Tag: Contentment

The Day’s Resolutions

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I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.

H. Moore

For me, it is difficult to resolve to do something for a whole year. I make plans to lose weight, but life gets busy and rough and sometimes, eating out is the simplest. I do not always make the wisest choices when eating out and on busy days, I tend to forget making time to exercise. My husband and I make plans to save money, but the truck breaks down, prescriptions need to be filled, shoes wear out, a loved one needs help, and the list could go on. A few months pass by in the new year and discouragement sets in.

What if I think in terms of the day’s resolutions instead? Thinking about maintaining a new habit for a whole year tends to feel overwhelming, but I believe I can manage one day at a time.

Today I will resolve to:

  • Summon the courage to face a problem so I won’t have to deal with it tomorrow.
  • Dedicate my thoughts to making one right decision at a time.
  • Live in grace when ‘productivity’ may be resting and not accomplishing tasks on a to-do list.
  • Look for the gifts in life and not focus on the grief.

Last year, I started looking more for the gifts in life. This treasure hunt every day helps me remember God’s involvement in even the smallest of details. I am continuing this search for the gifts because I believe it has helped me to notice His hand in my life more than ever. For January, I have a had a focus to look for four types of gifts: white, inspirational, heartfelt, and brand new.

Here are the latest photos in stray gifts.

Top Row: (Left) White alyssums still alive during the cold weather. (Right) Beautiful pine cones noticed on one of our walks. I love the contrast of white and brown.

Middle Row: (Left) I am not sure where this inspirational book of prayers came from, but I love a lot of the poems in here and share them on social media often. (Right) While out watering and checking on my plants, I was struck by the new growth of mum leaves.

Bottom Row: (Left) On a walk last week, we saw bare trees, palm trees, and birds in trees. Art in nature is always inspirational. (Right) A brand new scent to the earth and all that is in it after a good rain.

Not pictured: Stray gifts “heartfelt” showed up in thanks around the table last week from my husband, my son, and my dad over mashed potatoes -which I don’t make too often. I think my dad had potatoes with a side of rotisserie chicken and broccoli! (Maybe I need to make mashed potatoes more often?) ‘Grateful for thankful hearts and food on the table. And for the aforementioned men who help clear the table and wash the dishes!


Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
-William Wordsworth, 1806

Everything a Miracle

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“It was Einstein who said

either nothing is a miracle,

or everything is –

a jagged mountain range,

lilacs in bloom,

a peacock unfurled,

sun on your arm,

the touch of a stranger.

Take your pick: be surprised

by nothing at all,

or by everything that is.”

-Poem “Epiphany” by Maryanne Hannan

We were surprised by the beautiful snow falling last night and again this morning – a definite ‘stray gifts’ moment since snow is so rare in these parts. Here is a collage of photos I took in my backyard this morning.

And Happy New Year to you! May you find your very own stray gifts, miracles, and surprises in each new day of 2019.

Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find. -William Wordsworth, 1806

A Different Set of Circumstances

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Fixed on Faith #10: The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.

I have been writing Fixed on Faith posts for quite a while now based on the Bible verses, Proverbs 4:25-26, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” It is so easy to become distracted with technology at our fingertips. Discontentment reigns as we are able to view how other people live, seemingly more successful and happy than we are. Keyword: seemingly. No matter where I am, I live. How I live is another story. I have lived in many places and I wonder how many of those years I used wishing to be somewhere else. In a bigger house. In a better neighborhood. In a different church. In another climate. One can wish away a life without even realizing it. No matter my circumstances, how I live is important.  When I choose to live by faith because I am loved, I am redeemed, and I am safe, it changes how I see. “If Satan can keep my eyes from the Word, my eyesight is too poor to read light-to fill with light…Without God’s Word as a lens, the world warps” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts). Satan whispers the words, “failure”, “cheated”, and “worthless” into our ears and all too often, our hearts ache with a feeling of emptiness.

“The secret to joy is to keep seeking God where we doubt He is” (Ann Voskamp). The secret to living joy-full is not in the circumstances, the location, the state of health or wealth, it is in Christ’s filling us up of Himself.

Galatians 2:20 –“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The life I live in the flesh can only be lived with contentment through faith in the Son of God. The flesh is weak and can be easily misguided into wishing for someone else’s life, location, church, or family. Sometimes a move away from something or someone is necessary. When we choose to use God’s Word as a lens, when we seek Christ to guide us, we will know whether He is leading us away from a valley of circumstances or through it.

