I've never been an Autumn enthusiast. It may go back to this one time when I jumped in a pile of leaves and landed in a pile of dog poop. Totally traumatizing. But this year I've been downright anxious to be able to flip the calendar to September, thereby making summer officially over. I even changed my blog background early to ring in Autumn's approach. (Don't you just love the owl? I'm really digging this owl trend for Fall this year)
We've got a surprise pumpkin patch growing around our flagpole so I'm looking forward to carving pumpkins this year and roasting the seeds. I want to make some Thanksgiving decorations for the house. I'm so excited for apple cider and doughnuts. We have a bonfire planned for the youth group.
And I have to confess, I'm already preparing for Christmas. I know, I'm as bad as Wal-mart trotting out the Christmas things with the back-to-school supplies. But this year I am bound and determined to make some gifts. Last year I was full of plans and good intentions but very little materialized. By starting in September I should be able to get a few things completed at least. At the top of the list are stockings for Curtis, me, Shiloh, and Bode. I think Bode will enjoy Christmas and I want to have a special New Year's Celebration since we adopted him last New Year's. Last night I pulled out all of my Christmas fabric and anything else red or green. I envisioned turning it into all sorts of things--wreaths, stockings, yo-yos, garland, ornaments. I can't wait to get started. I'm sure I will share some of my crafting adventures on here!
I think this summer was hard for me. In fact, I know it was. Stress crept in from all sides and I'm very ready to put summer 2011 in the books. I love the changing of the seasons. Each new season with its change of shoes and coats invites a change of mind and perspective. As the temperatures cool and the scenery changes I'm invited to change, too. I don't have a favorite season, I love the beginning of them all and I find that I am always ready to see them end.
Perhaps this is true about the seasons of life, as well. It's exciting to begin a new stage of life, but the readiness to move on seems to come just as the change is necessary. I feel like I'm just here on the edge of a life change, fidgeting and jumping so ready for the next season of my life. But I can't rush that anymore than I can rush the coming of Fall or Winter. Each must come in its time.
But in the meanwhile I can celebrate the changing of leaves from green to reds and oranges. I can relish the dropping temperatures and strain my eyes for the glimpse of that first precious snowflake. I can drink up all the sounds, smells, and flavors of Autumn and the promises of Winter. And eventually my season will change, and oh, how thrilling it will be.
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Friday, September 2, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
In The Fullness of Time
He hath made everything beautiful in His time....Ecclesiastes 3:11
My mom cross-stitched this verse for me when I was very small. Maybe a baby, I'm really not sure. All I know is that I've had it for as long as I can remember. It's become a life verse for me, as it has has meant different things to me at different times, and probably always will. These days it's the last word that has me thinking. Time.
Not just any time, or anybody's time, but His time. I'll spare you the cliches on God's calendar not matching ours and all that rigmarole. They're very true but we all know them. Let me try to be original.
I've been wrestling with time and His time for awhile now. I feel frustrated and disappointed about my life right now. It seems that nothing is going according to plan. Things are taking longer to get accomplished or to change. I'm getting burned out and tired from the struggle to get through each day. I'm spending more and more time shaking my fist at Heaven.
And then I get clobbered with some Truth. I use a capital 'T' because it seems to me that truth from Heaven is worthy of some capitalization. God's truth should be a proper noun. And the Truth of the matter is that God's time takes far more into consideration than just me, or just the people around me. God's time takes all of eternity into account. This seems obvious, something we all know, but it's something we can all take for granted if we're not paying attention.
The specific situation in my life has been this struggle to have children. I look at every month that goes by as a big fat 'no', a big fat failure, a big fat disappointment. This morning, I discovered, that God sees it as another month closer to the fullness of His time. Another month closer to the goal.
The fact of the matter is that while Curtis and I want to be parents, it's just not God's time. And it's not that we're not ready, good enough, or deserving. It may be that God needs this baby to be born or to come into our care at a later date. God already has plans for this child and the first part of that plan is his/her conception. It all must fit.
If God had given Isaac to Abraham & Sarah fifty years earlier, Rebekah wouldn't have been there for Isaac to marry. And without her there'd be no Jacob & Esau, no Uncle Laban for Jacob to run to, no Rachel and Leah for him to marry. The whole Old Testament unravels.
If God had let Rachel get pregnant right away, would Joseph have been the treasured son? And if Joseph wasn't favored, his brothers wouldn't have sold him into slavery. And without Joseph's ultimate success in Egypt, the tribes of Israel would've perished in the famine.
If God had given Hannah her precious son, Samuel, the first time she'd asked for a child, she wouldn't have dedicated him to the Lord. And if Samuel hadn't been given back to the Lord and lived with Eli in the temple, he wouldn't have become a priest. And if Samuel hadn't become a priest, who would've anointed both Saul and David? Who would've spoken Truth to Israels' first king?
