For Christmas a friend gave me a beautiful and unique hand-made gift: The Best of My Days. Twelve simple pages, labeled for each month, with long and narrow and numbered space for each day. Just enough room to write a few words for each day of the year — the best of my days. I hung it right above my kitchen sink, where I can see it all the time. And this simple exercise, of reflecting each day on one simple joy, has been a delightful and unexpected part of my 2012. I love the Week’s end with thanks and will continue to do it, but thought at month’s end it’d be fun to just share the best of my days. (Make your own!)

1. Aunt Lois celebrating in heaven!
2. Afternoon with Elisa.
3. Playing Star Wars under the squirrel tree.
4. Kids so contented, obedient, joyful.
5. Running through pasture, laughing, Heidi in arms.
6. Pickel the Pirate — Heidi won!
7. Joanna D is having a baby!
8. Mace Windu and Yoda lightsabers — Happy Dutch!
9. Faithfulness w/ Facilitator’s gathering.
10. Clean, cozy, sweats all day — love my home.
11. Curled up with Prince Caspian & Newell girls.
12. Cup of tea in the kitchen with Melody.
13. Heidi asleep in sunglasses and stocking cap.
14. The Gospel of Grace!
15. WOU girls’ prayers & home early and safe!
16. Writing Family Mission Statement w/ my man.
17. Day in the snow! Daddy surprise come home.
18. Clean-out-the-freezer-soup.
19. Calm My Anxious Heart.
20. The Nines, Megan, squid, red tea!
21. Waterfront run! Amazing!
22. I Serve Here class SO good…
23. Praying with April.
24. Woman flooding in for God’s Word.
25. Just Ellie & Matt. My sweet Jeff’s care.
26. Nicole, Kelli, Jenni at CC.
27. Elisa, oregano oil & a 4-mile run!
28. Another lovely sunny 4-mile run!
29. Dutch self-control in Sunday School – yay!
30. Blessed evening at Yarcos — kids, smiles, dino nuggets!
31. Priscilla Shirer BRINGIN’ IT in HS teaching. TY Lord!

 

The smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil.

A blank sheet of lined paper resting on the table.

A new planner, days all white and waiting to fill.

I love me a new beginning. 

Over dinner on December 26th, Jeff asked me what had been the highlight of my day. Hands down:

Taking down the tree and vacuuming the carpet. 

I love celebration and festivities, but there is nothing so sacred to me as the mundane. When all the laundry’s folded just so and the freezer’s full of chicken stock and a new kid’s Bible-devotional book lies waiting for us to devour. I color-coded all of Dutch’s new Legos and stretched those fresh sheets across our bed and stowed the Christmas decor and crossed off that last day — 31st — and tore the sheet right out. There underneath lay a new glorious page:

January 2012.

I don’t know what this year will hold. Every single day is a gift, and I’m often reminded of dear family and friends around me passing from this life to the next.  I know this world is broken down and aching and we pass through it bruised and beaten. I feel it, too.

But God is good and does good. And so we can always look forward with hope and smile upon the future knowing our God is good and does good. So as I move into this new year, I’ll look forward a bit, as best as I know how, and ask God to direct both my goals and my requests for grace.  I won’t share them all, but here’s a glimpse of the goals:

Personal:

1. Read through the Bible again and establish set times of prayer during the day. (This time instead of just straight through I’m reading 3 OT and 1 NT each day. That way I get Jesus every day!)

2. Read through my nightstand stack. (Will share that soon!)

Physical:

1. Run Hood-to-Coast with Jeff. (This may end up being a regret

Marriage & Family:

1. Read The Meaning of Marriage (Tim Keller) together as a couple.

2. Read the rest of the Narnia books aloud to our kids.

3. Create memories enjoying the generous gift we were given for a free week in Maui.

Goals for Dutch & Heidi:

1. Heidi learn all the Letter Lesson verses.

2. Do our daily work and learning routine: (Make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, put breakfast dishes in the sink, take out the trash, write a note or sentence/story, Dutch read four books, recite verses, read from Big Book of Knowledge, do Bible devotional story/activity.)

—

I’m yawning a little looking at this list. There isn’t anything very remarkable, in fact it’s borderline mundane.

That’s just right. 

