country where there is no national park that there is literally no where they can go for a family hike to get away from the city and out in the woods. The land has all been claimed and is private property. They would love to have that opportunity but would have to drive hours to find it. 

How many people, I wonder, face this same problem back in the US? How many people live in apartment complexes in the middle of our big cities and have nowhere to go to get away from the horns and traffic, the bustle and noise, the hordes of people everywhere? How many people can’t afford a house with a yard? How many don’t get to experience the calm of the woods, a good view of the stars, the sound of birdsongs outside their window? 

Being confronted with nature, wild and untamed, or even somewhat designed and manicured, gives a perspective on our smallness and place in the universe that largely escapes us otherwise. It brings us closer to the Creator of it all by removing the literal, physical walls that block our encounter with much of His handiwork. 

I never thought to be so grateful for the easy access I had to it most of my life, in the form my backyards and family camping trips and the general structure of the cities I grew up in. Now it is not so readily available and I treasure the public parks that are open to us. And I am thankful for those who thought further than themselves to the plight of others who can’t claim a bit of nature for private ownership. It makes me want to throw open my arms and invite others along to experience the other blessings I easily enjoy, but so many don’t.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.