I love to rise before the rest of the house does and slowly gather my thoughts in prayer for the first couple of hours of the emerging morning.
I love to watch the sun rise over the back yard, bringing light to the Vicarage once again. It feels like a victory each time I see the sun wink into existence, to know that I have beaten the heating orb to the punch one more time.
Somehow catching those first quiet rays sets me up for the rhythm of the rest of my day. It is as if those gentle morning moments breathe something fresh into me that can carry me through into all the peace, creativity and strength I need for the rest of the day.
I love experiencing the quiet approach of a new day. How about you?
We took ‘Lella home today. She was so happy to see her mom and dad and to meet her baby sister Yve.
Having Daniella with us here at The Vicarage has been a great way to start this new year. The last eleven days have forced us all into her rhythm of play and imagination, and while it has been a bit tiring, it has been very good for all of us.
Lisa Johnson, a friend of ours who teaches pre-schoolers reminded us that the lovely thing about children ‘Lella’s age is that it is not hard to entertain them. Give them a card board box and their imagination does the rest.
‘Lella reminded us what it was like to try new things. She reminded us about the wonder of discovery.
And she also taught us that it is OK to leave all the energy out on the playing field and to rest when you are tired.
I think the lessons we have learned will serve us well as we face the blessings and challenges of 2021.
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW IT.
We keep our Christmas trees up well into January to bolster our moods as the long winter settles in.
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW IT.
I guess the world has always been bonkers…well at least since that Adam and Eve with the tree episode.
Every once in a while though the world just chooses to show its true nature more flamboyantly than others. Now is such a time. This has been a season of “Wowsie-Wowsie-Woo-Woo” to beat the groovy off a hippie poet.
I guess I should not be much surprised by what is happening in the world. This is what God has been telling people to prepare for… for well a long time. Maybe part of the problem is we really didn’t believe God or His prophets or His Word.We don’t really want to accept that the truths of the end of the Bible are coming to pass before our eyes.
The Christian believers among us want to keep believing that Jesus is coming back to judge the world, but we want it to be painless. We want it to happen. We even say “Even so Lord Jesus come quickly.” We just don’t want anything to do with the process of His coming. We certainly don’t want to admit that there are aspects of our lives which will experience that process of judgment, because we’ve let bits of the world’s bonkers into ourselves.
Bonkers is going to be with us for a little while longer folks. So we had better figure out what to do with it. Here are some suggestions for dealing with bonkers:
Focus on God not the world– worship, pray, read the Word, fellowship with other believers who are focusing on God not the world.
Focus on the mission– God gave us a job to do. We are to reach the people around us with the good news of Jesus Christ. Do your job and stop focusing on things that are not your job.
3. Pray about things and leave the results with God.- Stop telling God how to do His job. Give Him the situations that are vexing you, that are above your pay grade and trust Him to deal with them.
4. Stay in your lane- God has given you an area of influence. Stop pretending its bigger than it is and influence things you actually have authority over. Stop trying to influence things outside your realm of influence. You will only make things worse by involving yourself in things you have no business in.
5. Choose the fruit of the Spirit not the works of the flesh-
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5: 19-26
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THESE STEPS THAT SPEAKS TO YOU? TELL ME ABOUT IT.
In order for music to be music there must be intentional variation in pitch (speed of vibration) and intentional meter and rhythm which comes by counting out the pace of the notes. But there is something else music possesses which is harder to quantify. That is the spiritual/ emotional connection with the human soul. Music is more than just pitch and rhythm. It is heart. It is connection. It is divine spark.
IN LIKE MANNER SCHEDULING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF LIFE RHYTHM BUT SCHEDULING BY ITSELF IS NOT LIFE RHYTHM. CONVERSELY LIFE RHYTHM WITHOUT INTENTIONAL SCHEDULING IS JUST A COMFORTABLE WAY OF LIVING DEVOID OF CREATED PURPOSE .
Our life rhythm is the pattern of living that taps into our giftedness from God. So in order to tap into our divine gifts we need to intentionally schedule the pattern of living that draws them out.
