My Be Still Box.

Two posts in one day?  Yep.  Making up for lost time.

As I was finishing up our Mother's Day crafting, our postman hopped up on our doorstep with a small package.  I really figured it was for Butterbean or Buddy, but it was for ME!

Now, before I share anymore about its contents...let me give you the backstory.

Life in ministry (and in general) can really seem to be moving at the speed of light.  So last fall I threw together a little box for a friend of mine (who shares my love for all things Southern), and sent her a mason jar and knitted jar cozy for some fall-weather hot tea drinkin'.  A pretty box from the craft store and some mustache-printed duct tape made for a happy parcel floating through the US Postal Service.

Fast-forward a few months and another special someone poured deeply into my life.  And as a thank you for the ways she helped me see the need for balance and pause in my ministry, I sent her a little package as well.  (This one was especially fun.  I sent a tube of tennis balls.  Did you know that there are a lot of things you can send directly in the package they are sold in?  Check out this post on Givers Log.)

Now back to today's box.  It was for ME!  And it had this beautiful mug with the words from Psalm 46:10 tucked inside (and chocolate, of course!).  So I've named this phenomenon the 'Be Still Box.'  Fitting, right?

I want to challenge you to send a friend a Be Still Box once a month.  It can be a simple as picking up a tube of tennis balls at WalMart, writing a note and taping the envelope to the outside of the tube.  Fun, right?  I know!  And how much encouragement and support is sent in that little package?

So it's on your to-do list.  But more important than adding another thing to your to-do list is actually taking time to BE STILL!  And when you happen to be the recipient of someone's Be Still Box, honor your friend and the Lord by doing just what they're asking of you.  :)

Quick and Easy Seed Gift for Mothers or Teachers!

This time of year leaves us with so many opportunities to tell very special people how very much we love them.  Mother's Day and the end of the school year are two of those opportunities, and this little gift would be an easy way to brighten a day for the women (and men!) in our lives.

Did I mention it's easy?  And did I mention I get to use more book pockets? I love those things!

Here's the plan:  buy some seed packets, find your favorite book pocket to tuck them in, print a cute card to attach to the adhesive side of the book pocket.  Voila.

Happy Mother's Day - to all y'all!

xo

Everything's Better With A Friend.

So my sweet friend Sandra has inspired me yet again.  Everyone should have a friend like her in their life.  Have I mentioned that she's a UN rockstar?  Yep.  Pretty much ridiculously amazing.

Among the things I love about her, two things I love greatest are her desire for community and her humble transparency.  So when she shared with me her hopes to grow in wholeness through shoring up some health and lifestyle habits, I was pumped to jump in and journey with her.

She's quitting Diet Coke.  I know that is an incredible undertaking. John has been Diet Coke-free for five weeks now, and even today he almost caved and gave in to temptation.  I have managed to dodge sodas fairly well in the past few months, but once every ten days or so I fail in that attempt as well.  The sad part is that I replace the sodas with more sweet tea, which isn't a much better choice.  (I often rationalize that the tea has less sugar and antioxidants.  Nice.)

So...in support of  my sweet friend, and in keeping my temple as healthy as I am able, I'm going soda-free.  And I'm also limiting my other sweetened drinks.  I am cutting back a little at a time, deciding now that my first step is not drinking any sugar-sweetened drinks that are cold.  I can guzzle a massive amount of mood-altering sucrose-filled liquid at several of my favorite eating spots, and do it rather mindlessly.  Cold turkey might be difficult, so I'm giving myself one cheat in the meantime.  I am allowing myself sugar-sweetened hot tea.  I can't guzzle it.  I also can't brew a cup of it everywhere I am.  So it will be a rare treat that I have to 'experience,' meaning: I have to sit down and actually pay attention when I consume it.

I think the greatest challenge with all of this is that beverages are part of my social life.  They are a source of comfort in long meetings, and a source of energy on long drives.  This is a whole physical retraining, but it is also a social retraining.  What will be my source of comfort or pleasure once this habit is gone?

I also need to take into consideration the realities of my life.  Lack of routine and a whole lot of dependence on convenience fuel these types of habits in the first place.  I grab a soda because I haven't planned to fuel my body throughout the day, and it's contained in a can that I don't have to wash.

So to help me ease into these new ways...I've done a little something tonight to acknowledge those realities and meet them head-on.

I stopped by Aldi on the way home.  I paid $2.29 for a 24 pack of bottles of purified water.  I also threw in the shopping basket some cucumber, limes, watermelon, and pineapple.  Now I know that bottled water in rational thought is one of the biggest wastes of American money.  Remember my realities?  Lack of habit and routine?  Need for convenience?  This is where my purchase makes sense.

So once home I opened 6 bottles, poured out an ounce or so of water, and added some produce to flavor them up.  I also made a pitcher of cucumber-scented water to have on hand when I don't need the convenience of the bottles.  I splurged and bought the watermelon and pineapple in spears, and even with that splurge my total cost for all this was around $8.  Totally worth it for me, and as I grow in health I'm sure I'll cut that cost significantly as I find more time to plan for my body's fueling.