I pray to live this year–another year of ordinary Tuesdays and Wednesdays and early mornings and rainy afternoons–pounding nails into the right places. Establishing sacred habits one moment, one choice, at a time. And sewn through this list I’m stitching the reminder about living a life of no regrets.  So here’s another category:

These are my whispered requests for grace, resolutions of the heart …

• Resolved: Ask God what He thinks of my parenting decisions and children’s behavior before wondering what the rest of the world thinks.
• Resolved: Speak of Jesus even when I’m scared to death of looking foolish or floundering or flubbing everything up.
• Resolved: To rest and play one day each week.
• Resolved: To love, honor, and respect my man through his love language.
• Resolved: To speak to my children with words of life, giving correction out of hope not exasperation, discipline out of love not disappointment.
• Resolved: To abide in the extravagant love and grace of Jesus Christ who suffered and died so He could be with me.

Can’t cross those off as attained or measure them at all, but I believe by faith that God gives us the desires of our hearts. He plants them there and then He fulfills them. So I ask Him for these things, as gifts, this year.

And I believe He will give them, because of grace. 

{What are your goals for 2012? And what are the desires of your heart, the gifts of grace you’re requesting from the Father in 2012? Thanks for reading.}

 

Yesterday Jeff had the day off, offering us a bit of blessed time for looking back. (*We also had some time for looking at this site and making a few changes…please be patient, it’s a work in progress, just like me!)  Looking back usually makes us feel one of two things: gratitude or regret. Usually a bit of both. When I look back at 2011 the overwhelming feeling is gratitude. What a gift 2011 was to us. I could write a hundred posts listing out the gracious gifts God gave us and it still wouldn’t be enough. He has been so good.

But what about regrets? My dear friend’s grandfather spoke these simple words to him, just before he passed from this life to the next:

“Live a life of no regrets.”

And as I look at my dear Aunt Lois and her beautiful almost-96 years, I see an example of a life of no regrets.

And this — living today with the end in mind, makes us consider: Is there anything — habits, choices, relationships — that I might regret one day?

What does the world regret? Here are the top 5 things people regret on their deathbeds:

1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

2. “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”

3.” I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

This could really all be summarized by these four regrets:

1. People-pleasing (fear of man, lack of courage)

2. Refusing to rest (pride)

3. Neglecting relationships

4. Not choosing joy

It’s easy to see how these are the most common regrets. And yet, how often do our (my) New Year’s resolutions and goals really reflect a desire to live a life free from these regrets. For example, running a marathon is awesome but will I really lie on my deathbed and regret that I never ran one? Blogging every day is awesome, but will I really ever regret if I miss a day or two?

So the challenge for us as we cross into a new year is How do I establish daily habits that will help me live a life of no regrets?

How do I live today with the end in mind?

The question for us is this: If you lived the rest or your days exactly the same way you lived today what would be your regrets?

I know mine, and they’re startlingly similar to those above:

1. People-pleasing (lack of courage) in being myself and sharing the love of Christ.

2. Neglecting rest and play.

3. Cluttering my life with too many relationships without investing enough time with the handful that matter most.

4. Not smiling more, not choosing joy each day. Letting little things like a messy house or a funky friendship weigh down my heart.

5. Talking sharply to my children, getting frustrated with them, speaking in a tone that cuts instead of builds.

These are the things I would regret. Oh, friends, I don’t want to have these regrets.

The new year is a gift of grace.

Each new year God gives us a chance, a mini-life, which He lets us do again and again. He gives us a chance to stop, look back, and reflect, so that we won’t be caught off-guard at the end.

From 2011, I only have a few regrets.

• I wish I had made more time to read.
• I wish I had spent less time worrying about what people think of my kids.
• I wish I had spent more time doting on my husband.
• I wish I had prayed more.

 

I’m a stickler for finishing. Somewhere along the line, one of my dear parents must have inflicted me with some conviction about always finishing a task because goodness knows it’s inflicted me ever since. Sure, there are exceptions: Heidi’s baby-book and my 10K training plan, are prime examples. Both are nowhere near complete. But for the most part, I love me a job well done.

Hence our lingering little F is For… series, which I despise. Why did I start it in the first place? I don’t know. I love doing something light on Fridays. Something fun, related to the mundane. But why did I torture myself with the limitations of alliteration? And then why did I torture myself with finishing an entire year of this silly series?  Because I’m ridiculous.