What I learned, was that just having a schedule planned out according to my life roles did not necessarily mean I was tapping into the divine giftedness God had planned for me. My mistake in scheduling was that I allowed others to define my life rhythm by placing their expectations upon me. I let other people tell me what my role in the world was. I scheduled my life only according to what other people required of me. I was not strong enough to assert my own rhythm. I was not strong enough to say “no” when the expectations of others led me away from the life rhythm which fed my soul. I was like the tiger above…filled with all kinds of power but not using any of it.
So about three years ago I began to create a schedule which served my life rhythm rather than making my life rhythm serve my schedule. I view my rhythm as a cycle or a circle….like a clock. The rhythm is divided into seven sections: prayer (this is the first section of the cycle and for my giftedness to be released the most important), physical activity, rest, writing, work, relationship, and study (this is the final section of the cycle and for my giftedness to be released I think of it as second in importance).
Just like on a clock you cannot go to the second hour without making it through the first hour. So in my rhythm I cannot go onto physical activity without first praying. On the other hand I cannot jump from work into prayer without first spending at least some time in relationship and study.
Is this the right way to do it? Honestly, I don’t know if there is A RIGHT WAY of scheduling or living according to a life rhythm, but it is the way I have found that works for me in this moment.
SO TELL ME HOW YOU SCHEDULE OR WORK ACCORDING TO LIFE RHYTHM.
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW IT.
Some of my artist friends got me a sketching diary for Christmas this year. Here’s a quick sketch self portrait I did yesterday. I’m kind of lopsided.
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW IT.
Daniella playing in the fresh fallen snow. I think she thought these were balloons.
I was taught the importance of writing and keeping a schedule almost twenty years ago. Since that time I have always kept a day planner and I set aside time weekly to create my schedule, to plan my calendar.
This has been an important aspect of becoming effective in my roles as a human being. I will continue to plan a weekly agenda going forward. I need to do that so I don’t miss meetings because I was busy watching television!
In spite of its importance I have learned that rhythm trumps schedule every time. I have learned I can make and keep a schedule and still lose my effectiveness if I do not consider and surrender to my created rhythm…hmmm. I think that’s a term that will need some explaining….I sense another post coming on this subject.
If I do not plan and practice my life rhythm, schedule takes over. Much of our world has fallen victim to this issue. As a result we have become a culture of racing activity junkies tied to calendars that other people have made for us.
Three years ago I was there. I was living by my schedule, made for me by other people, without my life rhythm. I had lost my individuality, my divine spark and sadly much of my usefulness to the community I served. The sad thing was I was so busy, so tired, I didn’t realize it.
But God….
The last three years have been painful as God stripped away all my schedule (all the things I and others previously thought were important). The last year has been my full acceptance of my life rhythm and its practice.
Today I still keep a planner. It still holds all my meetings (though fewer they be and of a far different nature). But now my day planner intentionally displays my life rhythm. I follow that rhythm now as doggedly as I ever followed the schedule. The schedule serves the rhythm now…and that has made all the difference.
where do you stand in the process between schedule and rhythm?
I am starting off the New Year right by jumping onto SHARE YOUR WORLD early this week…year. I love this challenge and will continue participating in it throughout the year, as it gives me an opportunity to reveal more about myself and life here at The Vicarage…which is one of my goals for the New Year.
So here are Melanie’s questions and my answers. When you have finished reading here please stop on over to Melanie’s blog, Sparks From A Combustible Mind, using the underlined link above, so that you can see what her other contributors have added to the conversation.
QUESTIONS:
What’s a relationship deal breaker for you?
I guess it depends what kind of relationship we are talking about. I tend to let people in as far as they can be trusted; So how close you are allowed to get to me in the first place relies on your trustworthiness. How close I let you stay is also dependent on said trustworthiness. That said, I don’t tend to go from”zero to hero or hero to zero” in one step with people. Relationships with me are slow growing and slow fading.
Do you believe in extra-terrestrials?
Of course! I just call them angels and demons or maybe Nephilim and Anakim.
In the morning, do you hit the snooze button on your alarm (sometimes repeatedly) or do you leap out of bed, ready to face the day?
I am a deeply committed button pusher.
If you came back in the next life as an animal, which animal would you choose to be? (and even if you don’t believe in that, let’s suspend belief for a moment just to have a little fun).
Oh! I played this on Facebook the other day. It said I was a dragon.
My goal this year is two-fold: Community and Stewardship. I intend to build community… and I intend to steward all my artistry towards kingdom provision.
Lillie-Put 