What I Learned in October

Emily Freeman is a writer and an inspiring woman of faith.  She is also the soul and the brains behind her Chatting at the Sky blog, where she hosts an engaging, entertaining, and insightful linky party on a monthly basis.  The focus: what we've learned.

The teacher in me loves this.  We are never done learning.  The child of God in me loves this—taking the time to reflect on how the Holy Spirit is working in me and stretching me.  And this November, as I aim for a bigger and better gratitude attitude, I'm relishing the opportunity to lift up these learnings with praise and thanksgiving.  So, in no particular order, here's a random collection of what I learned (or relearned) last month.

1
It's dangerous to be a clumsy runner.  Tearing a hamstring hurts.  Limping home afterward does not produce my most positive prayers.  But God does not back away.

2
Injury aside, slow and steady physical therapy is a gift.  A good workout does not have to involve sweat to induce progress.  Patience, my young Padawan.  Hmmmmm.  I think this has applications beyond exercise and into spiritual stretching.

3
Shifting my mindset from blogging as competition (which left me feeling inferior and redundant) to blogging as online conversation and connection (which fills me with encouragement and insight) is something I should have done a long time ago.  Better late than never!

from ellierayne.wordpress.com, but Blondie's looked and tasted every bit as good.

4
My daughter is a better baker than I am.  I couldn't be more proud (and eager to sample)!

5
That said, I don't need to eat so much sugar.  Consuming sweets makes me feel like crap.  After a 14-day cleanse, I've learned I can live without sugar, caffeine, grains, or dairy.  In fact, I can live much better without those foods.

rotten to the core zombie costume — yikes!

6
Gone are the days of my cute little BallBoy dressing up like a sport-o or a super hero or a pirate.  He's into full-blown creepy gore.  I wonder if he's trying to get me ready to be the parent of teenagers?

7
I'm terrible at building a new habit.  Unless — I go public and have this foreboding sense of accountability hanging over me.  The answer to my sporadic daily quiet time with God?  Being still for 31 days straight, and publicly posting about it.  I love what doors this is opening in my conversations with my Heavenly Father.

8
Once I get a new habit going, I have a hard time letting it go.  Hence three updates to this blog today!



Lord, 

Thanks for all the ways you help me learn and grow.  Thanks for pointing out the positive in what first looked like setbacks, for pointing out the humor in what might otherwise seem horrible.

Amen.

Monday Meditation | A Season of Gratitude

Hello, brand new week in a new month.  Come in and sit down, fresh November Monday.  Let's talk about all the opportunity you bring with you.

I feel like you are handing me a brand-spanking new notebook with scads of crisp pages.  I can let my thoughts roam anywhere about anything.  After blogging daily on one topic (31 Days to Be Still) in October, I am thrilling in this November no-agenda.

And, at the same time, I'm a little freaked out.  No agenda?  Anything goes?  However do I decide where to begin?

So after consulting with the Big Guy in the Sky, I'm starting this new chapter in regular-but-not-rigid writing with a general plan.  I welcome your prayers that it will be fruitful and I will be faithful.

Mondays you can swing by for a weekly warm up.  I'm calling it...

Part stillness (gotta keep that habit going!), part reflection, part intention-setting for the week ahead.

I'll also have a little something for our faith-filled conversations on Wednesday and Friday.  But I'm not leaking that yet.  You'll just have to stop back later in the week!

So, dear reader/cyber friend, this is what's on my mind this Monday...

Cruising through the aisles at Target last week, I balked at the "welcoming" display of — aaaack! — Christmas decor.  Hello?!  People!  I haven't even purchased my Halloween candy!  I still have a panda costume to create!  Stop rushing us with all this fast-forward consumerism.  Target, darling, you are freaking. me. out!

So I squeezed my eyes shut and blindly steered my cart to the slightly more sane section of the store, where Halloween was still the current calendar item.  (Yes, I go to Target often enough that I can navigate without my sense of sight.)  I aimed for the section where all the normal people were, grabbing their fun-sized sugary bribes to keep the local kiddos happy and stave off any tricks.