I'm so excited to have friends running this race with me.  It's unbelieveable. Everything's better with a friend.  So find a friend, get accountable, and GROW!  

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25

Worship Planning Binder.

This post is for my sweet friend, Chelsea.  :)

We have so many rich times of worship in The Salvation Army, and many elements are involved in that experience.  When first coming into our ministry in Oklahoma City, I found myself overwhelmed in keeping it all in order.

Over the Christmas break, I made my first attempt in a 'system' of organizing my worship planning notes.  Now, I have to tell you that even this binder is prayed over, and regardless of my efforts to be organized, the Holy Spirit still has free reign over our worship.

So here it is...

I began my planning by mapping out our ushers for the year. Easy enough, right?  To be honest, the ushers slipped my mind almost every Sunday until I did this.  I was grabbing young people and other warm bodies about 5 minutes before the offering was received - not pretty.

Next, I took the Territorial and Divisional calendars and used them to put together our personal calendars (and penciled in our vacation).  Using those dates, I made a preliminary preaching calendar for the year. That sheet shows special Sundays and other elements of the church calendar that might affect the preaching series.

From there, each Sunday gets its own planning sheet.  That sheet shows the date, special Sunday notes, and has planning blocks for each element of the worship service.

This has helped me plan with local leaders for special Sundays (i.e., Corps Cadets, etc.), and allowed me to give our bandmaster our congregational song selections well in advance for band practice.

I type and print our worship bulletins, so this system has made that process extremely simple - I just plug in what was planned.  Easy, peasey.

So here's a PDF of the Sunday planning file.  If you'd like the original editable files, send me a note and I'll email them your way!

(Click graphic for the link ;)

Soli Deo Gloria!

Terrible Twos. Frustrated Fours. Thunderstruck Thirties.

This is my life.

Over the past two weeks of our Sunshine State vacation, I've had a lot of quality time with my family.  And some time to reflect on that quality time.  Lucky for you I'm typing as I reflect.  :)

Buddy is nearing the three-year-old mark, and Butterbean is most definitely four.  They are spending a lot of time acting their age, and acting like siblings (sometimes the loving kind, sometimes the jealous kind).

Honestly, there are days where I feel like a referee, and others where I feel like a war hero.

I've read blogs, read books, watched Supernanny.  But no one prepared me for the two year old son who chooses a choice that is impossibly unavailable (despite my best parenting preparedness in offering "two choices" for what he his going to wear to school).  Seriously, folks.  Everyone on the Spirit Airlines flight from Dallas to Orlando a couple weeks ago knows what I'm talking about.  The meltdown of the year followed my attempts to entertain him with my fancy phone - I offered Dora and SuperWhy as an in-flight movie choice - he chose The Wiggles.  The Wiggles weren't a possible option in any shade of reality.

I feel sometimes that this is his year for using the word, "no," but realized he probably feels the same way about me.

Terrible Twos.  Frustrated Fours.

But then there's me - Thunderstruck Thirties.

If you told me 8 years ago in the throes of my own journey through infertility that one day I would have two beautiful children of my own, I likely would have looked at you with glazed eyes.  Likewise, I wouldn't have understood your description of hormonal changes even more beastly than the metabolic and endocrine chaos that was keeping me from holding said babies. Perimenopause?

And I would be raising preschoolers during that?

Yes, Virginia.  There is a Santa Claus.

There's something swirly going on inside me.  I'm not lying.  And sometimes the swirly stuff feels like a hurricane.

A couple nights ago my sweet Butterbean came to the dinner table at a friends house, serving whine.  Yes, whine.  She has a special vintage all her own, and she pours often and generously.  As the sound came from her mouth, I maintained a graceful composure - but I promise you friends - I felt a synapse in my brain explode like a 4th of July fireworks display.  I don't know if my friend caught the slight twitching in my right eye, but I'm pretty sure I blinked on that side a few extra times than normal.

Please pause with me now for a moment of silence in memory of those brain cells that I will never effectively use again.  We must remember them now, because they will never help me remember again.

With all of these crazy stages of our lives coming together (somehow 'Perfect Storm' seems oddly fitting), I am often overwhelmed, then discouraged.

Discouraged by my impatience, guilted by my exhaustion.

And then I open up the news pages online to see that a study has just been completed that names all of my parental failures and assures me of how horribly I am messing up.  (Swimming lessons?  Who knew swimming lessons by the age of 5 made your kid smartest?!?  I've got so much catching up to do!)

The guilt is sometimes more than I can bear.  Then I remember.  Oh, wait.  I have a Guilt-Bearer.

And He is always reminding me of grace.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

(Romans 8:28 ESV)

  

So if I lead them to Him...
                                   - everything -
even the moments in the hormonal mom - toddler - preschooler - sibling rivalry - no one shares - there's only one yellow popsicle - slush called my life -

He's gonna' work it all out for their good.  My good.

Now I'm still trying to be supermom, don't get me wrong.

::Please help me, Jesus!::

Because this verse isn't a verse to promote my own recklessnes, but a verse that provides peace in reckless times.

So breathe with me.  Because of Jesus it's all okay in the end.

And I am SO okay with that.

xo