Summer School

School may be out, but I've learned a thing or two this summer.  For instance...

Don't stare a big hairy goal in the face.  
It's too intimidating.  Check it out one little piece at a time.  Look at the toes first, then the ankle bone, and before you know it you're at the elbow and the arm pit. (All strange, funny parts that are interesting in unexpected ways.)  That's been my approach for reading every book of the Bible (something I started long ago, but am determined to finish this year).  I'm 73% percent done, and God is teaching me so much about perseverance in the process.

via YoungCatholicWomen.com

Embrace interruptions.  
They come bearing gifts.  Like giggles and hugs.  Heart to heart talks.  Job opportunities.  Glimpses of God.  And my eight-year-old's new love of cribbage, which floods me with memories of playing cards with my grandpa.  The laundry can always wait.

from Whimsy Studios

Check your laundry hoses every five years.
When they go, they go big and they go badly.  A week ago our hot water laundry hose ruptured.  Water sprayed all over the laundry room.  Which, when you are upstairs in bed after a long summer day, sounds just like the washer tub filling.  Which, by the time you find it at 6:57 the next morning, looks like three inches of standing water in the basement.  Which, in your groggy, disbelieving, pre-coffee-stimulated brain, makes you wonder why the previous owners' moved the laundry room to the opposite side of the basement from the floor drain.  It's kind of funny how thousands of dollars of damage and a week (and counting) of inconvenience can be avoided with a $28 pair of braided hoses and five minutes of labor.  

When crisis makes you crazy, pray.
I can handle the flood, the mess, the little bits of loss.  But it's the interminable noise of the 11 industrial fans that has been pushing me over the edge.  That and some pre-menopausal hormonal hullaballoo.  
I am so glad for digital, visual reminders that God is on standby, waiting for my prayers, waiting to carry me through crazy times.

from Lee Younger

from BornToMakeAnImpact@tumblr

I am so glad I can unload my burdens on God, then reload with his saving grace, all in a few prayerful moments.  And when God answers with a neighbor coming by to swoop up two bored and whining kids... Aaaaahhhh.  He IS so very good!

Seek the silver lining.
In response to the aforementioned basement flood, I am so grateful for plastic storage tubs, for shelving units 4" off the floor, for hard wood furniture that doesn't wick up moisture, and for the opportunity to purge our collection of stuff.  We didn't lose much that truly mattered.  And we have so much that many people don't ever get to take for granted.  Running water.  A sturdy roof over our heads.  An abundance of towels.  Helpful family and friends.  The list is endless...

via CreativeTryals.blogspot.com

Thank you, God, for giving me a teachable heart.  And a dry basement.  And inspiration all around. Amen.

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky today.  She is one big slice of my inspiration pie.