Where Greatness Lies

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I Chronicles 16: 10-11, “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.”

The holidays are here along with the hustle and bustle, cleaning up after Thanksgiving leftovers, extra things on our to-do list, shopping, decorating for Christmas, and planning holiday activities. It is a lot to think about and we can quickly feel overwhelmed. We want the Christmas season to be great, but if we wear ourselves out by doing too much, we are left with no strength and are weary by the end of the holidays. Greatness in the season does not have to mean being strong for each and every activity that comes along. Strength lies in knowing when to say, “Yes” and what needs to be, “Not this year”. Either way, being able to rejoice in our hearts because we made the right decision is quite rewarding. The right use of strength is seeking God’s glory in everything.

Maybe you do have the time and energy to fit as many activities in as possible. But if you are in the camp of , “It’s been a rough year. I want to do a few fun things with family/friends/church, and the rest of the time watch Hallmark movies in my fuzzy socks and comfy pajamas sipping a peppermint mocha. I want to read a really good book tucked under a warm blanket…”, that is OK too. If you would love to have people over, but do not want complicated, homemade soup simmering in a crockpot all day and a loaf of homemade or bakery bread is one solution for a low stress get-together meal. Or invite your guests to bring their favorite ‘potluck’ dishes to share. Greatness can be found in the ordinary. After all, Jesus ministered to thousands with every-day fish and bread!

It is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and feel pulled along. Peer pressure does not happen only with the young, but it also happens in our lives as busy adults. The right use of strength is doing what is best for your family, even if it means simplifying by doing less and even if it means a get-together over coffee after the holidays and hustle and bustle.  Whatever choice we decide to make, let’s seek the Lord’s wisdom first and do everything in honor of Him. Bringing glory to God will not happen if we feel overpowered by activity lists and lose the wonder and magnificence of the Christmas season. When we seek His strength, we preserve our own.  

“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.”

I’m Learning

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On the weekends, I try to make enough breakfast on Saturday to be Sunday morning breakfast as well. I double the recipe for waffles so that Sunday morning, all we need to do is cook sausage links and reheat the waffles. Last Saturday, I was on a time crunch because my dad and I had wanted to go to WalMart before the crazy traffic started. I asked my 22-year-old son to help finish making the waffles so I could shower and get dressed before breakfast. He was willing to help but had never manned a waffle iron before. I showed him about how much batter to put in the machine and told him to watch the light. I instructed that when the light clicked off, the waffle should be done. “Easy enough”, I thought, and left it to his available hands. After I showered, I called down to him from upstairs to check how he was doing. “I’m learning”, he replied. When I was dressed and ready, I walked in the kitchen to a mess on the kitchen counter. Batter was spilled as he had put too much batter in the waffle iron several times. Not only was it over the sides of the waffle iron, but also on the counter. However, he had successfully cooked all of the batter for waffles and had started working on cleaning up everything.

There was no complaining. He did not stress that he was making a mess. He simply stated that he was learning.

To Learn:  to gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught; commit to memory; become aware of (something) by information or from observation

Learning is acquiring, studying, experiencing, memorizing, observing. It is a process. And the process is messy at times. Emotionally. Physically. Spiritually. I began to think about just life in general and what my response is to different situations that come my way. If you have taught children, you know we have to let go to let them learn.  Let them make a mess and figure things out under our watchful eyes. While we may show patience to children, it is difficult to be patient with ourselves. But God our Heavenly Father is ever watchful, ever patient, never leaving us to fend for ourselves. He gives us instructions in the Bible on how to live. He knows that making mistakes and learning we can trust Him is necessary. It is vital in learning to love, to forgive, to show grace to ourselves and to others. For the times we just cannot seem to ‘get it right’, “I’m learning” is a great point of view.

I am learning to show myself grace when I am tired and let the to-do list alone.

I am learning to accept help.

I am learning that perfectionism stifles.

I am learning that it is OK that our path in life has had many bends in the road and our journey does not look like anyone else’s.

I am learning that through grief, through disappointments, I will be OK as long as I take one breath at a time and trust God to get me through ‘this moment’.

I am learning my gifts, my strong attributes, my weaknesses, and it is a journey. I could scold myself thinking I should know all this already at my age. I have a choice between stressing over ‘not getting it right’ or making progress by acknowledging that as long as there is life, there is more to learn.