If God had given Elizabeth and Zechariah their son, John, earlier in life he could not have really prepared the way for Jesus. Their ministries had to overlap. If John had been born sooner, who would've baptized Jesus?
God had a specific plan for Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, and John. Their parents had to wait, suffer even, before finally getting the child they so wanted. Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth all praised God, fully acknowledging that their sons had been born in the fullness of God's time in accordance with His will and His plan. Rachel did not, and died trying to have another child. It seems to me that is significant.
Waiting for God's timing isn't easy. Ever. But I have to change my perspective. I have to remember it's not just my life I'm praying about, it's the life of my future child. And God has a plan for that child, more significant and eternal than any dream of mine. I need to be grateful for God's timing, and look forward to the moment when His plan and mine finally converge. In the fullness of time, everything will be beautiful.
My mom cross-stitched this verse for me when I was very small. Maybe a baby, I'm really not sure. All I know is that I've had it for as long as I can remember. It's become a life verse for me, as it has has meant different things to me at different times, and probably always will. These days it's the last word that has me thinking. Time.
Not just any time, or anybody's time, but His time. I'll spare you the cliches on God's calendar not matching ours and all that rigmarole. They're very true but we all know them. Let me try to be original.
I've been wrestling with time and His time for awhile now. I feel frustrated and disappointed about my life right now. It seems that nothing is going according to plan. Things are taking longer to get accomplished or to change. I'm getting burned out and tired from the struggle to get through each day. I'm spending more and more time shaking my fist at Heaven.
And then I get clobbered with some Truth. I use a capital 'T' because it seems to me that truth from Heaven is worthy of some capitalization. God's truth should be a proper noun. And the Truth of the matter is that God's time takes far more into consideration than just me, or just the people around me. God's time takes all of eternity into account. This seems obvious, something we all know, but it's something we can all take for granted if we're not paying attention.
The specific situation in my life has been this struggle to have children. I look at every month that goes by as a big fat 'no', a big fat failure, a big fat disappointment. This morning, I discovered, that God sees it as another month closer to the fullness of His time. Another month closer to the goal.
The fact of the matter is that while Curtis and I want to be parents, it's just not God's time. And it's not that we're not ready, good enough, or deserving. It may be that God needs this baby to be born or to come into our care at a later date. God already has plans for this child and the first part of that plan is his/her conception. It all must fit.
If God had given Isaac to Abraham & Sarah fifty years earlier, Rebekah wouldn't have been there for Isaac to marry. And without her there'd be no Jacob & Esau, no Uncle Laban for Jacob to run to, no Rachel and Leah for him to marry. The whole Old Testament unravels.
If God had let Rachel get pregnant right away, would Joseph have been the treasured son? And if Joseph wasn't favored, his brothers wouldn't have sold him into slavery. And without Joseph's ultimate success in Egypt, the tribes of Israel would've perished in the famine.
If God had given Hannah her precious son, Samuel, the first time she'd asked for a child, she wouldn't have dedicated him to the Lord. And if Samuel hadn't been given back to the Lord and lived with Eli in the temple, he wouldn't have become a priest. And if Samuel hadn't become a priest, who would've anointed both Saul and David? Who would've spoken Truth to Israels' first king?
If God had given Elizabeth and Zechariah their son, John, earlier in life he could not have really prepared the way for Jesus. Their ministries had to overlap. If John had been born sooner, who would've baptized Jesus?
God had a specific plan for Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, and John. Their parents had to wait, suffer even, before finally getting the child they so wanted. Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth all praised God, fully acknowledging that their sons had been born in the fullness of God's time in accordance with His will and His plan. Rachel did not, and died trying to have another child. It seems to me that is significant.
Waiting for God's timing isn't easy. Ever. But I have to change my perspective. I have to remember it's not just my life I'm praying about, it's the life of my future child. And God has a plan for that child, more significant and eternal than any dream of mine. I need to be grateful for God's timing, and look forward to the moment when His plan and mine finally converge. In the fullness of time, everything will be beautiful.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Every Activity Under Heaven
Since January I've been working full time at my job. I work 2 or so hours at our county office before going out to the school to finish up my work day. For those of you that don't know, I run a before & after school-care program for one of the local school districts. I went from six hours to eight hours a day. Not a big deal, right? Just two piddly hours.
Yeah. Right. I suddenly feel like I have no time.
This is feeling reminiscient of my previous post about making time for what is important. That post along with devotions and other blogs I've read have caused me to spend some time reflecting on how I view time. I want to manage my time, spend it will, save time by doing things efficiently, and I've come to hate feeling that I've wasted time. All of these are the same words I would use when talking about money. Time and money. Some people say time is money, and that may be true for lawyers or stock brokers but not for me.
