Friday's Fabularity

 

Maybe making up words is a stress-coping strategy for me. But also, maybe I'm being silly just because we made it through this rather crazy week in relatively good spirits. (And mostly sane.)

It's a common stress point for anyone selling their house. You bust a gut getting it to show-worthy status. And then you have to live there as if you're in a home décor store's window display. I told Ken we're only allowed to make an hour's worth of mess. That's the notice we agreed to if anyone wants a private showing.

Had one already yesterday, within about an hour after the listing went live. An encouraging start. Who knows about today? And tomorrow and Sunday there's open houses in the afternoon.

And the thing is, even with all of this weirdness, I've woken up with good energy, totally looking forward to the day. Got me some happy work to do at my desk. And we'll continue with a few house touch ups we will keep doing along the way.

I'm even looking forward to Church Clean up Day at Highview Community Church tomorrow! Crazy, right? You know the event is a highlight when you've just spent the last three months cleaning your own house, and you're still looking forward to cleaning the Lord's. It's the people thing actually. Honestly, it's such a great day of community and love. (8:00 to 1:00 if you're interested.)

And then I get to preach on Sunday morning, wrapping up the last of the Dandelion Faith series. Glad for this opportunity to engage in some good conversations about spiritual formation. Tenacity, Rootedness and Wildly Prolific! Be a dandelion, people!

Here's a truth that's keeping me tethered right now.

Psalm 16:8-9
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body will also rest secure.

Have a fabularious Friday everyone!

Thursday's Goodness

It's a Timothy day.

As our clan of grandchildren gradually grew to five, we adapted to the sleepovers and other 'everyone' gatherings at Gramma and Grandad's. More beds, more cool water bottles, more Paw Patrol placemats. More snacks, more noise, more mess.

No problem. Room for everyone.

And. We have made it on purpose that every once in a while we just have them with us, one at a time. (Can I just add here that I think it's really cool that our almost 18 year old still wants to do this?)

Today is just Timothy.

Ken found this very old book (1947) when he was cleaning up his space downstairs. "Timothy's Shoes." He set it aside just for today.
Something about Grandad reading books to the children that makes me love him even more.

Today is also listing day. Like, it's-really-official day. We're only allowed to make an hour's worth of mess. That's how much notice we'll be given if someone wants to get in for a peek before the open houses on the weekend. Yup...here we go.

We're ready. Have car seat, will vacate if necessary.

But really I'm just hoping for a cozy day filled with Lego and Pups and the kinds of hilarious conversations you can have with a 3 year old.

And I may even get at a few emails during screen time.

Picture Perfect

We get to counterbalance things a little bit today.

The past four days straight, with the exception of Sunday morning, have been full out focus on preparing the house for showing. It was leading up to yesterday when we had the Stager and the Photographer in to get all the pictures taken for the MLS posting tomorrow.

It's amazing how, after months of cleaning and clearing your house, there's still so many persnickety details to attend to. I told the lovely people who were in my house yesterday not to take it personally, but this was far worse than when I was a new bride and my mother in law was coming for a visit.

I laughed with Ken at the oddity that, not only are we just letting people down into the places of the house that normally you just want to close the door on, but we're letting them take pictures!

Don't worry. It's all clean and tidy and ready for what comes next. But still.

Today we can be at our desks again, resuming some semblance of a normal life. There's still the open houses this weekend to anticipate, but for today, the priority can be 'all the other things.'

I'm glad for this balancing day. Glad to have understanding folks who let me cancel/skip meetings today. At least until 7 p.m. when I will have a conversation with some folks who may want to visit Hot Springs next fall. But even that's by Zoom, and I can stay home.

Grateful for the rain too, actually, to help make it feel all hunkered down and cozy. Safe.

A settling psalm comes to mind this morning.
Psalm 73.

Asaph, a music director for God's people (hey Derek Goupil, like you are!), was disturbed for different, more existential reasons than a move. But his moment of re-balancing feels anchoring right now.

(Expanded thoughts in brackets.)

"Yet (in spite of 'all this') I am always with You;
You hold me (not me trying so hard to hang on, but You holding me) by my right hand.
You guide me with Your counsel (so not alone in this),
and afterward you will take me into glory (my ultimate home).
Whom have I in heaven but You? (I mean, really!)
And earth has nothing I desire besides You (truly),
My flesh and my heart may fail (because I'm human after all),
but God is the strength of my heart (again, not my strength but Yours),
and my portion (my inheritance, my security) forever."
Psalm 73:23-26

That's a picture I can hold on to.
Stay cozy today, friends.

Authentically in this Space

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

Sign went up on the lawn today, and I'm having a little cry here.

This is big.

And I think I've just been so focused on prepping the house for listing, 

that I really haven't given myself too much space to let it be as big as it is.

Concentration is poor right now.

Tried to start the day writing out some emails and getting some desk work done.

But it was futility.

I had to get myself outside and start on the lawn.

If it let it, things feel unsettled.

You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in You.

Trust in the LORD forever,

for the LORD, the LORD Himself 

is the Rock eternal.

Isaiah 26:4-5

Raking and dethatching.

Then off to get some mulch and spreading that around for a bit.

