Stuff Worth Reading

I came across a couple of blog posts in the past few days that really spoke to me, and wanted to share them both with you.

Gitz wrote here about control, and being open to change.  It was a thought I needed to ponder again, as I'm in a space in the midst of a great number of hard changes.  I was also challenged by her comments about struggling with food and body image, since I've fought (and at times continue to fight) my own battles with food.

Over at JennyRain, she's talking about controlling healing.  This was a post I flagged in google reader and went back to several times over.  It's a topic I've been thinking a lot about the last few weeks.  My one word for the year is Heal, and that process hasn't turned out to look anything like what I thought it might.  It's been slower, messier, harder, and full of things I never thought I'd say or wrestle with.  And I've been struck again and again by how it's a process in God's hands, not mine.  A process that I can't control.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these posts.  Or, if you've read something fabulous lately, leave a link for me in the comments.  I'd love to check it out!

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 285

Today's Daily 5:

1. the random experiences that come from having a dad who has a unique set of do-it-yourself skills.  Today I accompanied him to an autowrecker/pick your own part place.  And it's not the first time I've been to one.  I would guess not too many girls can say that, or list some of the other random adventures I've had with dad!  I've also been to welding supply shops, metal retailers, and a store inexplicably called "Princess Auto" that sells a whole range of industrial items for everything from farming to welding and electrical work! Unrelated to the DIY tendencies, other adventures with dad include sleeping in the truck, parked in a truckstop in middle of nowhere Montana, hiking places where there definitely are not trails, and camping in places where you dig your own toilet.  (Let me just add that I avoid that last adventure as an adult, but as a kid you don't exactly get asked where you want to go for summer vacation!)
2. licking icing off the beaters after baking
3. the wonderful feeling of waking up warm and cozy, buried under blankets after a nap on the couch
4. bright pink toenails
5. first nectarine of the season

Not Fashionable to Have Regrets

I've been slowly making my way back through Robert Benson's beautiful book, "Between the Dreaming and the Coming True," and wanted to share a few bits and pieces with you over the next few days.

He writes:

"In our age of individualism and self-reliance, it is not very fashionable to say that one has regrets about the past.  But it is dishonest of us to say that we do not.  If the choice were to be made now between the hell that I lived in for various times in my life - anger, divorce, loneliness, depression, fear of failure - then I am as glad as anyone to be where I am today.  And I am perfectly capable of swimming in the existential stream that says that all of those things were necessary in order for me to be where I am today, a place in which I am very happy.  But I do not for one moment imagine that all of the things that have happened to me, and all of the terrible things I have done to others, were imagined for me by the One who dreamed me up."  (pg. 78-79)

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 284

Today's Daily 5:

1. Feeling like my concerns were heard
2. some unexpected freebies
3. pork and mango tacos
4. a day where I could mostly hide inside, away from all the rain and cold
5. buses that were (mostly) on time, in spite of the bad weather

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 283

Today's Daily 5:

1. Raspberry jam
2. reading a novel that I really enjoyed
3. a hot bath
4. some unexpected relieving news health wise
5. a good appointment