Saturday, March 18, 2006

An obvious confession

Some bloggers I know are really good at only talking about God stuff - theology, what God has recently been doing in their life, things God is speaking to them and others, challenges, stuff they're reading in Scripture. I have a confession to make. It's a fairly obvious one if you've hung around my blog at all. I am not one of those bloggers.

I do like to talk about God stuff. In fact, my life is so shaped at the moment by the God stuff that I can hardly help but talk about it. The thing is, every once in a while I need a break from the headier stuff, and need to just talk about my day.

So, here it is. Yesterday was a good day. It was a nothing sort of day. I've had a lot of those this week since I haven't had any hours at work. But yesterday was a particularly good example of one. (A friend emailed me a month or so ago and spoke very strongly to me that I needed to find ways to relax and destress other than writing. Incidentally, I've had very few work hours since then and have had lots of chances to practice what she was telling me!) I was tired, and unsettled, because of the sleep issues I mentioned when I posted yesterday, but that didn't really affect my day too drastically because I didn't need physical energy for anything in particular. (On a side note, I slept very poorly again last night, and I do need energy today, but that's a whole different thing.)

I got up in the morning, realized there was no particular reason for me to be up, and crawled back into bed with a novel. I read for a while, and then my mom came home and handed me an envelope from my nana. Nana is my adopted grandmother - a fun British lady who has attended my dad's church for years, and lives across the back alley from our house. She had sent me a note, and a cheque for my Mexico trip, but had forgotten to sign the cheque. So, I got out of bed and got dressed, phoned her and popped over to her house. We had a great visit. I love hanging out with her. She may be the coolest elderly lady I know!

I came home, decided to go back to my novel - only in the bathtub this time. So, I ran a hot bath, and read my novel for another hour or so in the tub. This is also one of my favorite ways to pass an hour or so. I'm a sucker for anything warm - you will rarely find me curled up to read without a blanket wrapped around me, or a hot bath in which to immerse myself, or without being curled up in my bed.

After reading I decided I'd better fulfill a promise I made to my mom to bake something this week. So, I made chocolate chip cookies. Fantastic.

While I was baking a friend called and asked me if I wanted to hang out with her. She was going to a Christian bookstore and wondered if I'd like to meet her there. I'd been thinking that a trip to the bookstore was in order to buy something to read on the bus to Mexico, and quickly agreed. We passed a solid hour and a bit in the bookstore, with the love that only two readers and writers can have for that kind of pastime. We handed books back and forth, were slightly catty as we discussed the overabundance of titles on topics that seemed to be straightforward, laughed at some truly bad merchandise (The Praise Workout DVD - The Christian Alternative to Yoga - I'm not kidding, that's what it said on the case!), and then decided that coffee was in order. But, it was Friday night, and the coffee houses were busy, so we went to the lounge of a local restaurant, had dinner, and talked about how God had showed up in unique ways in both of our lives lately. We share a mutual healing of depression that continues to amaze both of us.

I came home, did a little blogging, a little more reading, finished my novel, started a new one, ate some cookies, and headed for bed.

This is my kind of day - warm, inviting, filled with good pastimes and good friends. And really, when I think about it, it was a God kind of day. I spent a lot of time with Him - asking some questions that my novel raised. I worshipped Him along with a CD while I did my baking. And then I shared the things He's doing in my life, and listened to the things he's doing in my friend's life over dinner. It was good.

Now if only I could figure out how to start sleeping restfully...