Out my Window: Blue skies, sun shining with hopes of warmer temps today
Enjoying: A pot of succulents on my counter. They are still alive. I love the colors and textures. My lemon sugar cookie candle and my crazy llama on my counter all make me smile. I very much enjoyed this Winter Break.
Listening to/Watching: I listened to the latest episode of Holy Post Podcast and John Branyan’s . I started listening to On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts by James K.A. Smith on Audible. Not totally enthralled with the narrator, but the content has been very good. Watching baseball news quite a bit. Went to see the musical Fiddler on the Roof. I had never seen it. It was very good. I was amazed at how many songs I knew. I wonder what show tunes this generation will know just by “osmosis.”
Reading: Finished reading Saints: Becoming More than Christians by Addison Bevere, review can be found here https://inkblotlife.com/2020/02/18/saints-becoming-more-than-christians-book-review/. I am also reading the Book of Waking Up by Seth Gaines. It is very good. Very different in layout and format, but his writing and topic continue to pull me along and adds to the sacred echoes of addiction and freedom, that seem to be in all that I am reading, but in different terms or angles. I also have Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam on the side.
Pondering: I started writing a full post in response to a interview with a baseball player we had watched. There has been scandal in the baseball world, specifically the Houston Astros and possibly other teams cheating. Carlos Correa from the Astros was interviewed about the past cheating and he said, “we made one mistake and it shouldn’t impact the rest of our years, that’s not the way the real world works. You don’t make one mistake and then have to pay for the rest of your life.” When he said that I was shocked, I said out loud, “really?!” along with many other things to him, explaining the real world. I am not sure what real world he is talking about, but wow. That is the way the real world has worked and even more so in the “cancel culture” we live in. My post ended up being a bit too much of a rant, but as I ranted I started thinking about God’s grace, and thanking God that when we repent, He is like that. He forgives and chooses to forget. As far as the east is from the west, He removes our sin from us. What a gift. Life does not work that way, someone should tell Carlos Correa that news, but God does work that way. Sometimes there are consequences for our actions, and people around us may have a hard time moving on, but God is merciful and gracious when we come to Him with our sins. I am thankful he does not follow culture and cancel us, but is gracious to forgive and restore us.
Learning: Gentle. I want to be gentle. But gentle is not something that comes naturally. I feel things in larger ways, and then at times become a bull in a china shop. I am way too quick to speak, and too slow at listening. Once I stop and process, it all catches up to me and I see clearly how I reacted or responded, even if I was able to keep it inside my head, still not gentle. My word this year is gentle and seems to be connected with yoked. So I know that learning that I am not gentle is not meant to be a shaming thing, but an opportunity to repent, learn, and grow into the gentleness of God. His ways of gentleness look different than I picture gentle. Thankfully, gentleness is not the stereotype I picture when I hear that word, but is something completely different. It is strength under the control of humility, trusting in God’s strength and plans, not a doormat or weakness, but a strength in choosing not to demand my own way, or the way I think is best. Gentle is a characteristic of God, it is something we need to be with ourselves, and something we need to be with others. So I am slowly learning. Even identifying when I am not is a gentle grace that God is giving me.
Home Life: This week has been lots of cleaning and purging one of the rooms. Trying to put it back in order and give it new function. I am happy with how it is coming together. Still have much to put away and give away, but I am happy with the progress.
Fitness and Mental Health: Been moving in some way, either Pilates, schlogging, or a cardio video. Mentally I feel like a fog has been cleared. Exercising more has definitely helped. Also had some good visits with friends and family.
Giving Thanks: For a date with my husband to see Fiddler on the Roof, getting to go to one of my favorite cafes one last time, delicious Chai and crepes, friends leaning in to hurts and allowing God to heal, in-laws visiting, lunch with a soul sister, time at home, my son’s help organizing and cleaning, packages making it to Seattle, sunshine, warmer days to exercise outside
Inkblot Life 