Thursday, April 22, 2010

Curvy Thursday

Reason number 49 why curvy woman will rule the world:

When you cry, would you rather go to a skinny person for a hug? I didn't think so.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wit & Wisdom Wednesday

Time for Wit & Wisdom Wednesday, where I post a quote from a well-known (or not so well-known) person. Please feel free to comment with quotes that have touched your soul.

~

"Things to remember:
1. The worth of character
2. The improvement of talent
3. The influence of example
4. The joy of origination
5. The dignity of simplicity
6. The success of perseverance."

~ Marshall Field  ~

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Turn Down the Music

I want to share my new favorite song with you. I heard it on Pandora yesterday, which had much better sound quality than any of the clips I could find on YouTube, but hey, I think you'll get the point. Plus I'm going to give you the lyrics. :)

To give you some context, and in case you've missed (or rather, not missed) me for the past few weeks, I've been going through a rather trying time. You know, one of those "Who am I supposed to be?" times when you realize you're so busy trying to just get back into bed that you don't do anything fun or fulfilling with your day. You get up, you work, you work late, or maybe you do make it to something in the evening, you get home, and it's bed time. And then you get up again.

But where is the music, the worship, the joy? Where is the writing, the creativity? Where is just sitting outside in the sun, soaking it in?

I lost it somewhere. But lately I've been feeling the call, the call to worship God more, the call to write (Oh my goodness the call to write!)

It churns inside of me, it drips down my fingers when I type, it comes out my nose and my eyes. Yes it's a messy thing. But it's something I haven't felt, really felt, in a long time. To try to explain it, I love love love to write. Before I took my break from non-regulation blogging (and by that I mean the scheduled things like Curny Thursday, Wit & Wisdom Wednesday, Fictionary Friday and Be My Guest Monday--by the way have you noticed how I managed to almost fill my week up with stuff just so I could avoid writing any non-regulation posts??) I enjoyed blogging, I really did. I loved having the chance to be creative and get my thoughts out there, and even read other people's thoughts and their reactions to my thoughts.

But what I was missing was this deep down "if I don't do this now I might just die" feeling. That hunger that eats you from the inside out. Yes, it's that bad. It's the kind of hunger that makes me wish I had more in my savings account so I could take a leave of absence from my job and just experience life and then write about it for a solid month.

Short of bankrupting myself, however, I will find new ways to fit in time. I am getting up an hour earlier than I need to, which technically I was doing since the beginning of the year, but what I did was "listen" (sleep to) worship music, and then blog at my other home, Moments of Majesty. Well, an hour of sleeping to worship music was nice, but when I realized that I didn't hear any of it after the amount of time it took me to walk from the "on" button to my couch, yeah, that wasn't right. So now I'm on day two of getting up an hour early and just coming straight to the computer. Will I be able to keep it up? I sure hope so, because it's been nice having the time to write two blog posts before I even take a shower!!

And it's been fantastic writing to you guys again. I missed you.

But I want to lead back into my new favorite song. I think one of the things I was missing when I didn't have the Hunger to write, was a reason strong enough TO write. But I have that reason in and around me all day, every day: Jesus. The God who made me died to save me. He is the reason that I even have the ability to write, and I must use these gifts to worship Him. I want to write a new song to Him, maybe something just for Him and me, and maybe something that I can share with others, to bring others into Worship with Him as well.

So what I need to do is turn down the music that we're so used to listening to, day in and day out, and listening for God's voice in me, directing me on where to go, and who to be. And allowing myself to sing that Song which He gave me.

Check out my new favorite song here, and with luck, maybe sometime soon I'll have a clip of a song that I've written to share with you. :)



Turn Down The Music
Shane & Shane

If you were hungry would we give you food?
If you were thirsty would we give you drink?
If you were a stranger would we let you in?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

And if you were naked, would we give you clothes?
If you were an orphan would we give our home?
And if you were in prison, would we visit you?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

Let it be our worth shared
Let it be our true religion
In this world of ?
Holding on to our confessions
Let it be your worth shared
Let it be your true religion
In this world of ?
Holding on to our confessions

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in
A new song rise in
A new song rise in us

Monday, April 19, 2010

Be My Guest Monday! Things I Can't Say

Happy Monday everyone! While it's often hard for me to look forward to Mondays, I always look forward to my blog post, because it's always amazing. And why is that? Because someone other than me wrote it!! Today is Be My Guest Monday! If you'd like to be a guest blogger, please check out that link.

Today's post is by Michelle (Shell) over at Things I Can't Say. This girl tells it as it is, folks. Not in an "oh my goodness I can't believe she said that" way but in an "I don't need to pretend to be perfect because none of us are so let's all just enjoy life" kind of way. I respect this type of writing very much, being one of God's imperfect people myself. :) So enjoy some of what Shell can say today, and find the extraordinary in the...

Things that Make me Happy

It's easy to talk about the bad.

The things that annoy me.

Or go wrong.

I like to take them and spin them to make them funny.

Because it helps me to deal.

But, it makes me seem so negative all the time.

So, today, I'm listing the things that have made me happy in the past week.

*A good morning snuggle from my 3 year-old: always the first one up
*A squishy-faced smile from my 1 year-old
*My five year-old dancing
*Dancing with my husband
*My mother-in-law volunteering to babysit
*Time to myself
*A lunch date with my husband
*The sunrise over the ocean
*Showing up and being perfectly dressed for an event: not under or over-dressed
*Seeing my former students all grown up
*Having those students offer to babysit
*Listening to my boys sing along with the Chipmunks
*Getting a good night's sleep
*Having a best friend who is always there for me

I need to remember those things and add to this list as this week goes on.

Because it is easy to focus on the negative and forget all the good we have going on.

What is something that has made you smile today?

Friday, April 16, 2010

Fictionary Friday - Reflect

So here are the rules. I will post a word and its definition. It will be a real word, and its real definition. But then I will create a fictionary definition for the same word, and invite you to do the same. Sound good? Good. Here we go:

Dictionary Definition:
Reflect v. to give back or show an image of; mirror.

Fictionary Definition:
Reflect v. past tense. To spatter flecks, as of paint, after already having done so. "Jackson Polluck used a lot of paint in this work; after he flecked it once, he went back and reflect it."

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Curvy Thursday

Reason number 85 why curvy woman will rule the world:

We disrupt the gravitational pull wherever we go so that yes, the world actually does revolve around us.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wit & Wisdom Wednesday

Time for Wit & Wisdom Wednesday, where I post a quote from a well-known (or not so well-known) person. Please feel free to comment with quotes that have touched your soul.

~

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."

~ John Wooden  ~