How’s this for light?  At any rate, I’m curious: Have any of you ever suffered through something ridiculous just so you could finish? Merit or no merit, sometimes it can border on humorous. Would love to know if anyone else has been there…

And … would you help me? What sort of series would you love to do on Fridays? Have you done some yourself that have been helpful? Or is there something in particular you’d like to read more about? Homemaking topics? Frugality? Glimpses of real life? 5-minute Fridays? Good links to other blogs? Having a g0-to theme really makes the week easier for me, leaving only 4 other “real” posts to write.

Thanks for your input! And, on our last post-day of the year,  I thank you with all my heart for a fabulous 2011. YOU are a joy in my life and I thank you so much for your grace!  Bless your holiday weekend and thank you for reading!

 

We did it last year and it was a blast!

{12 Days of Christmas: As a family you pick another family or couple or single person, perhaps who has gone through a hard time or could just use encouragement, or just whoever God places on your heart. (This would be an awesome way to build a bridge with an unbelieving family in your sphere of influence!) You secretly put tiny gifts on their doorstep for the 12 days preceding Christmas (1 candle, then the next day 2 packets of hot cocoa, then the next day 3 of something, all the way to the 12th day giving them 12 of something like fresh cinnamon rolls on Christmas day).

Each day you include a verse or something encouraging that goes along with the gift. The point is not to get complicated, but just to have fun thinking creatively about one other family and encourage them from God’s Word. It’s helpful to pick someone who lives near you since you’ll need to go by their house every day for 12 days!    You can reveal who you are at the end or keep it a secret, depending upon the situation.  Just a little idea to spark creativity as we learn to love our neighbors and celebrate the greatest gift–the Giver Himself.}

This past year, we chose a super-fun family (that always helps), who lived a few miles away. Christmas morning it was such a joy — we pulled up around 9am and their whole family came bounding out onto the front porch to “catch” us (we wanted to be caught at this point) and we all laughed ourselves silly recalling all the ways we’d sneaked around their house, how they’d wanted to catch us, and how they couldn’t figure out who it was. (They’d made a list of suspects!) They’d left pumpkin bread out on the porch and a note for the “Stealthy Ninja Christmas Angel.” 

So, if you’re game for an adventure, do a bit of pre-planning, enlist the help of your family, and have fun doing a little secret-blessing this year.

You too can be a stealthy ninja Christmas angel. {Thank you, Alice Schwartz for sharing this idea with us last year! And thanks, all,  for reading!}

PS I know the “official” 12 days of Christmas are technically after Christmas. You get the idea. It’s more fun to end on Christmas day!

 

I know, I know. What am I doing talking about weight on a site devoted to spiritual growth? Of course by now you know my mantra: Everything matters. Diapers or devotions, laundry or liturgy, weight loss or worship, the details of life are the whispers of a Savior. Isn’t Christ in the middle of our mundane?

And, I just thought I’d toss in a word or two on the topic since the issue usually hovers beneath the surface with most women. And of course tomorrow is a day devoted to gluttony, yes? Plus, my friend Joy mentioned something about it the other day that I thought was great. So, feeling inspired, take it or leave it, a few thoughts:

The world has us wrapped around its finger because we alternately worship two false gods which feed upon each other:  

One is BODY, the other is FOOD. 

These two false gods have been erected and are now the focus of women’s worship in our world. And, we become what we worship. We naturally grow toward whatever we focus on. Joy made the point that she never diets because the more we focus on food and what not to eat, the more we tend to want that very thing!  It’s true.  We’re far better off just focusing on something else!

Sin must always be displaced. That is, we cannot just remove a sinful habit, we must displace it by pounding, as with a hammer and nail, another habit in, driving out the old one.  We’ll never remove greed by focusing on greed. Only be focusing on generosity.

We pound out greed by giving. 

We’ll never remove anger by focusing on anger. Only by focusing on patience, love, abiding in the grace and gentleness of Christ. When we worship and focus on Christ we become like Him. Make sense?

So back to the idols. Our culture has made idols of BODY and FOOD. We obsess about having celebrity-figures and yet we also obsess over FOOD. Look at our magazines? What’s on the cover?

Naked bodies and food.

Right next to a scantily-clad Angelina is a chocolate pie or a salad (or Kelly Ripa, right, holding Christmas cookies you better believe she’d never eat). Go ahead, look at all the women’s magazine covers. You’ll find BODIES and FOOD. 