It is the end of the year and the new year will be here before we know it. Let’s not choose stress and guilt to be our anthem in 2019. Let’s pick up where we left off, clean up what needs to be cleaned up, and count the experiences in 2018 as a lesson learned.  Let’s choose life.

Life is learning. And learning is life.

A Different Sort of Kingdom

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A while back, I read a thought-provoking web post on the topic, Consider the Lilies. In it, the author Jill Carattini wrote,  “..Beauty can offer healing; that paying attention, even to fleeting glimpses of the mere suggestion of new creation, is deeply restorative…It is quite possible to see and not really see, to hear and not really hear…When Jesus asks the world to consider the lilies, to consider beauty in the midst of all the ashes around us, his request is full of promise, for he is both the Source of beauty and its Subject.”

Luke 12:27, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” I cannot even imagine the opulence of King Solomon “in all his glory” – Our minds probably could not even comprehend what he possessed in his palace or storehouses. Yet, the lily is much more exquisite than anything Solomon owned. Jesus wants us to be aware of how the ravens are fed with very little effort on their part. And He wants us to examine the beauty of the lily and its Source.

“Paying attention to the ephemeral [or short-lived] is in and of itself restorative because it is paying attention to him. Here, both the anxiety-addicted and the attention-overloaded can find solace in a different sort of kingdom: one in which there is room for the paradox of a fleeting world with eternity in its heart.” (J. Carattini)

Ah, the world is filled with the anxiety addicted and the attention-overloaded, Christians not excluded. The remedy is finding solace in a different sort of kingdom, keeping in mind the Source of beauty around us, with eternity in our sites. Here is the latest in my little kingdom/#straygifts photos: (no pictures of ravens or lilies, I’m afraid, but still some of God’s wonders.)

Top Row (left to right):
-$4.00 Mums on the Clearance shelves. These yellow ones look a bit frazzled, but the leaves look healthy. The brightest and best were near $15.00, but I knew this one would be o.k. after some trimming. (For the record, I also bought white, purple, orange, and red Mums as well on the Clearance shelves!)
-Yellow roses on the rose bushes out front.
-Tiny little Red Salvia blooms…a new plant for me this year. I didn’t know if they would bloom again.
-For weekends, for rest, I’m thankful. For a bird feeder- a gift from a young friend years ago, for yellow trumpet flowers, and southwestern sunsets, thank you, Lord.

Bottom Row:
-Most of my roses are all withering at the moment, but the honeysuckle blooms have decided to make an appearance.
-Regularly $20.00, I bought these packs of Fall paper for $6.00 each. I have been trying to get back into card making/sending notes lately.
-Gentle rain on roses
-I was pruning the front yard roses one morning as my husband was pulling out of the driveway. He stopped to show me the reflection of the sunrise in the front windows.

 

 

Even A Blade of Grass

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“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself”. -H. Miller

This is the whole point of A Record of Graces; paying close attention to and appreciating what has been given.  This #straygifts journey keeps me looking for the good in the day and seeing the mystery in an object, or the magnificence of simple ordinary everyday life. Here is my mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world; the latest in “stray gifts” photos:

  1. Roses blooming nearly every day now.
  2. Brunch in a time warp restaurant with a favorite aunt who was visiting, oldies music filtered through loudspeakers, steaming cups of coffee.
  3. Pink Oleander in the yard. My son and I have cut this bush down several times over the last few years because it wasn’t looking very healthy. This year, it has shot up and out! And the blooms are amazing.
  4. The scent of freshly cut grass…in our own backyard!!
  5.  Stray gifts found in toothless smiles of little ones, in birthday celebrations with the young and the well-aged around the table, in a church family who cares about you, and in a ministry made up of a few people with big hearts. God is working, He is blessing, and is ever present.
  6. Pink paper, hearts, and a smiley face. A note from a niece in the mail today.

Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find. -W. Wordsworth

 

 

The Goal of the Photographer

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The goal of the photographer is not to change their subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer.

