Remembering This Christmas

There's that old prompt for story writing: the 5W's and a H. It reminds writers to include the who, what, where, when, why, and how into a story. Because really that's the stuff we want to know.

It makes a story complete.

However, right now, I'm just thinking about two of those. This season I've been trying to concentrate on just the why and how of Christmas.

For I can easily focus on the Who of Christmas, the What of Christmas, the Where of Christmas, and roughly the When of Christmas. But sometimes in the quiet of the day, it is really good for me to remember the why and the how of Christmas. These are the verses I ponder this season...


Why of Christmas -

 

"And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.

And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

 

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.'

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down;
and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them,
'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"
Luke 4:17-21

Why? HIS LOVE


How of Christmas -

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross."
Philippians 2:5-8

How? HIS HUMILITY



His Love and humbleness.
That is something I want to keep remembering this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to you all!
~ Dorie

Summer, Linger Just a Bit Longer

 

 

Summer, you are fading as quickly as my view of the ocean did two short weeks ago. When I turned to leave, I lost it. Now, I think I'm losing you, too.

 

That sensational shoreline view replaced with construction barrels, roaring highway trucks, and metal toll booths. Are you going away too, Summer? Will you soon be replaced?

 

 

Summer, you've been good to us this year. Really, you have.

 

We've loved having you visit.

 

We've rested, played, and enjoyed the time with you more so then before. You've kept away the humidity and the heat. Instead, you've supplied warm, sunny days with just a sprinkling of rain, enough to feed our garden, but not ruin our plans. We appreciate that.

 

I'm afraid you are packing up and heading south. I see the signs. There's less sun each day, and the nights are getting crisp. Trees are slowly looking less green. Is it possible, Summer? Are you going? Why not just linger a bit longer.

 

You're welcome to stay.

~ Dorie

 

 

 

 

More Thunder and Lightning

Another storm wants to roll in with more thunder and lightning. And rain.
We don't need any more rain.
The ground is over saturated.
Our twice flooded garden sags leaves.

Temps remain mild, but humidity rises as sweat rains down our backs just walking to the mailbox.

Weather gone crazy in this northeasterly part.
Each time it rains, water rolls down the lawn and into the streets making a new river which crests near our fence.

The boys next door play basketball in their swim trunks and bare feet.
My children roll about on two wheels through the make shift street river.
Laughter rises with water.

An ice cream truck sings to customers two streets over.
The sky darkens and rumbles.

A faint breeze lifts the humidity.
Cool air finds it way in.
Sweet relief from sweat for a few moments.
This is bliss.

Lightning zigzags through the clouds.
"Time to go in," I call as drops fall from the sky.
~ Dorie

The Long Winter

...is ending.
~ Dorie

The Year of Small

Small. Is it really a word to center a year around? That was my thought when 2013 ended. I had prayed about a focus word, theme, or direction for the new year, and this is what I kept coming back to. No grand direction. No dynamic dream of grandeur. Nothing earth shattering or world changing on the large scale. Quite the opposite: small.

While I don't pretend to know how this will play itself out, I've compiled a few thoughts on what a year of small could include...

Single Focus - (singular focus) Multitasking leads to distraction, frustration, impatience, and subpar results for all I try to do at the same time. Having one thing to focus on at a time would help me to do that one thing better.

More Prayer - Praying more specifically and more often can only help my year.

Adjusting - (changing) - Growth happens when situations, mind sets, attitudes, habits, etc. change. This year, I hope this focus allows for more change and pruning for future growth.

Love - We are to be known for love. Not that Hollywood actor portrayed love/lust, but real love. The kind all of mankind recognizes: commitment love, active love, wanting the best for someone else, even to the point of self sacrifice love.

Living and experiencing life to the fullest. Which means being physically, mentally, and emotionally present in the moment, and not wishing it away, or looking forward to the next better thing. Finding joy and contentment in the everyday, mundane tasks may be a challenge, but one to attempt in this year of small.

Twelve months from now, we'll end the year.
How will small play out over the days and weeks?

I do not know.

For now, I am starting small with the first two: Singular focus and more prayer.
Here online that will play out with less postings, and I am removing pages on Facebook for promoting websites. The fact that I never really used them, made it very easy to edit it out of my life. I'll keep Pinterest, because I actually use it for my personal life.

Whatever your focus, word, goal, or resolution for 2014, may this year be the best yet!
~ Dorie

Ringing In the New Year

{and turning on the comments!}

Sometimes, quiet is necessary, even vital. But then that season passes and another replaces it.

Lately, I've been feeling hurried and uninspired to write. Though I have never stopped sharing our family life, I haven't been inspired to write the thoughts I ponder. Perhaps because there are so many.

