Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Beauty of "Only"


Prompt: Only

// I tend to strain against my limitations, viewing them as a negative force in my life. I wish I could operate well on less sleep, run faster, multitask better, and learn language more quickly. I wish I didn’t need alone time to recharge and that I could handle ambient noise well and still think clearly about what I’m doing. 

The idea of “only” usually makes me stressed. Only 6 hours until I’m supposed to get up, only half an hour to make dinner, only 15 minutes until we need to leave. “Only” seems to indicate “not enough.”

But my limitations are actually a gift, if I will receive them as such, and “only” can be a profoundly beautiful word. God is mindful that I am only made of dust and He has compassion on me. He knows my weak frame and has made His power manifest in my weakness.
In fact, he left nothing up to me in terms of making myself worthy of His love and salvation – He has saved me by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 

I can sleep knowing that He never does, I can accept my weakness knowing His strength is available for me, and I can bring Him my weariness and burdens and receive in exchange His light and easy burdens. I can receive my “only” as a gift and stop trying to be God by controlling everything and being everything. I am only me, and that is okay. //



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.





A Little Bouquet, A Costly Gift


Prompt: Bouquet 

// A bouquet of flowers is always nice, but it had a special significance when my husband brought one to me after we had been married for a short time. It is so hard for him to spend money on something that lasts such a short time, especially when you can buy a nice plant for the same price, or cheaper, and have it last for months and years. His personal preference is always the growing plants.

But I have never been accused of having a green thumb and after a disastrous gift of a gorgeous flowering Cyclamen when we were dating, he learned that plants aren’t so much my thing. Especially if I have to take care of them. 

Now, 10 + years into our marriage, living in a city with a sad lack of greenery compared to my growing up years, I enjoy having plants at home. Especially since I have a live-in green thumb that does all the work to care for them!

But the occasional bouquet of flowers still is very touching to me, knowing that it comes with a price tag of self-denial. I know it comes with a sincerely non-self-seeking love and that makes it far more valuable than the dollar value shows it to be. A little act backed by great love is quite a big act after all.//


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.





Confronting Sin with Love


Prompt: Confront

// Confrontation has become a taboo word in our society of relativism and morals that promote not offending anyone above all else. Even in the church, where we mentally adhere to a fixed standard of morality rather than a relativism that embraces whatever someone feels like as a basis for discerning correct behavior, we are slipping in practice. 

Frequently these days I hear phrases like, “I just feel like God was telling me…” and “I know God wants me to be happy so…” When these sentences end with a thought or decision that clearly goes against God’s clearly revealed will in His word then we have a big problem, and one that needs to be confronted.

Yet confrontation seems so hateful in our present context.  We don’t want to make anyone feel bad so we decline to seek their highest good, through confrontation of issues that are harmful to them, in favor of making them feel better and maybe so they will like us more. //

This is not love. This is selfishness, foolishness, and cowardice. If we love someone we will confront any moral problems we see in their life, calling them for what they are and stepping alongside them on the journey to dealing with those issues. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that we see all confrontation as hateful is because we do see so much hate, or at least anger, combined with confrontation. But where hate or selfishness is the instigator when  vocalizing these issues, perhaps “blaming” and “shaming” and even “emotional stoning” would be a better choice of words than confrontation. 

If we can find the courage and hope in Christ to come to those we love with any necessary confrontation, in order to seek their good, then we can be a tool in God’s hands for bringing truth that frees. Because the truth always frees us, even if it is a hard truth to hear.

If someone comes to you in love, sincerely desiring your good, and confronts you on a particular issue, then take courage and know that you have a true friend and comrade on your side! Praise God for such a one who would risk himself, through risking your displeasure and a strain in your relationship which is clearly valued in this case, for the sake of your benefit. No greater love has no man than this.


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.





Friday, October 28, 2016

Our Daily Need to "Eat"



Prompt: Eat

// I like food.  A lot. And I’m pretty picky, too. Not about not eating my veggies although there are a few that have me being sneaky in front of my kids like I used to be in front of my parents. But what I’m really picky about is getting good food, quality ingredients and unique combinations that surprise me and make me say, “Wow, I never thought to put those flavors together!”

On the other hand, I am a mom with four kids, homeschooling, and living in a place where if I want to eat it, I’ve pretty much got to make it all… from scratch. Like those yummy donuts that lasted 90 seconds in my mouth? 3 hours of work. 

Anyway, I’ve learned to scarf down something, anything, really fast just to get some calories in me before I’m on to the next thing. I am actually trying to work on slowing down even in my eating these days.

And then there are days where I just can’t be bothered to pull something together so I don’t eat. I put it off until my blood sugar drops and I am suddenly sick and hot and dizzy and feel like I’ve come down with the stomach flu. 

I’ve learned to keep some easy snacks around the house, in the car, even my purse or diaper bag, just to avoid those moments. A few almonds here, some peanuts there, raisons, and bananas. Bananas are the best fruit. In a place where we have to wash every.stinkin.bite. of fresh produce with vinegar or bleach before we eat it, bananas are gold. Peel and eat. Viola! The magic fruit. Who cares how they taste? That is completely beside the point.//

But I digress. This isn’t just a frivolous bit on food, I promise. The thing is, I was just realizing how my habits with bodily food mirror my habits with spiritual food. There are some lessons for me to learn there.

For instance, I am picky about my spiritual food. I don’t want a measly 10 minute quiet time. That is like a drink of water before you start a meal. That’s just getting started. I feel like a failure, and like I’m still hungry, if I stop there. 

Also, I don’t want to get up from my quiet time until I’ve really been deeply impacted by some truth in God’s word. I want to get up changed or else it didn’t work!

But, again, being a mom with my kids home with me all day every day, living in a place where the unexpected interruptions are expected, where daily tasks take more time than I am used to from my growing up years… all these things mean I don’t get to have my picky preferences about my spiritual food. 

I don’t often get the hour+ stretches of quiet time that I used to get pre-kids. I don’t get to sit down to write and wrestle with my thoughts, uninterrupted, until I get them back in line. (Unless I sit up late at night, like right now! Ha!) I don’t have the freedom to sit and muse over the truths I am sorting through at leisure until the lightening moment when it all clicks.

So I can be prone to put off partaking of my spiritual food altogether, waiting for the “better quality” that I crave. And then? My spiritual blood sugar crashes. I am suddenly in a whirl of emotions and fears that make me dizzy and sick and I can’t seem to find my footing on the foundation that I know is there, but I’ve lost my bearings and I can’t stand up steadily on it.

I was sheepishly surprised this week when I made the time to “get my calories in” more regularly even though it wasn’t the “quality” that I prefer and found that… I had far fewer spiritual blood sugar crashes! (Hit the forehead moment.) I was more steady and even-keeled than I had been over the last few weeks, though I still struggled with plenty of stressors and the not-enough-hours syndrome that is just a constant for any mom. 

My circumstances didn’t change, in some ways they were more difficult, but for the most part my heart didn’t crash into various forms of negativity because of a lack of spiritual calories. 

I still have a way to go, oh goodness a LONG, LONG way to go, but what a joy to take another step on the journey of finding satisfaction and nourishment in the Bread of Life!


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.