Taking photos of “stray gifts” has a way of changing people, or rather, the act of noticing and giving thanks for these gifts makes a difference. Documenting them through photos is a creative outlet for me.  Several friends have shared with me their own stray gifts and it means so much that they have been encouraged to stop and take note of something beautiful in the day. I do not know if any of the photos I post change the mass of people who look at my page  or if they help them see things differently, but I know that in noticing the details of a flower, a note from a friend, a kind act from a family member, it has a way of melting away sadness, doubt, and fear of the unknown in myself. In the details of the things I notice, God shows me that He is there and that His gifts come by the handfuls. Here is the latest in my photography subjects:

  1.  All the hard work in the yard is paying off. Stray gifts are spotted in a yellow butterfly, bees hanging around our yellow bells, and now hummingbirds stopping by in the morning. The photo is a tad blurry because it was taken through a kitchen window.
  2.  The red roses that my dad picked out for the yard are blooming again.
  3.  I never know which way the vines will grow. It’s always fun to watch the way the Morning Glories intertwine and stretch around this lattice.
  4. The “mystery flower” which turned out to be a sunflower died a few weeks ago and I popped it off. All that was left was the stalk and the leaves. The day I took this photo, I noticed this new growth!
  5. I am catching up from stray gift photos from August. We have had company and now are getting back to normal around the house. This is a photo taken a few weeks ago of a new rose on the bush.  It was just a bud the day before and already looked wilted. It is still pretty hot here this time of year, but I was glad to see that the roses will be blooming again on this bush.
  6. Quiet nooks, the scent of books. This was the day we took my aunt who was visiting to the historic town of Old Mesilla, New Mexico. There are lots of shops selling native New Mexican jewelry, gifts, food items, and more. In this shopping area, there is one bookstore that my son and I love to go in to explore.

Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find. -W. Wordsworth

 

 

 

Capture Moments Beautifully

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“You don’t need a camera all the time– the soul, the heart, the eyes, and spirit and all your other senses capture moments beautifully, too.” -Terri Guillemets

Every day for the last several months, I have been looking for the stray gifts. A stray gift is something that I come across casually while going about my day. It could be a new flower in the yard, a kindness shown, the happy sounds in the home or in the distance; anything that causes me to stop to notice using any or all of my senses. Sometimes, there is more than one thing or concept I could share on social media, but I try to stick to just a few and savor the rest quietly. There is no possible way to capture with a camera everything I observe as beautiful or meaningful, so it is an exercise of the heart, really, to take note of new mercies every day. Here are some of this week’s camera-captured moments:

  1. Morning Glories now blooming on the side of the shed.
  2. Setting sun seen through wooden slats. Since having the wall built higher, we haven’t been able to see the full sunset from back-of-the-house-windows as before. The other night, I noticed a bright orange glow through the blinds and went to look. I caught the sunset at the right moment for this shot. It’s my favorite photo of the week.
  3. One day this rose was just a bud, the next, an open rose. It’s amazing what a difference a day can make.
  4. 50% chance of rain said my weather app. It was looking darker by the minute and I was hoping the rain would not pass by. It did rain a little and brought some cooler weather.
  5. I am waiting and watching for these trumpet vine flowers to bloom. Our yard is surrounded by rock wall and this vine is supposed to be able to cover it. I think the flowers will bloom in a scarlet color if I remember right. I see tiny little somethings growing on the ends, so I think this vine is going to make it.

 

What We Look For

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“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.” ― John Lubbock, The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live In

Although John Lubbock was influenced by Charles Darwin and by his evolutionary worldview, I do like the quote. I love to see other posts on Facebook and Instagram of the different points of view from friends and family. People post what is important to them and what they notice, sometimes having a point of view I never thought of. Summer is a great time of year for people to post photos of their gardens and all things nature. This hunt for the “stray gifts” is a great way for me to record the graces…to see what I can see in a day in a different way. I get a lot of positive responses when I post these photos on social media. With so much heartache and trials I see, I would like to think that sharing a bit of beauty perhaps will make someone smile.  I may be having a bad day at times, but seeking out the day’s gifts helps me to at least take a moment outside of any problems I may be facing, to look for the good. Here are this week’s #straygifts.

  1. Red roses blooming among Morning Glories
  2. Stray gifts seen in moody blue skies
  3. It’s the Year-of-the-Morning Glories! Here is an old tub we made into a garden bed filled with vines. A few purple blooms have been spotted here and there.
  4. Birds chirping outside my kitchen window
  5. Front yard roses suffering a bit this summer, but still blooming.
  6. This was a mystery to me when it first started blooming. The seed came from a wildflower seed packet and the great unveiling showed a cheery sunflower. I like it so much, I want to plant some on purpose. I already have a spot picked out…now to figure out when is the best time to plant them.