As we turn the page to a new calendar year, these thoughts keep whirling in my head {for life in general}:

• what do I want to be known for? or not known for?
• what is my life's best work? am I focusing on it? or am I neglecting it?
• have I done what I am suppose to do?
• am I burying any talents in the sand? or am I using all I have, however small it is?
• am I living a daring life? or playing it safe?
• is this a period of rest, part of a whole life's climb?
• am I trying to fit more into my time? or focusing on doing a few things better?

Time passes. One year replaces another.

What this year holds, who can tell?
Certainly, not I, but today, and every day of 2014,
I want to choose to live it to the fullest in whatever capacity I can.

May your days of 2014 be full of goodness, hope, and love!
~ Dorie



Previous New Year Posts:
Making a Year the Best Year Yet (2013)
Starting a New Year (2012)
New Each Morning (2011)

Giving Up the Perfect Christmas

Spending Thanksgiving away from home was a blessing. We enjoyed our beach retreat and are thankful we could go. Once we returned home, it was time to pull out the Christmas decorations. With only a day left in November, we knew we needed our Advent wreath the very next day.

I dug through the cabinet for the candles. {Yes, we reuse our Advent candles from year to year. Generally, by switching up the order we can get two years out of a set. When the candles are too low for the wreath, we use them in other places throughout the house until they are gone. You could call us cheap, but we prefer the term good steward.}

When I did find the saved candles, I realized they were too short for the wreath. A new set would have to be bought.

Ever try to find purple taper candles on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent?

Not easy.

Especially since we avoid the large shopping areas and malls like the plague 365 days of the year and did so on this day as well.

Consequently, we only visited two stores. The first, a craft supply store, {the one I thought for sure would have purple taper candles} was sorely lacking in purple candles. Lacking as in, not even a shelf space for them. Green and red varieties abounded. I snagged one pink and three cranberrish colored ones from the red section.

Three non purple candles. Could it work? Did it matter if they were purple or not? I couldn't decide as we traveled a short distance to the other store.

My Drummer husband dropped a daughter and me off at the store before he took the other children to the pet store. They were to pick out a bone and treats for our dog. Meanwhile, my daughter and I were on a quest for purple candles.

The second store, a card outlet, had a candle section filled with scented jar candles. Toasted marshmallow was quite interesting. {I think I liked it.} We asked the clerk for tapered candles.

"Advent candles?" she queried.

"Ah, yes," I smiled.

"Right over there," she told us as she pointed to the other side of the store.

We picked up the box. $8.00 for four candles. Hmmm, I slowly calculated what we had just spent. $4.80 on the other four candles, which of course could be used for two years.

Slowly, I walked over to the counter with the candles in hand, still debating on the 'properness' of using cranberry colored candles in an Advent wreath.

"Will that be all?" she asked.

"Yes," quietly, I answer. I pulled out a ten dollar bill.

She bagged the box and thanked us. We left. All during the short walk through the adjoining parking lot, I kept wondering. Did the color really matter? Had I just wasted money purchasing two sets of Advent candles?

 

 

As the Drummer started the van, I told him we had found the purple candles.

 

"Do you want to take back the other ones?" he asked.

 

"No," I sigh. "I think I want to use them. They may not look proper, but let's use them first. We'll keep the perfect purple set for another year."  

 

As we lit the first cranberry candle on that first Sunday in Advent, I realized we'll be having a cranberry Advent wreath for not just one year, but two. There will be two years of obvious imperfection.  

 

And, I'm OK with that.

~ Dorie

 

 

 

 

 



Outta Time

Whirl winds eventually die down.
Sometimes, it just takes longer than we like.

When the fall season of sports ended, the Drummer and I heaved a collective sigh, congratulated one another for surviving, and looked forward to a freer schedule.

One month later, we were still looking forward to a freer schedule. It wasn't happening. There were still numerous places to be and things to do.

Finally, December dawned, and we saw it.

Honestly, I think it was the first time, I really, completely exhaled in three or four months.

For with that turn of the calendar page, we saw that elusive margin of time.

Eight days were empty.
Yes, completely empty, as in no scheduled plans, no places to be, nothing.

Have they all stayed that way?
Of course not. However, theses eight days represented a margin of time. A margin we have been trying to find since the school year started.

For those of you who understand and can relate to this feeling of being outta time, you know this freeing sensation I reference.

For my readers who cannot comprehend the crazy-busy lifestyle we were living these past few months, I offer a comparison of sorts...

Our autumn time crunch was like a monetary budget stretched (complete with stretch marks) to find the last penny and squeezed (to the pulp) to make efficient usage of all the pennies found. When you live on a budget like that, money is tight. So was our time this past autumn.

