Day 17 (or 29) of 365. Getting Distracted writing about Distractions

It is Day 17 of 2018 and Day 6 of Snow Day Craziness.

I tried to think of a new exciting term like the weatherman uses such as "Snowmageddon" or "Icepocolypse" but I am just not as creative as Action News 5, I guess. However, a "world coming to an end" type of name is exactly what we need by day 6 of this thing. We have enjoyed our laziness and snow fun as much as Southerners with no proper clothing can, and now we are just completely stir crazy. So crazy, in fact, that I have resorted to some form of homeschooling today to remain somewhat sane. Thankfully the kids think it is a fun new game to do work at home and are actually excited about it. At least for today.

As much as I REALLY don't enjoy the idea of a snow day because of all the pressure on moms to make it memorable. (Sledding, and snow angels, and pretty pictures, and snowmen, and snow cream, and hot chocolate.... and that lasts about 20 minutes.) I have really enjoyed the slower rhythm. We barely had time to get back into the busy-ness of school after Christmas Break and here we are again, sleeping late and spending lots of time as a family.

Our nights at home have been particularly slow. Just as most people in my life stage, we have a busy weekly schedule with all of the kid's extracurricular activities, homework, and church activities. We rarely have a lazy night at home, much less 6 in a row. It has been nice. Sweet. Just what this homebody needed.

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I laughed when I read in Genesis today as I thought about my kids and all the sibling bonding they have had in the last week. We read today that Joseph sends his brothers (the same ones who sold him as a slave 20 years ago, but he forgave them because Joseph has mastered forgiveness in way that most of us can only dream and that would likely earn him a gold medal in forgiving.... sorry I've got Olympics on the brain.) back home to get their father Jacob. He gives them lots of wagons loaded with food and money and clothes and animals and sends them on the journey back to Canaan. But as they are leaving he tells them.

"Don't argue on the way."

Jacob has not forgotten about how nasty sibling rivalry can be. He knows his brothers (and all siblings) have a tendency to argue. Perhaps he has even seen this kind of "brotherly love" happening with his own boys, Manasseh and Ephraim. Parents just know. They always know.

Truth is we all need to be reminded not to get distracted and argue with our brothers along the way. God has given us all a command and a life with which to carry out His purpose, and He just wants us all to stop arguing and focus on the road ahead.

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I did it again. Started a blog post and never finished it. Mommy brain + almost 40 brain = I get distracted super easily.  The struggle is indeed very real. So thankful for the gentle re-reminder to stay focused as I stumbled upon this half written thought today. I think I'll go ahead and post it on the off chance I will need this reminder again.... like tomorrow.

Day 7 of 365. In the Beginning of 2018

It is Sunday. The 7th day of the year. I have been successfully reading my Bible and studying and journaling and praying for an entire week.

It is important to point out this accomplishment because, while I am a huge Bible nerd and love reading and discussing it so much, I am also an even bigger procrastinator and all around lazy human. I often get behind in my reading and have to play catch up. And when I say often, I mean at least once a week.

This is a tough truth for me to swallow because it seems really strange for someone who just confessed to being a full out Bible nerd to have such a problem with reading it daily. My mind and heart sincerely desire to hear from the Lord everyday, my body really really loves to sleep that extra 30 minutes or my eyes really want to scroll through Instagram or watch one more episode of the crown on Netflix. This is a struggle we all face everyday although I think some of my friends struggle less with slothfulness than I do.

I'm reminded that this is a universal struggle right out of the gate in Genesis when we see our girl Eve struggle with the same problem of listening to her body instead of God (we all know the dangers of shopping on an empty stomach) and making a decision based on what she sees right in front of her. (Raise your hand if you are still grabbing chocolate from the Christmas stocking stash every time you walk by even though you told yourself you were not eating sweets during the month of January.... No? So it's just me then.)

Genesis. Y'all, I am ate up with Genesis. God's entire plan for the world is laid out right there. He doesn't leave anything out. He is pretty specific about what he wants and tells His people over and over and even using visual aids to make it easy for those folks to understand. And Y'all, the people are not spectacular. They are Flawed. Super flawed. And they waste no time jumping into sin. You can almost hear God sigh and say "really? already, guys? I mean we JUST named the animals and I was JUST getting used to our afternoon walks. Sigh. Ok. Here is how we will fix this...." (paraphrased).

