It's been a little while since I linked up to other bits and pieces, but here are just a few that have caught my attention in recent days:
While I'm not at all a fan of the trend in the last few years of putting "catchy" little pun type phrases on church signs, I have to admit that this one at Jesus Needs New PR did actually make me chuckle. At least it was a little bit creative! (Or I thought so anyway, I hadn't seen that one before!)
I've written before about Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, and I smiled at this post on her blog when I read it last night. I think her advice to "treat yourself like a toddler" is advice that I'm going to keep in mind. Because I think the whole "being a grownup" thing does cause us to ignore basic needs or things that make us happier, better functioning individuals, and thinking about the fact that everyone benefits when I am well cared for is helpful for me in a quest to be better at self-care.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Reverb 10: Day 17 - Lesson Learned
This is the last in my attempt to catch up! Tonight I'll be writing the prompt for today, in the meantime, here's yesterday's reverb10 prompt:
December 17 – Lesson Learned
What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?
(Author: Tara Weaver)
I've learned this year that I am far more resilient and stronger and able to handle major changes in life than I gave myself credit for.
It's not just the physical stuff of circumstances either. While I have weathered a car accident, the loss of a job that I'd had semi long-term, and a crazy living situation, I've also weathered quite a lot of internal turmoil. Deep wounds exposed. Changing and shifting relationships. Things settling into patterns that are new and entirely unexpected.
And if you had told me a year ago that I would be sitting here and feeling joyful (in fact, in many ways more joyful and at peace than I've ever been) after all of those things occurred, I would have told you you were crazy. Nuts. Loco. That you'd lost it completely.
But here I am. I've not only survived, I've occasionally thrived.
I'm getting better (though I'm by no means an expert, and I'd be very okay if I didn't have to practice any more for a while) at rolling with the punches life has thrown.
And in the midst of all of that, I've met Jesus in a way that amazes me. When all those other things were stripped away, He was the constant, and I'm coming to know and love him deeply. I can say today that I really do trust Him. I think of Job, so desperate, in his misery, crying out, "I know that my Redeemer lives... and even if my flesh is destroyed, I'll see him. I'll see him for myself. With my own eyes." I feel like I understand in an even greater way the deep hope and trust of Job's cry. It's a passage that has always grabbed my heart, one that meant a lot in the many years of depression, but it's one that speaks even more deeply to me now, in this crazy year of deconstruction, but a year where my confidence that God is present and I will see him, with my own eyes, has grown in ways that words can't quite describe.
And that ability to trust, to adapt, to lean into Jesus as constant? That's something I want to cultivate, to carry with me, to let bloom inside me in new ways as I move forward into the coming year.
December 17 – Lesson Learned
What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?
(Author: Tara Weaver)
I've learned this year that I am far more resilient and stronger and able to handle major changes in life than I gave myself credit for.
It's not just the physical stuff of circumstances either. While I have weathered a car accident, the loss of a job that I'd had semi long-term, and a crazy living situation, I've also weathered quite a lot of internal turmoil. Deep wounds exposed. Changing and shifting relationships. Things settling into patterns that are new and entirely unexpected.
And if you had told me a year ago that I would be sitting here and feeling joyful (in fact, in many ways more joyful and at peace than I've ever been) after all of those things occurred, I would have told you you were crazy. Nuts. Loco. That you'd lost it completely.
But here I am. I've not only survived, I've occasionally thrived.
I'm getting better (though I'm by no means an expert, and I'd be very okay if I didn't have to practice any more for a while) at rolling with the punches life has thrown.
And in the midst of all of that, I've met Jesus in a way that amazes me. When all those other things were stripped away, He was the constant, and I'm coming to know and love him deeply. I can say today that I really do trust Him. I think of Job, so desperate, in his misery, crying out, "I know that my Redeemer lives... and even if my flesh is destroyed, I'll see him. I'll see him for myself. With my own eyes." I feel like I understand in an even greater way the deep hope and trust of Job's cry. It's a passage that has always grabbed my heart, one that meant a lot in the many years of depression, but it's one that speaks even more deeply to me now, in this crazy year of deconstruction, but a year where my confidence that God is present and I will see him, with my own eyes, has grown in ways that words can't quite describe.
And that ability to trust, to adapt, to lean into Jesus as constant? That's something I want to cultivate, to carry with me, to let bloom inside me in new ways as I move forward into the coming year.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 124
Today's Daily 5:
- being treated to dinner last night
- sleeping in a bit this morning (working the 10-6 shift was nice after the really long days I've had the last two days)
- Eavesdropping this morning on two old men flirting with an old lady (she informed them she was 84) on the bus. It was quite the scene, complete with awkward flirting attempts, and it was all I could do not to give away my eavesdropping by cracking up!