And in transit between fast-forward-future and eleventh-hour-present, I breathed a sigh of relief that between the sugar frenzy of Halloween and the present frenzy of commercial Christmas, we have the gratitude of Thanksgiving.  (Granted, it's another holiday of over-indulgence, but as long as pecan pie is involved, I don't really see a problem with that.)

iheartnaptime.net

Thanks-giving.  Giving thanks.  Now there is a delightfully sugar-free, finance-free, feel-good attitude.  And in the giving of gratitude we also receive a happy heart (yes, that's a direct reference to Madame Blueberry of Veggie Tales fame).  Which makes Thanksgiving a holiday worth starting a little early.

Now I'm not saying let's get our undies in a bundle planning for the big meal and decorating the house and polishing the silver.  I'm suggesting we pull on a layer of gratitude this lovely Monday.  We wrap ourselves in a coat of appreciation.  We look through our November days with an eye out for how we can be more thankful.

thegirlcreative.com

Because God gives us so much to be thankful for.  The fact that He is good and His love endures forever is just the beginning.  And when we are grateful to God, thankfulness leads us along the path to joy.

You know Ann Voskamp?  The lyrical, spiritual writer I mention about every sixth post?  One of the Christian Super Heroes (in my book, at least) whose capes are compassion and whose powers all hinge on prayer?  She has an amazing book about this gratitude/joy/faith connection: One Thousand Gifts.  If you haven't read it, I encourage you to rush right out to your local library or book store and grab a copy. Or, even faster, download it on your e-reader and start reading it.  Right now.  Yes... you'll have to leave my humble little page.  But she's miles more insightful than I am, and I love her work dearly, so I'm okay with that.

onethousandgifts.com

Oh, good.  You came back!

So Ann (yes, I'm still talking about Ann), challenges us to this fabulous thing called #joydare where we count up our God-given blessings and aim to reach #1000gifts. I've dabbled in this on and off and off and on over the past few years.  When I take the time to reflect on my day or week and document the richness of little details or the delight of big moments, I start to float.  My spirits lift.  My grin comes bigger and faster, my laugh erupts quicker and louder.  And I float over the little bits of bitterness that try to trip me up.  (It is a little bit like having a super power, endowed by the Holy Spirit).

allisonkimball.com

But I'm human.  I get distracted, and the habit falls to the wayside, lost in the daily detritus.  I get bored, and the notebook list gets abandoned for slips of colorful paper in a box which gets pushed aside for a digital document.  I get forgetful and can't remember if I'm on gift 42 or 37 or 61 and so I simply give up.  Just look at the gap in my 1000 gifts page.  Gifts 72 to 92?  They are scattered in a box and a book and a glitched, lost list on my phone.

Yet I'm capable of change.  By the grace of God I posted 31 Days to Be Still, so I know if I trust in him and pray to him and make the time and space...

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

With that in mind, I'm going to pray for God's help to put thankfulness in my heart and on my tongue every day this week.  Care to join me?

amywestermanphotography.com

Lord, 

You give me so much to be grateful for.  As we move into November and the weather turns a bit bleaker and darker, I ask that you make my heart brighter and lighter.  

Help me to see the little gifts in each day.  Gifts in relationships.  Gifts in work.  Gifts in nature.  Gifts in my church and in the universal church.  Gifts in my neighborhood and gifts across the globe.  Gifts that come in pretty packages and gifts that seem a bit dingy on the outside, but carry true love and caring nonetheless.

Like a little kid on the hunt for a dropped penny, keep my eyes open for bright bits of shininess.  Remind me to pick them up, to hold and observe them, and to praise you for them.  For in savoring the unexpected, I will find the good fortune of a more joyful heart, a more trusting faith, and a more generous outlook on life.  

simplyvintagegirl.com

Lord help me to be intentional and faithful in marking these moments of gratitude.  I want to make my praise public and glorify you.  I want this for myself, so when I doubt your deliverance, I have concrete evidence of all the good that you do.  I want this for my kids, so that they witness firsthand the blessings of gratitude.  I want this for my community, so that we can push back the carping and the criticisms in the media and crowd them out with positive attitudes and pleasant moments.  I want this for you, so that more and more your good news is known, in ways big and small, in the hearts of all humans.  

