Posts Tagged → routine

november 15

Today was:

Coffee, laundry, prayer, Bible, chatting with my 6 year old mister.

Walking to the tune of freezing face and appendages. It’s really cold out there! (I’ll be laughing at myself in a couple of months, when the thermometer is struggling to reach 0 degrees!)

Breakfast that took too long.

Devotions, where every word I spoke to the boys turned right around and convicted me. Some days it’s just like that. I need Jesus every bit as much as they do.

Cleaning bedrooms: The dust in mine was horrific. Convincing Jameson to throw away the pile of junk on his dresser was traumatic.

Walking to my mom’s house for Jameson’s 1912 literature class, where we learned about Jim Thorpe. Life is very sad and very hard. Heaven is a good promise.

Waving good-bye to our very wonderful neighbors. Sure, we only have been neighbors for 2.5 years, but these people have been a presence here in town for much longer than I’ve been alive. Long before I knew their names, I knew their familiar faces as they passed our house on their daily walk. We’ll really miss them.

Lunch of PB&J.

Lots of discussions on not harassing little brothers, not being a tattle-tale, being quick to forgive and move on, obeying even when Mama is not in the room, and saying NO to foolishness. (Lots.)

Naps, quiet, Christmas shopping online.

Coffee for me (and a bit for the 6 year old) while we cuddled up and watched this.

Math, coloring, vacuuming, reading.

Lighting candles and pj’s.

Lastly, pizza, root beer, and Star Wars 6 (with Daddy manning the remote controls. We like to skip the scantily-clad Leia scenes. Ick.)

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learning

This morning, I’m thinking about:

“spend me.”

And how I say that to the Lord all the time — all the time — and yet, I’m disappointed when I’m spent and there’s none left for me. Silly, right? I want the satisfaction of giving and living for the Lord, but I also want the rest and ease of having. Classic “have your cake and eat it, too” syndrome, I guess.

So yes, I’m thinking about how I shouldn’t be surprised that when I say, “Spend me,” I end up feeling spent.

(And I can trust God to nourish and nurture my soul along the way.)

flexibility

and how it’s not flexible unless after getting pulled and stretched and totally re-shaped, you bounce back to “on track.” If the stretching leaves you totally bent out of shape, then you’re not being flexible.

And that flexibility requires grace. So much grace. It requires enthusiasm for serving the Lord every single morning. It requires that cynicism and frustration and resentment get checked at the door. It requires that you constantly be asking, How do I need to stretch today? It means not getting angry when you work so hard to accommodate today’s needs, only to have tomorrow bring something completely new.

And most of all it requires that you always maintain the kinetic memory of “home”: only Jesus.

Yes, it’s not early bedtimes or dinner at a quiet table or chores all done or 5 days in a row of uninterrupted mornings. (Those are nice, and certainly can help.)

My soul’s center isn’t A Routine Day, it’s Jesus.