Then out the back patio and sweeping 

and weeding between the stones

to be able to set up the umbrella 

and put the pillows on the swing 

and make it look like we have a patio.

My watch says I've put in 16,770 steps.

Better be careful.

Then I heard the guy hammering in the spike to hang the sign.

Went out front to watch him.

The name of the LORD is a strong a mighty tower;

the righteous run into it and are safe.

Proverbs 18:10

If I'm not careful I can forget that I'm okay.

Big changes.

Bigger God.

Finding ways to authentically be in this space.

Letting it be as big as it is.

Letting myself be held.

Resting in His promises.

And I will be okay.

And I was outside so much today!! 

Gotta love that.

Smiling Outside

 

Yesterday being Wednesday I was gone from the house most of the day. But I did manage to sneak in some time out in the back yard just before, and then just after supper.

Everything right now is about tidying up and preparing to show the property. With a listing day in sight (April 18) the push is on. And I'll admit I'm feeling it.

It's an odd kind of stress, the sporadic chirps of the tyrannically urgent, mixed with the dull but draining background noise of big-change-coming. I feel it weighing on me, collecting mostly at the back of my neck and shoulders.

But when I'm outside in the sunshine I don't feel the angst of it quite so much. All the newly growing things cheer me. Except the blackberry bushes. Those long gnarly prickly vines are nasty! Still, there's satisfaction in getting them snipped back before they get out of control. And then I just stand over the bag and snip the longer whips into lengths that shake down better. More in each bag that way.

I need this. The warm sunshine. The tug of the rake on the grass. The snip of the shears. The filling up of large paper bags. A fleeting visit from one of the northern flickers that have joined our backyard community of late. Taking deep breaths once in a while. And, oh yeah, smiling.

And I find that with the odd kind of stress there is also an odd kind of rest. A place I find when I remember why we're doing this move, Who's in charge of everything, and how incredibly inundated I am with all the things that make life real and big and wondrous.

"Truly my soul finds rest in God;

my salvation comes from him.

Truly is is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress,

I will never be shaken."

Psalm 62:1-2

So happy smiling Thursday, friends.

Yes, even in all the rain.

Today I'm indoors anyways.

So many lovely things to do and be.

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Wild Wonders in the Sky

With all the interest and excitement about all that's going in the skies today, I can't help but be reminded of so many places in the Bible where it talks about the sun and the moon and weird and wonderful things that happen in the heavens.

I am not inclined towards what a professor friend of mine calls 'tabloid prophecy' in any of this, though. And I'm glad I haven't heard too much of this sort of disjointed thinking in the weeks leading up to today's eclipse. Because, with great compassion, I think it just plays with people's emotions, and that makes me angry-sad.

Instead, I connect with texts where the worship just sort of bursts out in grand poetry, where all the wild things that can happen in the sky give evidence of how wild and creative a exciting God is.

It will be exciting today. Except of course right now it's kind of cloudy, so it's hard to say how much of it we'll experience.

Naturally, if you are going to try to go out and look at it, be very careful. I'm personally opting out of the 'special glasses' thing, and am more curious about what it will all feel like if I sit out on my covered porch and see how dark it actually gets.

"I will sing of the LORD's great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all the generations....
The heavens praise your wonders LORD,
your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD?
Who is like the LORD among heavenly beings?"
Psalm 89:1,5-6

Stay safe today.
Be in awe today.

Why Work Works

Last Spring - Zachary getting ready to work.

Yay for Friday and the last day of my 'no meeting week.'

It's not been quite as productive as I would have liked. Probably because I tend to overload my list with optimistic confidence any time I think I have a decent space of time open before me.

Even so, a satisfying-enough amount of meaningful work got checked off, and I've got a good vibe going on this morning.
(This, in spite of a dusting of snow last night. - Spring, come on! You had one job!)

For the weekend ahead, there's the final push in prepping the house. Almost ready to list. Oh, I am so ready for this next stage!

And also, I get to preach a three week series at Highview Community Church staring Sunday. Calling it "Dandelion Faith" comparing our spiritual formation to that brilliant beauty that should be showing up on our lawns very soon.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

And not to give anything away, but just a word about work, and giving ourselves fully to it.

It's kind of a big deal in the Bible, although 'work' might not defined exactly as perhaps we might think.

Came across this study www.theologyofwork.org which I think has some important ideas. And I won't flesh that out too much on Sunday and won't even get into all of that right here. I'll let you check it out for yourself if you like.

But for this morning.
This frosty Friday morning,
when we usually think of it being the 'end of the work week'
I just want to say that in it's own way
it's all work if it's what God's put before you.

I don't mean to say we work all the time.
That's what Sabbath's for.
But paid or not,
seen or invisible,
glamorous or mundane,
whatever...

When it reflects God's agenda of peace and justice and restoration and relational wholeness,
and it provides for the needs of the vulnerable,
and it contributes to anyone's joy and well-being,
or strengthens their faith and their hope....
that matters.

Results of Zachary's labour.

Don't forget that, especially if lately you've been wondering if what you do counts. It does.

So, yes. Happy Friday!
And may whatever God has put before you to do,
bring you satisfaction and joy.