That last part freaks me out a bit, God.  The idea of being public in praising you stretches me past the edge of my comfort zone.  But I know that's where the greatest gifts happen — when you nudge me into a new and challenging place.  That's when you show me how you can fill in the the distance between my comfort and your better way.  That's where my faith grows and my heart fills and my soul sings.

So I'm not editing that soul stretching part out.  I'm sending this prayer up.  And I know you will provide.  Thank you for always providing.

Amen

31 | Beginning

Aaaaah.  Day 31.  Thirty-one days of stopping, resting, breathing, trusting.  

As I look back on this spiritual and writing challenge, I feel full.  It's not that post-Thanksgiving meal gorged-to-the-gills full.  It's a stretched-to-finding-new-space-to-breathe contentment.  It's a place of peace.  And joy.  (Oh, yes, and a little sliver of relief, too.)

We've had 31 Days to Be Still, sinking into God's word, meditating on the message.  I hope you've enjoyed the chance to in this sacred time with our living Lord.  I pray you've found one or two approaches that have resonated deep in your soul.

lightstock.com

We are at the technical end of this series.  I'm going to miss our conversations about resting in Godly stillness.  I so appreciate you joining me on this journey, whether your participation has been punctuated with comments written or spoken, or whether you have been a silent, spirit-filled partner in this pursuit.

But wait... we are not finished with our stillness.  Not by a long shot.  It is a practice that I pray each of us will continue, in our own inspired way.  

We are at the beginning of the next chapter of our devotion to God.

We are getting better at this being still all the time, with all the time we invest in him.  And we have all kinds of time to get it right.  So protect yourself from urgency, from pressure.  Proceed step by savored, slow step.

Hayley at TheTinyTwig.com captures this sentiment perfectly as she writes about living from a place of rest.  She encourages us to free ourselves from "getting it right," to living it with care.

thetinytwig.com

A woman who loves me sat me down about a year ago. She told me I had so much time... She challenged me to hold metaphorical hands with the Lord and just move forward, making sure to have energy to be in constant communion with God, making sure I had energy to love my people well, and even making sure I had energy to take care of myself.

I pray that each of us continues to hold hands with God, to take time and be wise with our energy, to live from God's peaceful place of rest.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.  Romans 12:2 (MSG)

I pray that in the November and December and into the new year, you keep fixing your attention on God.  Stay open to the way God changes you from the inside out.  Recognize the impact your special brand of God-breathed stillness has in your "walking-around life."

mat from DaySpring | photo from kaylaaimee.com

Continue to come to our living Lord and stay a while in the stillness.  Stand on the grace of your peaceful communion with Christ.  Repeatedly restore your energies. Rejuvenate your soul.  Let your heart be changed, stretched, and opened.  And from this welcome mat of God's grace, step into the world, walking in the footsteps of faith and living out God's love.

spiritualinspiration.tumblr.com

Lord,

Each day this month you have taken my hand and pulled me into a place of peaceful stillness.  You have quieted my body, mind, and heart.  You have stirred my soul. You have fed me with the best nourishment I know.

Thank you.  

Thank you for your bright revival of my stale and tarnished  habit.  Thank you for beginning a new chapter in our time together.

Be with me daily as I continue to strengthen this habit of being still in your presence. Use this quiet practice to strengthen my faith and renew my heart and rejuvenate my soul.  And then use me, as only you can, to spread your love and grace in this world.  

Today is not an end but a beginning.  The beginning of the next phase of your blessed plans for me.  I have complete faith in your divine designs for my life.  Help me to match my faith with patience and perseverance each and every day.  Help me to recognize all the ways you bring the best out of me.  Because you always bring out the best in me — I just need to get still and take the time to notice.

Until this sweet, still time tomorrow,

Amen.

30 | Be You

If you've just joined us in 31 Days to Be Still, welcome.  And thank you.  (Note that while I am officially winding down in this series, your 31 Days doesn't have to be limited to a calendar month.  You can dedicate any 31 days of the year to slowing down and soaking up God's goodness.)

If you've been here since the beginning, or with any amount of consistency, thank you.  You've seen there are many ways to be still, many ways to approach God's stillness.  There is no one right way.  But there are undoubtedly methods to faith-filled mindfulness and meditation that feel more comfortable for you.