I've been creating pretty to-do lists to keep me motivated. I take time to decorate and illustrate my lists which sounds like procrastinating but I've noticed that the more I like the aesthetcs of something the more likely I am to stick with it. I've been thinking about re-organizing my house and re-structuring how things get done. I'm trying to come up with an efficient way to keep up with things. Housekeeping, paying & filing bills, and keeping track of things shouldn't be the daunting task it has somehow become. There should be a simple way to do things. I just need to find it.
I've read about creating rituals for daily things to make them meaningful instead of ordinary. My post on True Womanhood had me thinking of this in terms of housework. Seeing it as a rite of passage, beng indoctrinated into the club of True Women with every dish I wash. I also plan on making playlists of cleaning music, driving home from work music, and getting ready in the morning music. I want to create a morning ritual to prepare myself for the day--beyond the dash to get dressed and throw some make-up. I want to make the little things of everyday meaningful, even spiritual.
The Bible tells us to do everything without arguring or complaining, and that everything we do is (or shoud be) glorifying to Him. God cares about how I do what I do. I don't think He cares if I vacuum up the puffs of doggy fur and toy-stuffing everyday, but He cares if I do it with a grudging spirit.
So, I think what I'm trying to say is this: by restructuring how I think about time, I'll be able to restructure how I use time, and my attitudes about how my time is spent will be restructured as a result. You might want to read that again. I did.
The first step is to re-focus my ideas of time. I realize in writing this that I think primarily of myself. What I need to do, what I want to do, what I think is important. I've got "I-trouble" (a song from a kids' program I was in as a very little girl, Angels Aware). What I need to realize is that God has given me this time to use as He directs. And I'm sure that will include much of the same things but I need to let Him make the call on when and how those things get done.
I have to empty my box of pre-conceived notions and let God decide what gets put back into the box. Throw away some things, add in some new, I'm sure. But it's God who needs to do this work. And I have a strong supsicion what God will show me is that there is plenty of time to do His work and do it gladly. And that all I do is actually His work.
Then, hopefully, when I'm getting ready for bed at night (another ritual to create, I think!) I won't be feeling all the failures of what I didn't get done. I can rest in knowing that God is in control of my time. Yup, that sounds much better to me.
Yeah. Right. I suddenly feel like I have no time.
This is feeling reminiscient of my previous post about making time for what is important. That post along with devotions and other blogs I've read have caused me to spend some time reflecting on how I view time. I want to manage my time, spend it will, save time by doing things efficiently, and I've come to hate feeling that I've wasted time. All of these are the same words I would use when talking about money. Time and money. Some people say time is money, and that may be true for lawyers or stock brokers but not for me.
I've been creating pretty to-do lists to keep me motivated. I take time to decorate and illustrate my lists which sounds like procrastinating but I've noticed that the more I like the aesthetcs of something the more likely I am to stick with it. I've been thinking about re-organizing my house and re-structuring how things get done. I'm trying to come up with an efficient way to keep up with things. Housekeeping, paying & filing bills, and keeping track of things shouldn't be the daunting task it has somehow become. There should be a simple way to do things. I just need to find it.
I've read about creating rituals for daily things to make them meaningful instead of ordinary. My post on True Womanhood had me thinking of this in terms of housework. Seeing it as a rite of passage, beng indoctrinated into the club of True Women with every dish I wash. I also plan on making playlists of cleaning music, driving home from work music, and getting ready in the morning music. I want to create a morning ritual to prepare myself for the day--beyond the dash to get dressed and throw some make-up. I want to make the little things of everyday meaningful, even spiritual.
The Bible tells us to do everything without arguring or complaining, and that everything we do is (or shoud be) glorifying to Him. God cares about how I do what I do. I don't think He cares if I vacuum up the puffs of doggy fur and toy-stuffing everyday, but He cares if I do it with a grudging spirit.
So, I think what I'm trying to say is this: by restructuring how I think about time, I'll be able to restructure how I use time, and my attitudes about how my time is spent will be restructured as a result. You might want to read that again. I did.
The first step is to re-focus my ideas of time. I realize in writing this that I think primarily of myself. What I need to do, what I want to do, what I think is important. I've got "I-trouble" (a song from a kids' program I was in as a very little girl, Angels Aware). What I need to realize is that God has given me this time to use as He directs. And I'm sure that will include much of the same things but I need to let Him make the call on when and how those things get done.
I have to empty my box of pre-conceived notions and let God decide what gets put back into the box. Throw away some things, add in some new, I'm sure. But it's God who needs to do this work. And I have a strong supsicion what God will show me is that there is plenty of time to do His work and do it gladly. And that all I do is actually His work.
Then, hopefully, when I'm getting ready for bed at night (another ritual to create, I think!) I won't be feeling all the failures of what I didn't get done. I can rest in knowing that God is in control of my time. Yup, that sounds much better to me.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3 (love this, one of my all-time favorite passages)
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.~ Ephesians 5:15-16
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. ~ Proverbs 6:3
The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. ~ Proverbs 13:4
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. ~ Proverbs 19:21
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