So, knowing those are our idols, it’s a no-brainer to realize that we are bound to a life of frustration. Why? Because to have the one we can’t have the other and to have the other one we can’t have the other. AGH!  Or, more accurately, we either tend idolize one more than the other (and it shows). We look like what we worship. When we idolize body, we look anxious, striving, frustrated. When we worship food, we look overweight. When we worship both, we’re some mixture of the two. But always, always defeated. When we worship something that’s empty, we lose our vitality.

But what if instead we worshipped Christ? 

Instead of focusing on the pumpkin pie tomorrow, what if we focused on the Savior?! Instead of every family traditions centering on food, what if it centered on praise? YES, there is a place for feasting (God commands it!) but we were never meant to worship His gifts, only the Giver. If we worship food this holiday season we will gain 5 lbs and lose a lot of joy. If we worship the Savior, focusing on Him, obsessing about Him, planning about Him, seeking Him — We’ll come through the season with weightier lives, lighter hearts, and happier days.

Truly, the secret — we become like what we worship. 

Let’s FIX our gaze this Christmas on our beautiful Savior. 

{Thanks for reading.}

 

• On a drive through Madras, in the pitch-black night, watching fields burned in the distance. Sky light up in red and smoke. Eerie and beautiful all at once. Death to life. Destruction to beauty.
• W-H-I-R-L-W-I-N-D week. Carried along in God’s grace.
• Sale Pending.
• Unity with my man. Neither of us have any idea what’s next but it’s so fun to be arm-in-arm and enjoying the ride together. Nothing’s as sweet as being on the same page.
• Dutch’s response to house selling — after all year insisting that he didn’t want it to sell. I told him and he lit up, “YAY! That’s so exciting! Can we move tonight?” Hahaha, thank you God for all the little nooks and crannies of your provision.
• New opportunity to write regularly for FrugalLivingNW. So excited to join the wonderful ladies over there! What a gift of grace.
• Ministry.
• Receiving, always receiving. 
• Life, the gift.
• WCC buzz about gratitude. Everywhere we turn we hear thanks. This too is grace. 
• Wednesday morning prayer ladies. They are always a gift to me.
• That He hears us.
• Again, the details surrounding the house-sale. Not what we do for Him but what He does for us. 
• Eagerness.
• Honesty.
• Humility.
• Last minute trip to Bend.
• Gospel of grace.
• Behaving completely opposite of my high-”J” temperament. I think that’s grace!
• Arriving late, 10pm, in Bend, exhausted. Kids nuzzled into mats on Nana’s floor. Jeff and I collapsing  happy into bed. Pressing my face into freshest of pillows, blankets, finding myself smiling wide as I drifted off to sleep.
• Black-out blinds + no alarm = sleep in! 
• The rare treat of a morning run with my man.
• Spending all morning at Bend’s Pirate-ship Park. NO KIDDING. It was heaven on earth for my little man.  Sunshine, 80 degrees. That was heaven on earth for my little man’s mama.
• Clean towels.
• Wood floors underfoot.
• Crepes with dash of sugar sprinkled on top.
• Fresh coffee.
• Food Should Taste Good chips. The reason I don’t have a Costco membership is because I would eat too many of those chips.
• Fridge FULL of fresh tomatoes from many gardens. So excited for that homemade marinara I’ll be making next week!
• Driving by wildflower fields. Photographer in the middle with tri-pod, capturing the wonder.
• Heidi repeating everything Dutch says, all day long. The chirping bird-song echo of our house.
• Bucket of fresh peaches.
• Dutch & I sharing.
• Juice running down chins.
• Finding my husband so handsome.
• Naps for all.
• Time to myself.
• Getting alone with God. Soul expands, breathes, lives.
• Friday run after not exercising all week. Feeling good, strong, making it more than 6 miles! That’s crazy for a wimpy girl like me. And … sore the next day. But the good-kind of pain!
• Such wonderful retreat in Bend — a gift to be removed from the house-situation. Perfect time to rest and play before heading back into the adventure.
• Opportunities.
• Charles Kingley quote from childhood coming to mind. Thank God for work.
• Rhythm.
• Grace & peace.

 

Everyone has quirks. Why God puts us together. How it’s beautiful.

 

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (13-14)

True hope not “getting hopes up”

Waiting on the Lord not man

Takes courage