Paige and Michael are moving out of state in a few weeks, and we have spent some time sorting her college art projects to consolidate the things she wants to take or leave behind. She is a skilled illustrator, and she also has a healthy collection of portraits and figure drawings that I admire. She agreed to let me keep some of these. But how do I choose?
I will always be thrilled to display my children’s work, no matter their age.
Tim is serving on the southwest side of Guam. There is red clay soil and lots of vegetation, and their P-day hikes are beautiful. He is able to attend the tiny temple on Guam. I think the building pictured here is their ward meetinghouse. He is the trainer for his companion who is from the Philippines. They mostly speak English everywhere they go, but his companion is able to help Tim with his Tagalog. Tim is very thankful to be on an island that has fast food restaurants. I think the one pictured here is Taco Bell. đ They are teaching and loving the people and celebrate when their friends show up for church.
Beyond studying Tim’s face, I am focusing on this beautiful scenery. He is a 24-30 hour flight away. I guess you have to be that far away to escape winter.
We had some dreary days this week, again. I chased sunlight by working with gold and yellow thread and spending an afternoon with a friend.
I chased it by reading a novel by Amor Towels, a favorite author.
I chased it by listening to a new piece of classical music every day. (See the book, Year of Wonder by Clemency Burton-Hill.)
I found sunlight as I wrote out a story from my dad’s life.
I found it as I studied about the mission of John the Baptist. (See The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ From Bethlehem to the Sermon on the Mount, edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment.)
This week, rather than put away the Christmas cards, I hung them on an empty wall in my kitchen where they will stay. The faces on the cards feel like sunlight to me.
Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
Martin Luther King Jr.
We are experiencing a fullness of living, with its challenges, loss, connections, fun, and opportunities to serve. Have I cried this week? Oh, yes. I have also laughed, worked, and tried to repair my mistakes. In my daily journal of God’s tender mercies, I wrote during a particularly difficult time last week that my family was a great comfort. Because of them, I had hope for a softer, gentler time ahead. It came as our older children gathered for Sunday dinner and we talked about the influence of a good friend who passed away. It came as we listened to Tim talk about his missionary work and show an interest in his siblings. It came as Richard, Mark, and I spent all weekend together, living.
To keep goin’ in January, these are some of my stategies:
Take a mid-morning nap after a night of poor sleep.
Turn off the phone for a while.
Do one difficult thing, followed by one fun thing.
Take time to thank Heavenly Father.
Clean one surface, then another, but not everything in one session.
Take a short walk.
Do a simple good deed for a stranger.
Focus just on the current hour, and not on the demands of the rest of the day or week.
Retreat into good memories by looking at photo albums or handling reminders of good days.
Celebrate the present moment, and avoid envy for a different life.
Sip a favorite drink slowly, or savor a favorite meal.
Adhere to a good bedtime.
Read the news only once a day.
Write a meaningful note.
Connect with a friend.
Allow joy to be part of the day, even when things aren’t resolved.
Avoid making a sweeping judgment about life based on a tough stretch of events.
Trust that a loving God is helping and will continue to help.
I read my planner for pleasure. The cover needs to have a certain feel, and the pages need to accommodate my planning style. This year, I shopped many stores to find just the book. It is my biggest tangible tool for progress. (There are several intangibles, all related to faith practices.) I always have a plan, and often the plan is to do nothing. Still, the New Year invites the concept of resolutions. Should I be making resolutions beyond my intricate system of journals, calendars, planners, targeted goals, and dreams? đ I believe resolutions might be for people who are not like me. Don’t mistake me, I have my plan, but I also know how to throw out the plan pretty freely. I write everything in pencil, unless it is a journal of what I have accomplished. This is where I use ink. I recommend this practice.
I work in my paper planner so much, I identify as “a planner.” Being a planner has taught me to be forgiving to myself and to trust the process of small, incremental steps. I don’t feel a lot of personal guilt for things that I can’t accomplish in a day, maybe because I am always looking forward. I definitely have times when I erase goals and move them to a later time slot or cancel them when I fail. Failure is part of the overall plan.
And let’s talk about the word of the year trend among women in my culture. I can see the value, really I can, and I admire the foresight and inspiration that women have about their upcoming year. One word seems inadequate to the many things I lack. Just one? I can think of many. But maybe I am overthinking it…Likely…Absolutely. If cornered with this question, my one word that would inspire me to improve would be Christ. Every single year. But this word is not really playing by the rules.
We bought a new television for Christmas, and this began the rearrangement of chairs, tables, pictures, plants, decor, floor coverings, power cords, dishes, and bookshelves throughout the house. We are mostly making do with the furniture we own, so this has taken some trial and error to find the “next” perfect place for each piece. One morning, after days of shifting, I looked over the rooms and I was finally satisfied. If our furniture could click like a padlock, this is the sound the living room would have made. I’m just going to own that it was kind of fun to rethink the rooms where I spend my days.
This list is a personal thing for me to share, as these books were with me through all that I experienced this year. Whether I liked a book or not, I gained something from each. I will forever associate certain books with the landmarks of my year, big and small.