Your quiet time is not going to look like my quiet time. It's going to fit you, uniquely and delightfully, and it's going to form in you a deeper faith.

rakstagemom.wordpress.com

lightstock.com

lightstock.com

Faith is not a one-size fits all business.  We each have our unique gifts and talents and issues.  We dwell in our own particular stage and status.  God doesn't ask us to conform to one set of rules for stillness.  He brings his stillness to wherever, however we make the sacred space to be slow.

So take from this series what works for you.  Uniquely created, deeply loved you.  

God works through all kinds of people in all kinds of ways.  He always has.  In his infinite wisdom he created a myriad of personality types — more than can fit in a Myers-Briggs matrix.  A cursory walk through the Bible shows how he shines through every type of flawed-but-faithful person.

Each person mirrors a glimmer of God's image.  Imagine how comfortable God is when he dwells in you — a person who reflects a part of him like no one else can.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27

Because you are made in God's image, because you are designed and loved by the Heavenly Creator, you are enough, today and every day.  You do not have to be perfect to be still with God.  You do not have to have perfect attendance or a perfect understanding of his word or a perfect approach to prayer.  You just have to be willing to open up for God to work in your mind and heart and soul.

4staline

And in these willing moments of stillness, in these soul-stirring moments of quiet time, all you have to be is you.  Completely silent?  No.  Completely focused?  Try again. Completely faithful?  Good luck.  We are not complete on our own.  It is God who completes us.  So just offer up yourself, all that you are in this present time, to all that God wants you to be.

Invite God to work his wonder.  To produce his peace.  To stir his strength.  To unleash his love.

He will come into the still place you create.

James 4:8 | ibibleverses.christianpost.com

Talk and ponder.  Question and wonder.  In doodles or songs.  In prayers or journals. In exercise zen or physical rest.  In silences God fills with his own sighs.  In ramblings God orders with his higher reason.

And watch as God fills you up with joy and love, with grace and peace.  Watch as he makes you shine in such a way that makes you completely you.  Completely beyoutiful.

shybydesign.com

Ann Voskamp poetically notes where our beauty truly lies.  It resides in how God works our successes and our deficiencies into "the best loving plan" for our fulfillment.  As she says, "God is turning everything around to turn you into the beauty He knows you are.  The world will say they love you if you are beautiful — but the truth is you are beautiful because you are loved."

You are beautiful because you are loved by God.

gabrijoystudios via Etsy.com

In your darkest moment, in your most brilliant success, and every breath in between — you are loved by God.  Exactly as you are.  So be exactly who you are.

Be you, imperfect and messy, earnest and hopeful, in your moments of being still.  Be still and breathe in God's love.  Breathe out God's peace.  Breathe it in artistic color or lyrical song, in measured reason or spontaneous laughter, in loving gestures or humble service, in rich Bible study or resonating prayers.

And use these sacred moments like a launching pad for the next chapter of your precious and unique faith story.  Whatever your talents and gifts, whatever your leanings and callings, may your moments of stillness with your Savior inspire you to live out your faith as only you can.

Lord,

Thank you for making me exactly as I am.  Thank you even more for loving me exactly as I am.  

Today, in our moment of stillness together, I want to rest comfortably in your love.  I want to get comfortable in my own skin.  Content where I am in this age and stage, in this space and place.  Content with where I am in my faith journey.  Content because I am with you, and you are always right here alongside me.  All I need is to slow down, to look up, and to invite your peaceful presence.

Your peaceful presence.

Thirty days is enough to remind me that I need to be still with you.  Every day.  In word.  In prayer.  In meditation.  In listening.  I need this time with you so that I can be fully me — not the spread-thin slice of me that reacts with flawed reflexes, but Spirit-sown-deep me that responds with the fullness of Christ.

Help me, in this particular day, to be me.  Child of God.  Uniquely made. Purposefully knit together for your higher plan.  Help me to see where I can reveal and share my particular story about your love and grace, about your good news. Keep me shining, in my own special way, with your radiant light.

Amen.

Here are a few ideas for creating a stillness with God that fits you perfectly...

betsygettis.blogspot.com

     

g.christianbook.com

amazon.com

  

married2mydreamman.wordpress.com

amazon.com

titletrakk.com