- getting to work with my brother - we've hired him, and it was fun to spend some time together
- a bowl of Italian wedding soup from M&M
- laughter
- still loving the benefits of my job, and the chance to really bless people by meeting a desire that they have to provide a special time for their children at Christmas
- a long hot bubble bath, reading the latest book that booksneeze sent me to review
- my usual weekend escape
- studying the reverb 10 prompts and getting ready to get them caught up
- having things to be thankful for
Reverb 10: Day 16: Friends
The December 16th Reverb 10 prompt:
December 16 – Friendship
How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
(Author: Martha Mihalick)
This has been a year for shift and change in friendships.
There have been the new friendships at house church. The settling into a rhythm there, being welcomed, laughing, talking about who we are as a group, about faith and life and all the goofy little things of life. They've shaped my perspective as I've thought about mission, and about humility. They've been the people who've come around me in some really challenging moments this year, hugging me when I cried, laughing with me, giving me space to share the honest truth about how I'm really doing, and even helping me a bit financially in some challenging moments. They made me welcome and gave me a home to land in for my faith, and I can't imagine my week without that Thursday night gathering. I miss it when I'm away from it.
There have been shifting friendships, old ones rekindled, and new ones born.
There has been a group of friends who have honored my request to come around me and pray with me and journey with me through some tough stuff.
There was the adding of voices and personality that came when I flew to California and spent a week in person with a friend who'd already become dear via blogging and emailing. Her voice, already among my trusted friends before that trip, has been important in the journey of healing that this year of crazy deconstruction has encompassed. It's the checking in at night and rating the day, the trading of snarky emails, the moments of humor (ridiculous or dark), the shared love for the world, for Jesus, and for books that has made it fun. The trading of book recommendations particularly makes me smile - there are few people who have managed to successfully recommend books to me, but she has made numerous timely suggestions that I've loved!
I don't know how to describe, exactly, the way friendships have changed me this year. But I can say with great certainty that they have. That I have been blessed with friends who I love, and who love me in return. With people who have been there in a year that hasn't exactly been filled with triumphant moments. Who in the moments I was least able to believe myself loved and lovable, came around me and showed me in tangible and intangible ways that the truth was the opposite of what I felt and believed. They taught me that I could struggle, and need support and encouragement and prayer, and not be a burden, the way I was so convinced I was. That was a thought that drove me to hide the broken bits, or the severity of the hard days. The people I'm privileged to call friends have been carriers of God's love for me this year in ways that I truly can't wrap words around, and I'm so grateful for them.
December 16 – Friendship
How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
(Author: Martha Mihalick)
This has been a year for shift and change in friendships.
There have been the new friendships at house church. The settling into a rhythm there, being welcomed, laughing, talking about who we are as a group, about faith and life and all the goofy little things of life. They've shaped my perspective as I've thought about mission, and about humility. They've been the people who've come around me in some really challenging moments this year, hugging me when I cried, laughing with me, giving me space to share the honest truth about how I'm really doing, and even helping me a bit financially in some challenging moments. They made me welcome and gave me a home to land in for my faith, and I can't imagine my week without that Thursday night gathering. I miss it when I'm away from it.
There have been shifting friendships, old ones rekindled, and new ones born.
There has been a group of friends who have honored my request to come around me and pray with me and journey with me through some tough stuff.
There was the adding of voices and personality that came when I flew to California and spent a week in person with a friend who'd already become dear via blogging and emailing. Her voice, already among my trusted friends before that trip, has been important in the journey of healing that this year of crazy deconstruction has encompassed. It's the checking in at night and rating the day, the trading of snarky emails, the moments of humor (ridiculous or dark), the shared love for the world, for Jesus, and for books that has made it fun. The trading of book recommendations particularly makes me smile - there are few people who have managed to successfully recommend books to me, but she has made numerous timely suggestions that I've loved!
I don't know how to describe, exactly, the way friendships have changed me this year. But I can say with great certainty that they have. That I have been blessed with friends who I love, and who love me in return. With people who have been there in a year that hasn't exactly been filled with triumphant moments. Who in the moments I was least able to believe myself loved and lovable, came around me and showed me in tangible and intangible ways that the truth was the opposite of what I felt and believed. They taught me that I could struggle, and need support and encouragement and prayer, and not be a burden, the way I was so convinced I was. That was a thought that drove me to hide the broken bits, or the severity of the hard days. The people I'm privileged to call friends have been carriers of God's love for me this year in ways that I truly can't wrap words around, and I'm so grateful for them.
A Chuckle
I get the daily Garfield cartoon by email, and have for years. It's been a while since I've posted one here, but this one really did make me smile when I read it:
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