A Place of True Belonging--In Our Part of the World

I’m so happy to be back and SO HAPPY that you’re here!! I’ve taken a Christmas break to do just what I wrote about in today’s Encouragement for Today devotion. Our family’s been spending lots of face time with extended family and friends.

I’ve been thinking about New Year’s resolutions and how to choose things that I’m truly passionate about and will actually do. There are different areas in which I want to push myself to grow, and one of them is social growth.

My position with Next Step Speaker Services is at home, and I tend to be a little isolated. I’ve got a path worn between my house and my church, but I haven’t been working to build relationships close home. Recently I realized that I’ve lost touch with most of my neighbors. I miss the mornings chatting with all the moms at the bus stop!

My social resolution will have something to do with reconnecting with my neighbors. I’d love to be part of making my little circle of the world a place of true belonging. I’ve been thinking about restarting our book club, but here are some other fun ideas that I found online.

Make a “passport” to be stamped after eating at a restaurant of a different ethnicity every month.

Do a chick flick night.

Make a list of creative interview questions (there are lots online). Do round-robin interview night. (Think speed dating friendship edition.)

Go on an old-fashioned picnic.

Find recipes for spa treatments made out of things in your kitchen and have a spa night.

Walk a local nature trail.

Have a book trade night where everybody brings a small stack of books to trade. Have each person do a “sales pitch” for their favorite book they’ve brought. You could do a purse swap instead if you’d rather.

Do something you haven’t done since you were a kid—skating, play “H.O.R.S.E”, play a round of miniature golf, ride a carousel, play “Go Fish”…

Hijack your kids’ video games and play a slower version. (I’d love to see some video of ya’ll doing “Rock Band”!)

The first one is my favorite. What about you? Do you have ideas for creating face time with the people around you?

Shine!

Note: Today is a video, so if you're a subscriber, you can click on the title to go to the blog and watch.



I didn't even realize how the rays of the sun were shining into the frame until I uploaded the video. Cool, huh?! (You too can get the same "rays of the sun" effect if you don't wash your windows--ever.)

Merry Christmas, friends!

When It's Dark

Here's the deal.

I have tried twice today to upload a follow-up video to Monday's post. It's about straining to see the light in the dark world in which we live.

Can I tell you the truth? It's not that great. And I can't get it to load.

I think it might be a sign to me (and you) that my message isn't what you need today.

As I waited for the second failed upload, I opened my blog reader to catch up on some of the blogs that I love to read. Low and behold, others have written on the very topic that I've been pondering. And their words are so much better than mine. Truly. (I'm not fishing for compliments here--promise. It's really true.)

So will you visit my friend Kristi Butler today at her blog and read her thoughts about facing our own darkness?

And Micheal Hyatt's blog for his practical thoughts on battling darkness and bringing light?

I'll try again (and not give up!) on Friday for the last video in the series. :)

Unbelievable Gift

(Please press "play" so that this pained expression leaves my face! Ha!)

Stressed Out? Help vs. Root Cause

I saw this fascinating report on the Today Show this morning that I think is particularly relevant during this very busy and potentially stressful season.


Please hear me loud and clear. I am not anti medication (see note). I just think this report really misses the mark, because it addresses symptoms but not the root. As women, we are often trying to take on too much. Turning off the tv an hour before bed or taking anti-anxiety pills may help with our symptoms, but it doesn't do anything to address our over-scheduled lifestyles.

I was especially riveted to Today's story after reading Glynnis' Encouragement for Today devotion today titled "An Overloaded Life". Please take a moment to read it if you haven't already. She also has a terrific blog post on managing the big projects in our lives and a chance to sign up for her 15-day decluttering challenge for January. I love that she's giving us help to address the of anxiety for a great number of us.

Note: I have a much-loved family member who went through a severe bout with depression. It was decades ago before anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, and sleep medications were safe and available. She says now that she wishes that she had had some medication to help her begin to emerge from the deep, dark place where she started. However, she also is grateful for the hard work of counseling and therapy. It allowed her to get to the root, and she has been able to go on through life free of depression. Hers obviously had a cause other than chemical imbalance, but she worries that too many people are using medication to dull the symptoms rather than being healed of the root wound. I am not a professional, but I tend to have the same concern. I agree with her that medication combined with therapy or other actions to address the root are probably most effective in the long-run.

Spread the Light

I'm going to come back to lessons from India soon, but today I'm in Christmas mode.

John 1:1-18 seems to be the constant theme of my life this Christmas season. I spoke on some of its verses on Friday, and my pastor preached a sermon from the same scriptures with a different perspective yesterday. I love when that happens!

Today I'd love for you to read it and meditate on it yourself. Sit in the light of your Christmas tree and really soak in it--squeezing out every drop of joy. I'll share some of my thoughts in the coming days, and I'd love to hear what God is showing you.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (NIV)