Picture Perfect

Happy TuesdaySaturday. This is how we refer to the days of the week in retirement and I think it works for this strange season we're all living in too. If you're looking for the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge you'll find them in the post before this one, or by clicking here.

Now back to your regularly scheduled A-Z Blog Challenge word of the day. This one comes from my brother-in-law who is a talented musician and a smart guy, so of course he chose a word with many meanings.

Day 18-R is for Resolution

When I hear the word I immediately think of a list of things I want to do to change my life for the better. It's a long list of small things and a short list of large to-dos, but I don't think I'll tackle that today. I liked another definition my brother-in-law reminded me of and that's this one-

'the amount of detail available in a picture or situation.' 

Life currently. 

We are plodding along with our masks and our hand sanitizer and our staying at home and everyone is beginning to feel a bit weary. Some people are more than weary. They're anxious, depressed, angry, and a little bit rebellious. 

We all wonder when life will resume some sense of normality and will that new normal look like our old familiar normal? When will we feel comfortable boarding an airplane, celebrating a wedding in a venue filled to capacity, visiting our parents or grandparents and sharing a meal in person? When will we get a clearer picture of what's happening and what's to come? 

We. don't. know. and we hate that most of all. 

All our lives we're told to 'be present' and 'don't be so busy making plans for tomorrow you miss today'. We're reminded 'to enjoy the moment' and 'savor this season you're in because 'time flies and you'll wish it back someday', even if the day-moment-season you're in is completely exhausting. 

We roll our eyes at cliches thrown our way, all the while knowing there's a kernel of truth in there too. When something feels murky we don't want to examine it too closely or pick it apart and figure out what we might be learning about ourselves and the world around us. We want to put unpleasant circumstances behind us and move on into the future and something better.

We want resolution. 

So often we complain about our lack of time, about the hurried pace of the world in which we live, about too much clutter in our heads. Suddenly we're given what we wished for in the gift of plenty of time, a slower pace, and less 'stuff' taking up space in our brains and now we're not sure if  if that's what we really wanted after all.

We're human and we like making plans. We like looking forward to tomorrow-next week-Christmas. We live with the mostly unspoken assumption that there will be plenty of time for relishing today at some point in the future...when life settles down, when this passes, when things are back to normal...

We are not the boss of time. 

When I thought about the meaning of the word resolution I remembered the black and white television set I grew up watching. It had an antenna and often the screen would be grainy, filled with static and wavy lines that made it hard to see the whole picture. You'd have to move the antenna around to improve the resolution, but it was never perfect. 

 I thought too, about a verse I love in the book of Isaiah...

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" 

God is not restricted by time. His presence and power exist outside of time and He alone knows the end from the beginning. While we like to think we're looking at the big picture, we see only in part.

Our screen is grainy, but God sees with complete clarity time in it's entirety.

In times of stress and uncertainty I rest in the knowledge He is the creator and keeper of the clock, and His picture resolution is beyond compare. 

Five Minutes of Why

I'm linking up with Five Minute Friday today and here's the drill-Kate posts a one word prompt, you set your timer and write for five minutes flat, no editing or over thinking.

I'll be honest here and say these prompts lend themselves to deep thought and I often struggle to articulate deep thought in just five minutes. I need more like five hundred to make my point, but still I try. I like the way this exercise stretches me and often forces me to examine my faith and put what I see there into words. I especially love seeing all the many directions in which writers run with a single word.

Obviously I haven't started my timer yet-ha!

Today's prompt-why

When my girls were little instead of asking why they used to ask "how becomes?" I don't know exactly when and how this came to be, but instead of asking why it was always "Mommy how becomes I can't go outside and play?" or "How becomes Poppie lives in heaven instead of here with us?" or "How becomes your hair is brown and mine is different?"

I think maybe the phrase came about because when they asked a question I answered, and my answer almost always began with the word because. How becomes was an extension of that.

I remember the innocence of my children, their curiosity, their sense of feeling safe in the world. Bad things happened but they were mostly shielded from them. It's a different world in 2018 with everything on display all day every day. Fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, violence of the human kind...no place sacred, no place safe.

How becomes the world is such a mess?

Well that's a tough one. A question for the ages really because a messy world is nothing new. When my children were small and they'd ask a tough question quite often my answer was simply this-'Because Mommy says so'. Small children are most of the time more than okay with that answer. In fact it was the answer they were looking for. They don't need details, they just need to know someone bigger is in charge.

We're all small children when evil looms large in our newsfeeds and our school buildings, our churches and movie theatres and on and on it goes.

Someone bigger is in charge.

Every time something tragic occurs I'm reminded this earth is not my home. That I'm a traveler in an imperfect world, and that God has something infinitely better planned. That He knows the end from the beginning and we only see in part.

For those who don't acknowledge the existence of God that all sounds trite and convenient, like you're taking the easy way out. Except it's not easy. It's not easy to look at a world gone mad and say something better is coming.

So how becomes I believe it?

Because God has promised that very thing and He has never ever failed to keep His word.

A Bi-Coastal Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! One item of business...I'm declaring next week summer vacation here so no Hodgepodge on Wednesday August 3rd. I'll have out of town visitors and will be coming and going so not sure how much I'll be online. Thanks for understanding! The Hodgepodge will be back in action the following week-August 10th. 

Also, we're here today so let's get to it-

1.  On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your summer so far? Why? 

(1=eh and 10=best summer ever)

It's been a strange summer so I'm going with a 5. Not awful, but definitely not the best ever. 

