Day 17: Pause #write31days2018

If you have read my post about the Luddite Experiment, you know that I have pressed pause this month on my social media use. After half a month of being away from Facebook and Instagram, I must say that it truly has been good. Before this break, I was feeling frenetic, always afraid I was missing out on something. I sensed a pressure to be and to know and to have things that were not mine. I just had to take a step away and see what would happen.

I feel like this time away is refining me. It is helping me quiet my spirit in other ways, not just my internet consumption. I am finding creativity in the space. I am finding calm and room for thinking more deeply. I am finding my own true self again, without that pressure to conform to some arbitrary cultural fad.

Pausing is creating space to see, to hear, to be. It is taking time to breathe, to rest. It is leaving room for the question, “What is God’s best for me?” Pressing pause gives me fresh perspective and energy to step back into my real life in a more meaningful way.

What can you do today to press pause and give yourself some breathing room?

This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes and Write 31 Days blogging challenges. Find all my posts in this series under the tag “write31days2018.”

Day 16: Pray #write31days2018

Not a day goes by that I don’t pray several times for help from God. Most of the time, it’s a quick prayer in the midst of sibling conflict between my two children. But in the morning, I usually do  have time for more focussed, less desperate prayers.

However, I have found that those short send-ups for patience, wisdom and grace in moments of desperation are still meaningful. I am learning these days that I cannot control my children or the outcome of my parenting. I can only do what I think is best at the time and pray for the Lord’s will to be done in their lives. The Lord alone knows what is best for them, and I need Him desperately in these days. I am not the potter. I am here to nurture my children and to teach them all I can about making godly choices. But I am not able to determine the path they will go. This is a humbling, and in many ways frightening, realization.

So I pray. A lot. I pray that I will faithfully mother these precious souls. I pray that they will see Christ in me, even through my many flaws and failures. And I pray with gratitude that my God is big enough to draw them to Himself no matter how much I may mess up in the day to day.

This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes and Write 31 Days blogging challenges. Find all my posts in this series under the tag “write31days2018.”

Day 15: When #write31days2018

In the early days of motherhood, I quickly realized how lost I was in the duties of housekeeping and homemaking. I had had all sorts of free time before having children, and I didn’t realize how much I would need to organize my days once children entered the picture. It was a steep learning curve, but I eventually got a handle on some sort of routine. I at least knew when I needed to do certain tasks to keep the house running somewhat smoothly.

Now that my children are entering more independent elementary and preschool ages, I find myself with a little more time again. I am enjoying getting back to pursuing more of my creative interests, like reading and writing. This week I decided to get back to practicing the piano a little. I starting using the Duolingo app to practice my Spanish vocabulary again, too. I have been getting my knitting out every day this week. I am also thinking about when I can add some time to draw in my sketchbook and nature journal.

If you are a new mother or in a stage with lots of littles underfoot, I don’t write all this to make you feel badly. I do, after all, only have the two children! I write to encourage you that someday, you will have time again to do those things that make you uniquely you. And I write to challenge you a little to find a few minutes (really, just 5 minutes a day!) when you can do one thing that makes your soul come alive. There will be a day when you can spend more time on your interests again, but even now, amidst all the diapers and laundry and feeding little mouths, don’t forget that you are a person, too!

This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes and Write 31 Days blogging challenges. Find all my posts in this series under the tag “write31days2018.”

Day 14: Ask #write31days2018

I’m playing catch-up again tonight! Here’s a late post with the prompt from yesterday…

The act of asking questions is the beginning of contemplation. When I contemplate, I ask questions of myself, of the world and of God. . . Questions that don’t always have to have an answer. . . Questions that make me think beyond my daily concerns.

Contemplation is my soul searching, my mind seeking, my heart longing for something beyond myself.

I ask life’s philosophical questions. I ask practical and pragmatic questions. I sit and think and wonder and listen.

Contemplation requires asking. It also requires silence and time away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It requires an attitude of openness and of focus.

Asking questions leaves me vulnerable. Contemplation is not a proud occupation. It is humble. Contemplation acknowledges my smallness, my lack of knowledge, my need for the One Who Knows.

In contemplation I find peace, resting in the fact that I belong to the God who has all the answers to anything I ask.

This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes and Write 31 Days blogging challenges. Find all my posts in this series under the tag “write31days2018.”

Day 13: Talk #write31days2018

I’m a day late posting this free-write because I just desperately needed a day off from pretty much everything yesterday! But here it is, regardless…

This week my son and I were reading a passage in John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress for his school lessons. The part we were reading a conversation between the characters named “Talkative” and “Faithful.” We learned that Talkative liked to discuss ideas of faith and Christianity, but that in his hometown he was known as a hypocrite, doing all sorts of things that were definitely un-Christian. When Faithful confronted him with the truth of his actions as opposed to his words, Talkative was quick to leave. My son and I noted that it isn’t enough to be able to talk about following Jesus. You actually show by your behavior what you believe.

This is a difficult thing for many of us who were raised in the church. We know how to give the right answers in Sunday school. We can talk about what we believe and even why we believe it. But too often there is a disconnect between our religious talk and our real life action…and our actions flow from our hearts. So I have to ask myself, is my faith all talk, just words I say or type? Or is my faith lived out in my actions at home and beyond? 

Paul said in 1 Cor. 13:1

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Let’s not be noisy gongs, like “Talkative.” Let’s be true to our words, that we may be found “Faithful.”

This post is part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes and Write 31 Days blogging challenges. Find all my posts in this series under the tag “write31days2018.”