The freeing sensation of finding eight empty days is like living on that tight budge, and one day, the air turns colder. You grab the winter coat you haven't donned since last March. Reaching into the pocket, you find a crisp new twenty dollar bill inside. Well, you can't help but laugh with the sheer happiness of it. Twenty dollars may not seem to a lot to someone who doesn't need it, but to those on that tight budget, it is a lifeline, and one to be celebrated. Yep, twenty extra dollars on a tight budget, that's eight, empty days on a crazy-busy schedule.

And, yes, I'm laughing with the sheer happiness of it,
Dorie


P.S. For the record, those are all sunset pictures.

R U Busy?

10 random thoughts from this hectic haze season of life...

1. Saying no to more is OK. We all have limitations. When your schedule goes haywire, your limitation may be time. We have said no to some really good things these past weeks. We just don't have the time right now. This will all change as fall sports season is winding down, but for now, we have a time constraint.

2. The crock pot is golden. Seriously, worth its weight in gold. Being able to prep a meal at anytime during the morning and have it ready for us in the evening is divine.

3. Organization is vital. Without an accurate calendar and paper filing system, I would be lost. Actually physically lost. I keep a master calendar alongside of individual schedules and email updates (these I print out - totally old school) for quick reference and assurance that I am indeed headed off to the right place on time.

4. Edit your life. Some things will just need to go during this season of your life, but edit wisely.

5. Real friends will understand. Funny thing is, during an extremely hectic time in life, real friends understand they may have to wait a day, or more, for you to return a call. And those real friends graciously accept this. They may even try to help you and ease some of your craziness.

6. Accepting help is not accepting defeat. Honestly, if it weren't for others helping with rides and the like, my children and I would not have gotten to everything on time. Whatever help your family or friends offer, say yes!

7. Remember your priorities. Yes, edit your life, say no to things, but keep living your priorities. If family dinners are important to you {they are to us}, then make them happen. {During this crazy busy time, we have eaten dinner as late as 8 PM, just so we could all eat together.}

8. Take care of yourself physically. Eat well, exercise, and get rest. You can not physically keep up this hectic pace without some prevention.

9. Give to others. Oddly, this is really an essential. Without looking outside of ourselves during a hectic season, there could be a tendency to become quite self centered. Time might be too difficult to give right now, but what about a loaf of homemade bread or outgrown girls' dresses?

10. Embrace the moments. Don't wish away this time. This season will quickly pass. There is joy to be had in the here and now.


The most important thing: Rely on God. Whether you got into this season by choices or happenstance, you are in it now. Pray and seek His will for this season in your life. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned, life editing to be done, or endurance to be stretched. Whatever the case, He will lead you through it. I know this to be true, for as I endure my current hectic haze, He is my Rock and Guide.
~ Dorie


P.S. We entered this current state of hectic haze due to not following #1. The Lord has been quite gracious sending us help right when we need it as we learn and grow from our mistakes. Live and learn, eh?

Dream House

My dream house...
is old

with character...

and outside buildings...

and an ol' country lane.
~ Dorie

The Hectic Haze

 

 

When you add it all up, it doesn't fit.
There are more activities and events than days.

church
worship team practice
Bible studies {3 - the Drummer's mentoring group, my woman's group, and our oldest son's study on purity}
AWANA {2 participants and a volunteer worker}
Junior High youth group {participant and volunteer leaders}
piano lessons {2 children}
volleyball practice and games
cross country practices and meets
flag football practices and games

Add to all this: home education, meals, laundry, and cleaning
...and we enter the current state of my life.


Welcome to my hectic haze.


Such a stark contrast to the lesser life of summer days.

As a wise friend told me: "It is such a first world problem."

Indeed it is.

Which makes me almost embarrassed to admit my struggle, exhaustion, and frustration.
Though I don't want to wish these days away,
I can't help but remember only a few more weeks of this schedule to go
and then I'll be enjoying another Thanksgiving.

Perhaps in different ways this year,
but most assuredly in gratitude for less rush in the schedule.

~ Dorie

Taking the Time to Read

Smack dab in the middle of a park, set on a flat area near the river banks, the fountain dominates the area. A crumbling marble sculpture of women, children, lions, and fish contrasts the lush green trees.

Literally, we've passed this fountain a dozen times.

Though I've checked the shallow water before letting the children play in,
I've never really checked out the fountain itself.

Honestly, it always seemed a bit....well, ugly to me.
I'm sure in some circle it is a breathless beauty, but I couldn't see it.

As we walked about it, my daughter and I, we started reading the engraved words.
I was startled. For it said:

"Art built on sand, the works of pride, and human passion change and fall, but that which shares the life of God with him surviveth all."