And it happens again and again. But God forgives and still provides because He is good and He loves us even though we can't seem to say "No" to the snake, put down the chocolate covered cherries, turn off Netflix, or wake up 30 minutes earlier to spend time with Him. He still loves us.

How do we know that He still loves us and still has a plan? Because we read it in God's word. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God.  As I was reading this week about our girl Eve, this thought came to mind....

Eve's knowledge was secondhand and that cost her. What a gigantic commercial for reading the Bible. We can't allow our only knowledge of God to come from someone else in the form of christian books and blogs and sermons and podcasts. Those are great, but we first need to get it straight from the horses mouth.... er rather the mouth of the God of the universe. There that sounds more respectful. But you know what I mean.  Lets not be caught with a handful of apple because we weren't exactly sure what God said concerning His love for us.

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So tomorrow is Monday again. We made it through the first few days back at school. We are slowly easing into 2018. Like I said, I really only accomplished reading the Bible and getting kids to their correct schools before the bell rang. Hoping I can do the waking up earlier and resisting the chocolate this next week. But I'll settle for just one of those. I can't set the bar too high, you know. It is only January.

A Weirdly Enthusiastic Book Review

Have I mentioned that I'm a Bible nerd?
Like for real. A total geek.
It's fine. Whatever. I've always been kind of a dork so at least this is a more purposeful use of my dorkiness.

Now hear me out. I'm not saying I'm super Holy. Nope. As much as I would like to say that I'm basically an angel on Earth, I think my family would all be willing to testify that is definitely not the case. I just really really like the Bible.

Maybe it's because it is the divine word of God or maybe it is just because I have only read a handful of books in my life (Sorry Mrs Jubb.) and this is the only one I have ever read more than once.

By the way... I have never understood people that read books multiple times. People like my husband and daughter. That seems like a lot of work when you already know how it is going to end. My daughter has read the entire Harry Potter series twice. She is 11. I'm fairly sure the only books that I had even read cover to cover at that age were Ramona Quimby Age 8 and a few Baby Sitters Club books. But I am not even completely confident that I read every page of those.

So the point is... I have never been a veracious reader.

However, that changed 4 years ago when I joined a Chronological Bible Study at a friend's house. As a group we read through the entire Bible in one year and met weekly to discuss it. This was a game changer for me.

I have spent my entire life in Church. Daughter of a deacon and Sunday school teacher. I attended children's church, children's choir, youth group, youth choir, youth leadership council (not sure really what this was but we met every month), and went on several mission trips. In college I was a part of BSU and attended a local church regularly. My background was pretty solid. I became a Christian at age 9 and new all of the popular Bible stories by heart. I even had a few verses memorized back in the day, but usually could only manage to pull out John 3:16 if ever put on the spot.

I was not a stranger to God's Word. But I NEVER had the expectation to read that thing as one gigantic story. No way. That was not the purpose of the Bible, I thought. You were just supposed to carry it around and pull out different topical verses  and stories when they fit a certain situation. I honestly thought it was more of a collection of short stories that were used independently of each other.

I was pretty clear on Genesis and maybe Exodus and the Gospels, but everything else felt random. Especially the Minor Prophets. Who in the world ever read those? Nahum? Habakkuk? Haggai? I don't remember a single youth retreat sermon preached from those scriptures. Are they even in English?

I feel I need to point out here that I do not feel like it was a problem with my Christian role models or leaders that caused me to be so clueless about the Bible. It just happened. And if I am being honest it probably had more to do with my heart. You see, I was a classic goody goody and chronic rule follower. I would venture to say that I may have considered myself SO good that I didn't need the Bible. I felt like I had a pretty good handle on God's will for my life and didn't need to read Nahum to shed any more light on the subject.

