Archives for October 2014

31 Days of Looking for the Little: Playdates + a Giveaway!

October 7, 2014 By

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Sometimes I read my friend Laura Boggess’s words and I wonder, “In some alternate universe, are we related?” Because this woman writes my heart, and she writes it beautifully.

And this little book is a gem. A GEM. Laura tells us stories about her life, she quotes lots of great authors, she plumbs mysterious and wondrous truths from the worlds of psychology, theology and ministry — because that’s who she is. She is a psychologist, a closet theologian, and a pastor.

I adored every page of this book, and I read it in one sitting. She asks terrific questions and she finds meaningful answers all the way through. I highly recommend that you order a copy today and plan to use what you find there as you walk out your days. She helps us to re-think how we live by doing one of the things I’m writing out during this challenge: focusing on the ordinary, the small, and discovering God, right there. Right there.

I received a free copy and I also ordered one and that one I am giving away! So if you would like your own copy, please leave me a comment and I’ll enter your name on a slip of paper into my famous name-pulling hat. It’s definitely a worthy read. A little book that can.

Just Wondering
Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Book Review, Giveaway!!, Looking for the Little

31 Days of Looking for the Little: Bright Spots

October 5, 2014 By

 

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I try to take my mom out to lunch about once each week. She lives ten minutes from us, in a lovely dementia care assisted living unit that is part of a much larger, 3-stage retirement community.

I pick her up, find her pink sun visor, and we begin our S L O W walk outside, up the elevator and down the long, covered, outdoor corridor to the new Life Center building.

Inside is a wonderful cafe, with a brick oven for fresh pizza, and a nice selection of sandwiches and salads. Her favorites are the cheeseburger and cheese pizza. Sometimes a hot dog.

These lunchtimes are a very mixed experience. It’s lovely to just sit with her in the outdoor, covered patio. We enjoy the food and each other’s company. But when she tries to make conversation, it can get dicey. She finds it harder and harder to tell me what she’s thinking. And she knows it. Sometimes when she’s struggling — and there is no way I can help her as I don’t know where she’s headed — I find my eyes wandering.

And these bright pink geraniums on a nearby second-story balcony are often what I choose to focus on. Why? Because they’re bright and beautiful, a reminder that life is good and rich as well as difficult and painful. 

Somehow, they always make me feel better. Then I can give Mom my full attention, tell her how sorry I am that it’s such a struggle for her, and together, we find our way to another quiet space. 

Where do you need a spot of brightness in your life these days?

Just Wondering
Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Beauty, Blessings, Encouragement, Looking for the Little, The Journey with Mom

31 Days of Looking for the Little: Small Books

October 4, 2014 By

IMG_4253 Patricia's book

I’ve just come through a long spell of recuperation and forced rest. As I’ve said lots of places, it ain’t been easy. In fact, it’s been one of the hardest pieces of my story in recent years. 

For many of those long days, I didn’t have the emotional capacity or the mental stamina for doing much. But I still needed some small spot of beauty nearby. And I found it in lots of surprising places.

One of those places was in this small book, written by Robbi Cary and photographed by my friend, Patricia Hunter. If you’ve never taken yourself over to Patricia’s blog, I encourage you to do so ASAP. She takes some of the most glorious pictures to be found out here in cyberspace, and this small volume has a collection of some of those.

Sometimes, small is what I need. Not big, not weighty, not ponderous or even necessarily thought-provoking. I just need a little help. A reminder that there is still beauty, that God’s word still speaks, that hope is not lost, that ‘this, too, shall pass.’

If you, or someone you love, is in such a place, I highly recommend this little book. You’ll love it. Trust me.

Just Wondering
Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Beauty, Blessings, Encouragement

31 Days of Looking for the Little: Looking Up

October 3, 2014 By

DSC01363 looking up

There are too many days when I forget to do this — to look up. To get my eyes off the ground, or my feet, or my neighbor and look up.

Up where the sun is shining — or the rain is falling. Up where the leaves are twinkling, where the birds are roosting, where the clouds are blowing. Up.

I was walking through the lobby of a beautiful auditorium in Pasadena when I stopped looking at the carpet for just a moment. And when I looked up — I saw this glory. Oh, my. 

An amazing chandelier — not a little thing at all. But the act of looking up was little. Just a small change in perspective, just a little bit of motion, and whammo — spectacular.

I need to look up more. 

How about you?

Just Wondering
Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Beauty, Confession, Encouragement, Enough

31-Days of Looking for the Little: Shorebirds

October 2, 2014 By

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There was a huge cruise ship in our harbor when I took my walk this morning. HUGE. But what caught my eye were these little guys.

They were skittering and scattering all along the wet sand just below the sidewalk, digging their slender beaks deep into the sand, in search of breakfast, I imagine. 

And I stopped to think about breakfast on that cruise ship compared to the food those stork-beaks would bring up. They know exactly what they need, those birds. And they go after it with everything they’ve got. No piles of bacon and pancakes, scrambled eggs and hash brown — no sirree. 

Just what they need, thanks. That’s all, no more.

Sometimes I think I lose touch with what I need. I buy into the worldview that says, “You can never have enough, so go for it all.” Maybe it’s time to slow down a little bit, to savor what’s necessary, what’s good, what’s helpful and nourishing and sustaining. 

What do you think?

Just Wondering
Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Beauty, Enough, Fighting Scarcity

31 Days of . . . Looking for the Little

October 1, 2014 By

DSC02765 last round, 31 days

I’m not quite sure why I fall for this insanity every year, but fall for it I do. The Nester has been inviting bloggers to a 31-day challenge for several years now, and I’ve joined in for the last two.

Last year, it was 31 Days of Giving Permission . . .

The year before, it was 31 Days in Which I Am Saved by Beauty.

I will say, right out of the chute, that these posts, this year, will be far less ambitious than those were. A brief scroll revealed oodles of photos and way too many words. 

So this time around, I am committing to ONE photo and about 200-300 words each day. That’s it. And it’s in perfect keeping with the theme that flitted through my head when I was wondering what in the world to write about this year.

Our littlest granddaughter came to play with us this week because she wasn’t feeling 100% and wasn’t quite up to going to school. And as I walked by the door through which she hopped into our hearts, I saw her shoes, just sitting there.

And they grabbed me for the rest of the day.

She is four years old and growing up fast. A very tall and willowy girl, she’ll be graduating from high school in the blink of an eye.

But right now? She’s still little. And I want to see her in all the beauty of her littleness. I want to be on the lookout for that kind of beauty in the rest of my life, too. 

So for the month of October, I’ll be on talking about small things. Beautiful, quirky, interesting, thought-provoking — whatever.

But little.

Just Wondering

A line that I’ve used frequently in preaching is this one, courtesy of Robert Capon: “Jesus came for the lost, the least, the littlest.”

And that’s what I’m asking God to give me eyes to see this month — the little things. Join me?

Filed Under: 31 Day Blogging Challenge, Blessings, Encouragement, God's gifts, Grandparenting, personal journey, The Little Things
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