Finally, I was stunned by the fountain,
and found the beauty of it in its words.
~ Dorie

The Lesser Life

 

 

 

Less on the schedule
Less places to be
Less things to do
Less to buy
Less in the house
Less to clean and maintain
Less plugged in time
Less of the world's noise

More time
More rest
More possibilities
More money to give
More space
More abundance
More face-to-face time with friends and family
More quiet to hear His voice

More life to live
~ Dorie

The Things of This World

 

 

Last year, we began.

 

The house was full, too full of things:

ordinary, everyday things,

which were just filling up our rooms and our lives.

They weren't necessary.

They weren't needed.

 

Things took up our time and our space. Things suffocated our lives.

Not in a hoarder way. Just an average American way. And we didn't like it.

So, we started to downsize, purge, reorganize, donate, and toss,

and we carefully considered what we brought into our home.



 

 

 

 

It has been a process.

We are still learning and still finding things to release.

As incredible as it sounds, we still have more things than we need.

 

Yet, we are reaping the benefits.

Our time isn't consumed with moving things, organizing things, cleaning things, or fixing things.

And, if I'm completely honest, for the most part, we don't even notice the things that are gone.

 

 

 

 

After all, they were just things.

~ Dorie

 

 

 

 

When You Want to Rest

He knows how to rest. In fact, quite often, I interrupt his rest, but he's never annoyed by my actions. He gives me that look. The one seen above. He waits, moves if asked, goes if told. All without ever complaining.

Oh, if only I were so obedient and trusting.

I'm not sure I know how to rest. I try. Every Sabbath I make a conscious effort to rest. Every evening, I do the same. At night, my head hits the pillow and I, for the most part, easily sleep away the hours which come morning seem ever so short. But if I am honest, it is more of a crashing than a resting.

Days can be overflowing, and even exhausting. For our family, we have begun to slow down. Yet this slowing down seems unnatural.

After all, it seems counter-culture to slow down. Busyness is what our society expects. No, our culture demands it by celebrating and idolizing busyness.

And, I, for one, am refusing to bow down.

I want more for my family than empty busyness. I want purposeful activities and events. I want times of rewarding labor and refreshing rest. I want to travel onward on these ancient paths, following His will for our family.

~ Dorie

Slowing Down

Our spring schedule has been overflowing with meetings and activities.
However, this week many of those activities are coming to an end.

And, honestly, I am overjoyed.
For I know, when you take the time to slow down life...

you can see the most amazing details.
~ Dorie

When You Live on Display

Our house sits on the corner.
We are visible to all.
Any movement outside, any coming or going, seen by all.
Simple acts like taking out the trash,
weeding the flower beds,
or getting the mail
can be seen by our countless neighbors.

Eating outdoors is a public event.

Playing croquette,
lighting a camp fire,
these too,
are all public events.

It's like living in a fish bowl.

But isn't this the way it is for all?

You don't need to live on a corner to know,
we all live on display.
Our very lives, actions, and words are seen and heard
by all who are near.
For better or for worse,
we display our character and beliefs through our every choice and action.

We are all on display.
Today, I ponder what are my life, my choices, my actions displaying?
Am I living to glorify the One who made me?
Or am I promoting myself?
~ Dorie

Darkness and Death

You call, your voice shaken.
A man your age has died.
A man you know and work with.
You'd just seen him not long ago.
Shared words and work.
Now, he is gone.
Another tragedy.

Seems like we can't escape this cloud of death.
So many gone in less than two months.
No forewarning except death being promised to all who live.

All who live.
Is this life? Is this the abundant life?
Living and dying in the span of a heart's beat.

This stench of death pervades life.
Garbage that wafts through the house we live in.
And we smell it daily.
Knowing we too could be one heart beat away from it.

Prayer requests uttered amongst fellow moms
sharing of family and friends with life threatening illnesses.
A death sentence whittling away their days.

It is the same sentence we all receive at birth.
Death promised to all who live.
The clock counting out beats and measurements of our lives.
Most of us unsure when the song of life will end.

Yet, onward we live.
With tears in our eyes and broken hearts at our sides,
we clutch to one another,
choosing life.

For what other choice is there?


Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." {John 6:68}


In this broken,
death stinking world,
we choose life.


Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." {John 14:6}


We choose Jesus
for on that first Easter morn,
He overcame death.

~ Dorie

A Small Post-Script: Dear Friends, I wrote this during the time it was happening, but have delayed publishing it to allow for the Lord's healing and comfort. Sometimes, some things are just too raw to be shared, and sometimes, we must wait for His healing to even place events in some sort of perspective. On Easter Morn, we will celebrate and find great comfort in His Resurrection, knowing that because He lives, we do too.

Related:
When They Understand Better Than You