So as I mentioned I joined a group that was studying the Bible chronologically using a reading plan and corresponding devotional written by Iva May. Her 365 day devotion helped me stick to the reading schedule necessary to finish the entire Bible in a year. Fast forward 4 years and I can't stop won't stop. Reading the Bible as the complete story that it is completely changed my faith. Or should I say strengthen it. I wasn't really able to truly believe in salvation through Jesus that is laid out in the New Testament until I understood the reason for atonement explained repeatedly in the Old Testament.

There is so much more I could say and probably will from time to time. This year I'm committing to leading a new group of women at our church that I am so excited about and challenging myself in some other ways that include journaling and speaking. It is going to be fun.... in a absolutely nerdy kind of way.

It really is an amazing story. One that never gets old and I never get tired of reading.

So if you haven't read it for yourself, consider this a 5 star book review on Amazon or Good Reads from someone who doesn't read books, and try if for yourself.

www.chronologicalbibleteaching.com

I got this beautiful She Reads Truth Bible for Christmas. I love it and I am serious when I say beautiful! Also it has lots of maps and extras for me to geek out about including a completely new font created just for this! So basically I get to obsess about Scripture and Typography which is as good as it gets in my book.
www.shopshereadstruth.com/collections/she-reads-truth-bible

Our church is also reading through the Bible in a year and has put out an online reading plan.
www.kwbc.org/rgwt/

Deep thoughts as the ball drops

It's December 31st and I'm sitting in my favorite spot on the couch under a cozy blanket and staring at a Christmas tree that is way past its prime. I think about what a great few months it has been. I enjoyed this holiday season so much which is exactly what we all needed after such a crazy year.

I purposely didn't put a lot of pressure on myself this holiday season. After listening to several podcasts on keeping things simple I was deteremined to do just that. My heart always longs for simple. Im not always good at it because we live in a world and in a time when simple is so difficult and not at all exciting. Nevertheless, I persisted and attempted a stress free minimalist Christmas holiday.

I didn't worry that on December 22nd we still didn't have a single wrapped Christmas present under the tree. I chose not to panic when we only managed to bake and give away half the number of gingerbread cookies than we did last year.  I went minimal on the teacher gifts this year, concentrating only on the main school teachers and asking God to forgive me for drawing a line before any of the specialty teachers and coaches and just really great friends. I kept my cool when we missed a day or too of our family advent devotionals and when the flu struck our house in mid December, I decided it was time to catch up on our favorite season movies. I even introduced myself and my 11 year old to the wonderful world of Hallmark movies!

Miraculously it worked. Slowing down and focusing on what was most important for our family and letting other things "just happen" if there was time, gave us room to breathe and anticipate the Advent of Christmas.

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I'm not one to get caught up in New Year's Resolutions. Not exactly. I mean I have tried the whole "no eating sugar" or "giving up Coke" or "exercise everyday" resolutions in the past but they all seem to fall flat with no real motivation behind them and I end up forgetting it all by February 1st.

However, this year on the heels of a not-so-easy year but a wonderful holiday season, I find myself with the desire to begin 2018 with a little more purpose. Not a list of goals, but with a guiding principle for the year. I hear of people picking a word of the year and I always think that is something they can use for a great motivating hashtag. Even as I roll my eyes at the concept, the word intentional keeps flooding my mind.

Be intentional.

That is what my heart keeps telling me. God has been highlighting all of the ways I coast through life out of habit and it is so very convicting.

I want to be more intentional with my free time. Spending less time mindlessly scrolling through Facebook and Instagram and choosing to spend my minutes/hours/days with a purpose.

I want to be more intentional with my health, specifically my eating. No more mindless snacking and choosing foods based on proximity and ease. (AKA I need to intentionally try to choose water over Coke. And salad over cheese burgers. The bar is set pretty low here.)

I want to be more intentional with my spiritual growth. Allowing plenty of time for reading and studying the Bible and for praying expectant and specific prayers.

I want to be more intentional with my relationships. As a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend.

I want to be intentionally creative. Whatever that means. Whatever form that takes. I just want to spend some time creating this year because it has been far too long.

So I guess Intentional is officially my "word of 2018". It feels so much better than a resolution. I can't really fail. It's not really that kind of goal. It's just a direction I want to take for the next year. It seems like a good direction for the year of 40.

Don't you think?