2. July 26th is National Aunts and Uncles Day. Did you have many aunts and uncles growing up? Were you especially close to any one or maybe all of them? Are you an aunt? (or uncle for the men who join here on Wednesdays) Share a favorite memory relating to one of your own aunts or uncles or relating to a niece or nephew who call you Aunt (or Uncle).

I had a lot of aunts and uncles, but sadly we rarely lived near one another. I remember fun trips as a kid to visit extended family in Colorado and New Mexico, but they were few and far between. Families of six didn't just hop on a plane and fly cross country the way we tend to do now. We did have an aunt and uncle in the D.C. area, so we saw those cousins more often, but still not a lot. 

I felt a special closeness with my mom's only sister and we wrote letters back and forth which were dear to me. We both loved the Anne books, and this particular aunt called me her kindred spirit. As an adult I did get to know my mom's brothers better and my uncle came all the way from Arizona to be part of my Daughter1's wedding day. That meant so much to all of us. 

I'm called aunt by some super sweeties and I love the title.

3. What's your favorite food dipped in chocolate? What's your favorite food dipped in cheese?

A Dairy Queen soft serve vanilla cone would be my favorite food dipped in chocolate. I love how it hardens on the cool ice cream-yum! Thursday, July 28th Dairy Queen will be holding a Miracle Treats Day, and $1 (or more) from every Blizzard sold will be donated to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Go share a Blizzard with someone this Thursday! 

My favorite food dipped in cheese? Crusty cubes of bread in a cheese fondue. Preferably served tableside in a charming little French place in the Alps. 

4. When were you last astonished by something? Explain.

I'm going with the current election season and will leave it at that. 

5. Surf board, paddle board, ironing board, Pinterest board, score board, clip board, bulletin board...which board have you most recently encountered?

Well not an ironing board-ha! I'm going with bulletin board because I helped Daughter2 in her classroom this week, and it takes two people to cover a bulletin board. 

6. What's your favorite story from scripture? Why that story?

Daniel in the Lion's Den. Why? Because Daniel managed to do the right thing no matter the cost. He was a boy/man of the utmost integrity, whose faith guided his every decision, and who throughout his life held true to the courage of his convictions.  

7. If you were to travel from the east coast to the west coast in your own country, which five cities would you most want to see?

I wish this question asked which 50 cities I'd most want to see. Five is too hard! I've spent a lot of time traveling on the East Coast and have lived near NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. I've been to Boston and points north and have also seen a good chunk of the Southeastern section of America. I've also spent time in portions of the Southwest, so for my imaginary trek I'm going with five places new to me. 

Here are five I'd like to see, but they're not the only five! 

Mackinac Island, MI
Rapid City, South Dakota
Portland, OR
Lake Tahoe, Nevada
San Francisco, CA

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I have a million words about all the things happening in the world today, but I'm going to share this instead. 'There's a light at the end of the trouble...'

(available now for preorder or everywhere August 26)

Soar

I is for Be Inspired. And Inspiring

Someone asked me yesterday where I find inspiration for writing. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that the things in which I find inspiration today, are the same things that have always inspired me. The manner in which they inspire may change, but not what's at the core.

Nature. I've always found inspiration in the beauty of God's creation. My feet in the sand at the edge of a seemingly endless ocean. The world spread wide from high up on a mountain. The bright red of a cardinal against the dull gray-brown of a not yet springtime landscape. The explosion of gold in my own backyard when October rolls around.

A bright blue sky. A pale blue sky. A starry sky. A great big brilliant moon.

Fluffy white clouds. Wispy clouds. A watercolor sunrise.

Inspiration doesn't only make us want to do something, it makes us feel something. When I notice the beauty that is everywhere, from the tiny perfection in a seashell to the majesty and grandeur of a hawk high overhead, I feel something.

Awe. Gratitude. Peace.

God's word. I grew up in Sunday School, memorizing Bible verses (thanks parents!), and hearing all the wonderful stories of faith the Good Book records. The most amazing thing about the Bible is the timelessness of it's words. Written centuries ago yet as relevant to daily living as if it were penned yesterday.

The words in scripture speak to me no matter what season of life I'm walking through. No self help book, no encyclopedia of knowledge, no parenting tome, no how-to best seller can reach into the corners of my soul the way God's word can.

And what exactly does God's word inspire in me? Self examination, reflection, small course corrections and big life changes to name just a few.

The written word. As a little girl I wrote a lot. Journals, stories, letters, cards, notes about my day in the small squares of my Holly Hobbie calendar. Growing up our house was full of books and we're all readers to this day. I fell in love with words and the way they fed my dreams.

When I began blogging I had no idea what I was getting into. I've always been a thinker, an observer of life, and I enjoy writing. Boom-blog born. Words are my love language and blogging opened the door to a world of wonderful writers. Writers who aren't necessarily published in book form although some are, but others too who have a deep thought, a significant insight, a funny incident, or a me-too tale to relate.

So often I read something and think 'Wow, I wish I'd written that.' Good writers are clever. They make me want to be better at this thing I love so much.

Creative people. There are so many talented people out there in the world, doing all sorts of amazing things. The most creative of them make me think I can be creative too. They make me want to create. I love the ballet, beautiful paintings, music that speaks, and English gardens in full bloom. I'm not skilled at any of those things, but when I'm privy to the power of someone else's talent I'm inspired to keep trying.

Kindness. In all its many forms. When I see it, hear about it, or am the recipient of it myself, I'm inspired. I see good in the world around me and want to hold on to the warm feelings stirred up by that goodness. I want to pay it forward.

I don't think I conciously seek inspiration. It's more like it arrives unbidden, so long as I make time and space for the things I've listed here. Some seasons of life that's been more challenging than others, but seasons they do change.

So what inspires you? What things or places would make your list?