On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick
Friday's here! We are at Lake Anna and I slept until after 9:00 am like some sort of teenager. Everything is better at the lake, including sleep. So I got a late start on finishing up the writing this morning. And to be honest, it was hard to push publish on #5 because I'm a scaredy cat. Anyway, here goes Friday Favorites!
1. Happy Birthday, Dad!
It's my Dad's Birthday! I'm not sure how old he is in this picture. Maybe eleven or twelve and he looks like he's running for city council. I would totally vote for him. Today he's 84 years young and the other night I had a dream that he was doing the worm in my family room and I was very alarmed, but he kept at it and laughed at my distress the whole time. Dad, if you don't know what the worm is, please see below. Do not get any ideas. I love you from the heart of my bottom. ;-)
Please also check out how fly my parents were in the 70s with my Uncle Tom looking equally groovy in the background. What a time to be alive it was. Also, I'm sweating thinking about all the polyester.
2. Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! By Kate Bowler
I have followed Kate Bowler for awhile, but had never bought any of her books until recently. There are some writers who sit at the top of my "Best Ever" list - those whose articles and books I will not miss. Kelly Corrigan, Anne Lamott, Frederick Buechner and now Kate Bowler. She writes so relatably and with wicked humor about some of the hardest challenges anyone can meet. I started this beautiful, hilarious, charming collection of daily meditations and I cannot recommend it more enthusiastically.
3. Gardening Kneeler/Stool
Y'all. I know it's starting to look like The View from Behind the Senior Citizen Center around here, but it's getting real. Last week I talked about how I have a new found sense of hope since spring has sprung and that perhaps, despite never being all that into gardening, I might even plant some flowers this spring. Then last week, I went out to weed some of the beds in my front yard and ended up like this the next day:
Hello, Readers. Or Reader, singular. Whoever is out there. Here’s
something to tell you. And it will come to you messy and rambling, but you
already knew that because if you’ve been here more than once, DUH, what’s new?
I’m working on a book or a devotional or a collection of
essays or a book proposal or maybe all four at once. And I don’t want to say it
out loud because it makes me feel cringy and scared and stupid, but God is telling
me to start saying it out loud and get off my ass. (I’m paraphrasing the Lord
here, of course.) To be honest, I’ve been intending to, meaning to, about to, planning
to write a book for about 15 years.
My mom was my best editor and biggest cheerleader. She had
access to my introduction draft and to a few rough chapters. She had made a few
notes here and there. Then she died and I just quit working on it. I quit working
on a lot of things, to be honest. I told myself that I didn’t really want to write
a book anymore. I lied to myself.
I’m still struggling to commit to long stretches of writing
time. I’m still all muddled up on how this whole thing will come together with
a coherent theme or connective thread. I’m still terrified of all of the things
that go into publishing a book that have nothing whatsoever to do with writing:
specifically, but not limited to promotion, marketing, book agents, traditional
vs. self-publishing, contracts and gaining social media followers. It gives me
an eye twitch, but I suppose most people who write or follow any calling do so
with some sort of twitch.
So I’m starting for real now. Why? Maybe because my mom’s been
gone for over a year and it appears that no matter how much I begged, she’s not
coming back. Such a drag. Maybe because God keeps dropping little hints and
small opportunities and nudges here and there that I can’t ignore. Maybe
because my husband told me to stop being a “wimp” (again, paraphrased) and get
to it. And maybe because I’m so tired of thinking and not doing. It’s exhausting
to think about something for 15 years. My brain is tired.
So here is step number one. I’m saying it out loud to you –
a small, but mighty group of loyal, sweet, kind and funny readers of this blog –
some who’ve been here for twelve years. These words I have written and hope to
write are intended to make people laugh, think, and open their eyes to evidence
of an extraordinary God in an ordinary life. Ultimately, of course, the hope is
that my words will point people to Jesus. And the real truth is if I don’t
get them out they will haunt me and continue to wear my tired little brain flat
out.
As Anne Lamott says “You are going to feel like hell if you
never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves in your heart”. I get it because
finally saying that I am doing this? It feels scary and vulnerable. More than that it feels like telling the truth. And that feels like
a whole lot like freedom.
Stay tuned because I’ll be hitting you up to share my writing
with friends, like my writing, comment on my writing, purchase my writing, etc.
Basically, your job, dear Reader, as I try to serve you and follow God’s lead
is to build up my fragile self-esteem. I’m kidding. Kinda. Carry on, now.
Then you will know
the truth and the truth will set you free.
– John 8:32
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