Dusty Corners

When the rhythm of my life is out of synch and I’ve permitted the pace to sweep me along with the hurried masses, I get grumpy.  I lose connection with my soul and who I am. As my “Yes’s” pile up and overwhelm my days with activity, so do my “No’s” to the spiritual practices I thrive on to listen for God’s voice. 

My schedule fills and I default to the not so spiritual practice of neglect.

In my home, this means tidying up the house yields to a promise for later. Meals become fast and processed. Exercise gets slashed. In relationships with God, family, friends and strangers I rely on the culturally acceptable excuse, “I’m too busy right now.”

I actually say, “My life is so full.”

This avoids the “B” word. Busy. I’ve been taught that word red flags unhealthy soul practices. But a “full” life makes me feel better. I tell myself I am choosing what I am doing. It seems easier to say “Yes” to life’s unrelenting demands, the pleasing of others and fulfilling expectations rather than protecting time for the priorities and assignments God has given to me. Instead of choosing the thoughtful “No” that honors my limitations and my calling, I try to juggle both the requests of my small world and my soul’s priorities.

These are signs that my life has become disordered.

When the corners of my house are dusty and there are cobwebs on the dining room chandelier most often the nooks and crannies of my soul are neglected too.

When I am pleading busyness in my relationships, my prayers are hurried and distracted.

When my body care is compromised, so too is my Sabbath rest.

Tending to commitments I ought not to have made leaves me desolate and discouraged. Once again my compromise comes into focus.

I still myself in silence, solitude and prayer.  I begin to address the cobwebs in my soul as well the dust bunnies in my house. Perspective becomes clearer. Peace returns. I know my belovedness and sense my arrow pointing true.

I commit to my rule of life. Puttering about doing chores in silence and practicing solitude and prayer, keep my interior and exterior being in rhythm with the Beloved Trinity. When my soul keeping is my priority, the cobwebs in my house are tended to as well.

 

Spring Reflections

Among riotous spring colors, the song of birds and the noisy parenting of multiple duck families, I pause gratefully to welcome May from our patio along the Muddy Creek.

  I had purposed in April to post weekly of my rambling thoughts and simple rhythms of living.  As you may or may not have noticed, it didn't happen.  I fussed about this with my spiritual director in my April session, noting it would help if I scheduled hours in my week to sit and write, treating it as an appointment to keep.  I have written many a post in my head while jogging.  My musings are plentiful for those who care to listen.  But I've noticed these ideas don't write themselves.  With any project or goal, purging closets, cleaning up garden beds, ironing a stack of shirts, hosting a dinner party or losing weight as examples, you can't think it done. You have to do it.  Put in the time.  Work it out.  I must admit that I am a slow start at times.  I have to process the how, be sure of the why, make sure I'm convinced the sacrifice is worth it.  There are other times I jump into a project with a frenzy of energy.... but that is mostly for household chores.  So with renewed commitment to writing, I am scheduling Tuesday as my writing day.  Maybe not all day, but part of the day for sure.  It's a start.  What would you like to schedule to start?  The truth of the matter is, nothing will be different next month for either of us if we don't change what we are doing now.  

I picked up an old book of poetry at a yard sale on Saturday, published in 1931 by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses.  The poems are delightful and I imagine someday reading them to another generation of little people.  This very short one conveys my heart of gratitude this day.

 

HAPPY THOUGHT

 

The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

 

In spite of earthquakes and riots and other sad news, choosing thankfulness helps me reorient my perspective towards God's generous favor towards me.

 

As I think of what would go on my Happy List from the past month or so, these three come to mind.

 

1.  I enjoyed a four day get-away with four women, all married to pastors, in sunny Stuart Beach, Florida in March.  Delightful!  We talked and talked some more then prayed for one another.  There were tears and laughter.  We learn much from each other, four different decades represented in our ages, as together we wrestled with the questions we have in our journeys of faith and ministry .  I also learned not all sushi is raw fish.  Who knew? 

 

 

2.   I am grateful for a joyful Easter celebrated with all of our children present in our worship at New Life Fellowship.  Whenever we can be all together I am one happy mamma!

 

 

After church we gathered at my parents' home for the traditional ham dinner.  My brothers, their families, my aunt and the five of us make a noisy crowd at the table but the introverts among us are used to it and we savor the traditions of story telling, gentle teasing, and lots of food.

 

 

This is my beautiful niece, Caitlyn, who helped me get started in blogging and who bales me out of the technical difficulties I get myself into.

 

3.  I am grateful beyond words for the rebuilding of our creek side patio wall.  This winter the freezing heaved the rocks down the bank. 

 

 

You can see there was no way Kevin was going to put these boulders back in place.

So we bit the financial bullet and put in a retaining wall and now our patio perch along the creek looks like this

 

It is a peaceful place to be still and know God. 

 

A few days ago I finished a book by John Ortberg called Soul Keeping. 

In it he challenges readers with this discipline,

 

 "How many moments of my life can I fill with conscious awareness of and surrender to God's presence?" 

 

 It is a good practice.  I don't have it mastered.  There are too many hours in my life that I am not filled with awareness of God's presence.  But I work at it.  I ask the Holy Spirit to  prompt my remembering.  And when my stove dies (it did last week), or the car just stops (it did for Kevin two weeks ago), or someone I care about gets bad news (it happened on Tuesday), I have to ask God for his peace, his perspective, or his comfort and walk on in a posture of trust.  Even when I can't see the "how" or understand the "why", I rest in knowing I am never without his Presence, his power or his provision every hour of my life. And this patio by the creek is a grand place to sit and soak in that understanding.  

 

 The flowers of Spring are food for my soul.  Perhaps a short tour of my backyard will delight yours as well.

 

Pink Bleeding Heart with Forget-Me-Nots in background

Sugar peas are growing nicely in the raised beds Kevin made for me last summer.  In front of them are the candy onions I planted this spring and the garlic planted last fall.  In the background are some tulips in my Easter garden.  It's where I plant the lilies and tulips that are gifted to me by my children and others in Easter seasons past.

The ferns ready to unfurl their fronds!

 

Lenten Rose.  I found this at the New Holland Re-usit shop.  Someone must have been thinning their beds!

 



 

  

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD."
Psalm 150:6