If you're moving a little too fast today, feeling rushed and stressed, I encourage you to take two minutes to listen to the following song. I suspect you'll be grinning by the time the Smothers Brothers step in to help with the ending, and you'll feel far more relaxed, even groovy: [youtube_sc url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQxG0Z72qM"] When you've settled … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: Tea Is Necessary
I was tired, so I made tea. Though I often crave caffeine, I can only tolerate it until noon, when I must stop drinking it or risk lying awake until two in the morning. Fortunately, I glanced at the clock on the stove: just after 10:00 a.m. I had time. I spooned some caffeinated black tea into a paper loose tea filter, lowered it into the deep pottery mug, poured … [Read more...]
A Sacred Pathway
On Friday, before speaking at a MOPS group about slowing down in our fast-paced world, I stopped to snap a couple of photos. Days of rain had given us nothing but gloomy gray skies, but that morning I awoke to the sun's yellow bloom against sea-blue sky.I gazed, amazed, at a backdrop of red and yellow leaves, as if awakening in Technicolor Oz after several tiring, … [Read more...]
Reclaim Family Conversation at Mealtime
One time we were making plans to have another family over for dinner. As we were discussing the get-together, they said, “So, after we eat at your house, what will we do? I suppose we’ll just sit around and … talk?” “Um, yes. What would you do at someone else’s house?” “Watch a movie or maybe a football game.” “Oh, well, we just talk. I hope that’s okay. We’ll ask … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: Vacation Food
(smaller button below)For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (My daughter doesn’t quite … [Read more...]
Vacate
From Prayer, by Philip Yancey:"Be still and know that I am God": the Latin imperative for "be still" is vacate. As Simon Tugwell explains, "God invites us to take a holiday [vacation], to stop being God for a while, and let him be God...God is inviting us to take a break, to play truant. We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and … [Read more...]
There & Back Again: My First Ash Wednesday
I pulled my hair back this morning. Normally I wear it down, but long strands will sometimes flop down against my face, angling in such a way that it cuts right across my forehead. Today, I swept my hair back. My forehead was bare. At breakfast I told the kids I would be attending an Ash Wednesday service at a church near ours. The service was at noon, I said, so I … [Read more...]
Slow-Down Fast & Simplify: Silence & Solitude
On a day when I'm considering how to simplify, you might wonder why I have not just one blog button but two in place.I'm inviting you to join me as I embark on a “Slow-Down Fast”: a season dedicated to humbly and boldly simplifying and slowing (schedule, habits, activities, thought-patterns) in order to experience a more focused and intimate relationship with God in my … [Read more...]
Mega Memory Month 2011: Finishing Well (revisiting John 15)
Whether it's a year (Happy 2011!), a project, a commitment or a lifetime, I long to finish well.So as I launch Mega Memory Month 2011 (MMM), I start to worry a little.Will I finish well?It's interesting to look back at some of the the passages and poems I've undertaken: Colossians 1; Philippians 2: 1-11; Psalm 121; John 14 & 15; Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: The Spirit of Food (THC Book Club Discussion-Week One)
(smaller button below)Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe.If you want, you could simply describe Christmas leftovers and New Year's Eve snack plans OR join the book club at TheHighCalling.org; because, you see, we’re pretty relaxed over here. Posts like … [Read more...]
Tuning In and Out
Yesterday at High Calling Blogs, Michelle of Graceful posted a story about how she was caught fake-listening to her son. As the content editor for this article, I worked with Michelle on the piece and enjoyed a sneak preview. Her topic has caused me to monitor my listening skills (or lack thereof) for a few days now.I've also been particularly honest and respectful in … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: It's Alive!
(smaller button below)Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to record your daughter singing, "I like apples and bananas," that’ll do just fine. … [Read more...]
Simple Ways We've Gone Green
Visit this post at NotSoFastBook.com to enter the Green Mama book giveaway—ends Saturday morning, June 19.Each weekend during soccer season, we tote collapsible chairs to and from our kids' matches. The chairs fold down and slide into bags, and nearly always one of our bags is ripping at the seams.This past season, it was one of the red chairs. The chair itself still … [Read more...]
People and Privacy
I was talking with a friend of mine about how people relate—or don't relate—in our world today.My friend said, "I heard a story about an 80-year-old lady, Miss Jessie Parker, who used to talk about the way things were, how people had more time for each other and would sit and chat in the evenings on their porches. But people don't do that so much anymore, so the woman … [Read more...]
Ten Random Things I Haven't Mentioned
Sometimes my posts don't reflect my daily life.It's not that I'm hiding anything; it's just that I sometimes don't take time to write about what's happening while it's happening. Instead, I might write about something I've been thinking about or something I've learned. … [Read more...]
