January 12, 2012

• Twenty-Twelve & Little Red Coats

   

  TWENTY-TWELVE

  So it’s a new year, and a new start each day.
  Last year my goals changed drastically from “to-do’s” to “to-be’s”.
  This year it’s a lot the same.
  Not projects to complete and activities to check off
  but more on a personal level, where it’s between me and God.
  Goals are great, I fully agree.
  It’s just that for so many years I got hung up on the goals
  instead of The Goal, and I don’t want that to be a pattern of my life.

  So I still have them in my head, they have not yet reached paper.
  Some are personal, some pertain to my marriage and things I want to BE,
  some are practical and relational as I interact with my little family,
  some have to do with time management…

  Several years ago I realized that not nearly all of my New Years Resolutions were happening,
  and it was due largely to expecting other people
  to do things a particular way to enable their completion.
  Enter frustration and conflict, because of expectations that should never have been placed on other people.
  Expectations they were not even aware I had put upon them!

  That is why I’m changing from To-Do to To-Be.
  Some people may need to do the opposite, but this is what is right between God and me.

  So much of life is like that, isn’t it?
  Yes, there are very clear rights and wrongs in some things,
  but in others, it has to be a communication between God and you.
  What works for someone else won’t work for you.
  What God leads you to do in a certain thing isn’t what He tells everyone else to do.
  It’s simply an attitude of listening to Jesus Christ,
  of being content in relationship with Him,
  to where I don’t feel threatened by all the other wonderful things other people are doing.

  And goodness, this is real for me, especially having internet access again.
  I’m rather staggered and overwhelmed by the incredible myriad of blogs and ideas and amazing words
  and wonder why I even write at all. Sometimes it feels like one person can just be swallowed up
  in the vastness of the internet, and feel so small and insignificant.
  There is so much comparison that can happen
  [and Jesus doesn't like when we compare ourselves with each other, remember?]
  and I fall so short of all
  the amazing cooking
  and writing
  and blogging
  and creating
  and crafting
  and family-loving
  and vacationing
  and God-loving
  and… [you probably can fill in a few more blanks]

  And yet it can be so obsessive, this internet world,
  that we have to learn where to start and stop, how to set boundaries,
  even in things that aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just time-wasters.
  They can be things that either make us feel good about ourselves
  or send us down a path of self-loathing.

  Either way, it’s taking our eyes off of Jesus.
  It’s about us, about ourselves,
  and I don’t want it.
  I don’t think that means shutting off all internet forever,
  although from personal experience a time away can be a very healthy experience.

  But learning to keep my eyes on Jesus,
  learning to be sensitive to His Spirit…
  to the quiet Voice that says, “Okay, close the computer. Spend some time reading…”
  Or “take _________ a meal, she’s exhausted today.”
  “Your child needs some time with you, try a walk outside.”
  “Write a note and drop it in the mailbox.”
  “Take some time to prepare for your husband coming home, some makeup and perfume.”
  Or sometimes it may mean, “Write that blog post…”

  It can be so many different things,
  and I don’t know what it’ll mean for me each day.
  I won’t live it perfectly,
  but by His Grace I want to live near Him, in Him, and He in me.
  Drawing all security and all sense of belonging from Him,
  no where else.

  I think this is a life-long learning,
  not of internet-usage,
  but of learning to walk with Jesus,
  hearing His voice,
  and obeying.

  I’m excited about Twenty-Twelve!

  For us it includes:
  ~ a sister wedding
  ~ a baby arriving
  ~ a second sister wedding
  ~ a brother-in-law wedding
  [as the biggest things]

  and other lovely things will be:
  - a sister moving to the south because of her marriage [yay!!]
  - snuggling and loving on Little Love when he/she arrives
  - trips to the ocean
  - My Faire Lady fun projects
  - lots of extended family time
  - the daily wonder of Jesus!

  [ Little Red Coats while in Colorado]

  [i bought the smallest coat on clearance at the children's place for around $10 when zoe was just little, and she wore it until her little arms poked out of the sleeves much too far. THEN i found another size at a consignment shop for just a bit more than i paid for the first one, and this winter they could wear matching ones! i was so thrilled. dressing my kids is way too fun. especially when it's cheap. ]

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   Be blessed by and filled with Jesus today!

  ~clarita

  • 9:53 pm
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