The Lord Cares Deeply

Psalm 116:15 NLT "The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die."

And they are all his loved ones.

Praying this for many around me tonight, and some specifically.

Daily 5 - Day 125

Today's Daily 5:

1. I'm thankful I did my errands at lunch, even if they were a bit rushed, instead of after work, since I drove today, and traffic was quite bad again.
2. I'm thankful that the weather is warming up
3. listening to Misty Edwards again lately, and being deeply moved by it
   
4. mixing up a triple batch of sugar cookie dough. First type of cookies baked tonight, dough stored in the fridge, more to come in coming days
5. I was thankful to do yoga after work tonight. I've been getting my 20+ minutes of exercise in the last little while by doing a lot of walking (added bonus of taking the train - get the workout for the day in). But I've missed the yoga, and how much better my muscles feel after stretching them out.
6. I was thankful that I didn't have to make dinner, but still got to eat a delicious meal.
7. working on Philippians memorization in the car this morning
8. lots of quiet moments today, pausing to pray
9. having the supplies to finish making all but one Christmas present... that last one is stumping me... not sure what to do about it yet.
10. sorting through my budget, and realizing that even though things will be tight these next couple weeks, I'm going to get through Christmas for the first time in quite a while without accruing debt that would need to be paid off.
    

Tuesday Morning Praying

I've committed to praying specifically over a period of time for some friends who are in the midst of some pretty challenging circumstances right now. That period of time is drawing to a close soon, but for the next few days, that is where my thoughts will largely be.

In the meantime, I've been reading Anne Jackson's blog for a little while now, and really appreciating. I was delighted this morning to read her post on beginning treatment for bipolar disorder. A close relative of mine suffers from bipolar disorder, and because of lifestyle choices and addictions, is usually off of his medications, and often living on the streets. I've read through some of Anne's archived posts about depression and as someone who suffered from depression for many years found them to be a lovely balm for a soul that has often hesitated to expose those parts of my journey because of the stigma attached to them.

So, go read Anne's blog today! And come back here then, because (as I said yesterday), I will be eventually posting more substantive posts again!

Daily 5 - Day 124

Today's Daily "5":

1. Surviving a bit of a crazy and odd Monday.
   
2. A new "last minute lasagna" recipe experiment for supper (uses ravioli stuffed with cheese instead of lasagna noodles) that was really tasty.
3. Weather that warmed up a bit, making the train ride and walk home a lot less painful than the ride and walk this morning.
4. Unexpectedly getting my least favorite household "chore" (grocery shopping) of the week out of the way tonight because I realized I needed to drive my car for a little while, just to warm it up in this cold.
5. A grocery shopping trip that was really quick and smooth, and almost enjoyable.
6. Knowing that grocery shopping unexpectedly tonight means that I have an entire, unscheduled free evening tomorrow night.
   
7. Driving an old car that may have it's quirks, but starts like a charm in these ridiculous temperatures, without being plugged in at night.
8. wrapping a simple birthday gift and card for a friend, as well as a Christmas card for her and her husband in preparation for mailing tomorrow.
9. finding several more recipes that all look delicious and can be made with the same base sugar cookie dough.
10. enjoying a few games on facebook for bits and pieces of the evening.
    

Pause, mid-afternoon

It's been a busy day.

I'm pausing just for a moment.

I just checked the weather outside. Including wind-chill, it's a full 10 degrees warmer than it was when I was walking this morning. That is very good news for the walk at the end of this day.

I've been having odd sorts of days lately.

I feel like I haven't been saying very much of substance here, talking mostly about the weather, or some of the minutiae of daily life.

Truth is that the things going on in and around me are somewhat deep and unsettling, and that though some are impacting me immensely, I can't really talk about them here without betraying the confidences of others.

Instead of writing substantive thoughts, I've been spending a lot of time thinking and praying and sitting in the quiet with questions and concerns.

Advent does this to me sometimes. This silencing and waiting. This year it simply seems compounded by the things that must be held in confidence.

So, for the moment, I'm going to keep talking about the weather, and the daily minutiae of life.