Showing posts with label One Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One Word. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Arise (One Word)


Hello friends!

Like me, you've probably seen plenty of social media posts about friends  choosing their "one word" for the year. 

I've been doing this for a few years:
My "one word" for 2019 is ARISE! 

I chose ARISE because I want to encourage myself to rise up and overcome the many challenges in my life. Last year's word FOCUS ended up putting me on the path of going back to work part-time and starting seminary full-time after 26 years of home schooling. This is in addition to caring for my five remaining teen/adult kids at home (though they are pretty self-sufficient), trying to keep the house clean, and coping with multiple physical disabilities. 

It's sometimes hard for me to get up in the morning, so ARISE takes on the literal meaning every day. But it's not just that. It is more a sense of empowerment for myself as a an ezer-woman in God's eyes. Rising from a religious paradigm where women had no voice and no choice about so much of their lives, to one where they do, well, that was quite a switch for this 55 year old mama of 10. Then, building on that, attending an egalitarian seminary (Asbury Orlando campus) has been so much of a breath of fresh air for me! I still wonder what I'll end up doing, how I'll rise up and find my way in ministry in the community. It's a walk of faith from first to last, as it has been for the past 42 years since I first embraced the gospel of Christ for myself.

One of my classes, Church History I, delved into Celtic Christianity toward the end of the semester. I'm smitten. Starting in medieval Ireland and spreading throughout the British Isles and western Europe, Celtic Christians nourished an abiding devotion to God, deep spirituality and worship, and a love for creation, beauty, the arts, adventure, and yes, empowered women! What more could I ask? I've ordered a few different Celtic Christianity books from Amazon:

Then there is the Celtic prayer St. Patrick's Breastplate (see chalk art at top of this post), which starts with the words "I arise in the strength of heaven..." I also created a photo calendar for 2019 with Celtic prayers and blessings and some of my flower photos from last year. Here is my October page with more "arise" inspiration.


A little more story that puts me in awe of God...

My friend Patricia, who started me on my seminary journey, decided last month she wanted to visit the church where her friend and former Asbury classmate Tom Phillips, is the pastor. Church of the Incarnation is an Episcopal congregation. I decided to show up that morning too, and we've been going ever since. I love the old liturgy mixed with contemporary worship music. (Church History class also gave me a fondness for weekly Eucharist, which our professor Dr. Chilcote served each week in the style of whatever ecclesiastical period we were studying that week.) Anyway, on Epiphany Sunday this past week Father Tom's sermon at Incarnation was, of course, about the magi (also known as the wise men or the Three Kings) traveling to visit the infant Jesus. Of course we sang the carol, "We Three Kings"! To my delight, the Old Testament reading was Isaiah 60:1-6, which starts with "Arise, shine; for your light has come..." (I already had that loaded in my Bible app, because I had just looked it up.) Reading further in the passage, I see the prophecy about the nations and kings following the light to the messiah, bringing gold and frankincense. Mind-blowing! I had never made that connection before!


You can watch Father Tom's Epiphany sermon on this passage here on Facebook. So encouraging! The people of God radiate the brightness of God to the nations, drawing them to the good news of Jesus. It's not bootstrap moralism, but being filled up with God! I'm listening to it again right now: "When your heart settles into the radical truth of the grace of God... you wear the very perfection of Jesus, then your heart starts to shine with the radiating grace... and your neighbors see it."

ARISE, shine! Your light has come! The glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

Grace and peace,
Virginia 

P.S. Actually, I'm a bit torn between Arise and Rise, so I'm using both, as you'll see in my 2018 Advent poem, We Can Rise. 

P.P.S. I'm actually writing three blog posts today, which is notable since I sometimes go months without writing any. The others are Inductive Bible Study on Discipleship in Matthew 8-9 (Seminary Notes) and A Simple Woman's Day Book post which I haven't done yet. Little bit of overlap here, but I just had to include a Francesca Battistelli's "The Breakup Song" (Fear You Don't Own Me) in both this one and the Day Book post. It will help me ARISE!




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Focus (One Word)



OK, so it's only been like, what, eight and a half months since I posted on this blog? Eek! Oh well! That's life! There's only so much I can do sometimes.

 But here I am. 

 It's now February 2018, and back at the end of December, I thought about my new "one word" for the year.

 FOCUS.


Because that's what I need to do. Focus.

 I have a lot of growing up to do - as the title of this blog suggests - and so much progress to make in areas where I've been lacking. I need to sit down and take a good hard look at what I still want to do in this life, where I want to go on this journey I'm on. This takes planning and preparation and productivity. And focus, of course.

 To be honest, this morning I had a hard time focusing. I was tired and stressed and had a headache. It took effort to move forward with the day. After I returned from running errands and eating a little breakfast, I tackled the dishes and other basic household chores. That put me in productivity mode so I could focus on creating this blog post that I've been meaning to write for a while. 

 I won't be able to cover everything rattling around in my brain about this, but I'll write more in the coming weeks. 

 For now, I'll just share a few things which remind me to stay on track.

 Visual Cues

 I created this framed picture by adding the word "Focus" to a photo of one of my tie dye creations. Focus encompasses creativity, too, not just dry logistics.

This large montage reminds me of what areas need my attention this year. I listed several key words for each one.








 

I also created my own calendar on Snapfish. I thought of several Scripture passages that I felt would be powerful encouragement toward focusing my life. I used The Message paraphrase since it's poetic, and I paired the verses with some of my nature photos from the year. Here is my February page.



For my front hallway, I just created my new chalkboard design for the spring season. As a visual metaphor to go with it, I set out a vintage Polaroid camera and its case. They belonged to my late Grandpa Quarrier in the 1970's.



Apps & Planners

In my last post on this blog, The (Unexpected) Ritual of My Daily Do List, I shared about how I had stopped using apps for planning, and was using a Daily Do sheet that I had designed. That worked well for many months, but then it didn't anymore. A few weeks ago I replaced a malfunctioning phone, and when I set up the new one, I decided to give the gTasks app another try. I'm glad I did. I also switched from the default Apple Calendar app to the Google Calendar app. 


gTasks app

Google Calendar app

However, even with the apps, I'm still using a paper planner as a backup. Writing things down physically helps me remember them, and it's also helpful as a backup for when I accidentally delete an event from my phone calendar. The book on the right is my planner, and the one on the left is a journal with writing prompts and beautiful illustrations.


What I really like about this planner, which I bought at Walmart, is that for each weekly page spread, there is an extra lined page for writing whatever is needed. Monday and Tuesday are my high productivity days since my home schooled daughter is in classes, so I can do a more detailed to do list for them on this lined page.


(This was actually my second attempt at using a paper planner this year. I bought a much more complicated loose leaf system at Michael's Crafts, but it was confusing and overwhelming to me with all kinds of different pages. This new one shown above is much more doable for me.)

Books

I recently purchased several books on focus, planning, brain boosting, and financial management at our library's used bookstore. Please note that I haven't read them yet so I can't exactly recommend them, but for less than a dollar a piece, I figured I couldn't go to far wrong grabbing a pile. Perhaps I'll be sharing some of what I read in future posts!




Lectio Divina Study

 So many lovely people have taken their time to help me learn vital skills and to grow as a human being. Besides my own family, I have a circle of friends, both on-line and IRL (in real life) who have been priceless. 

 I recently joined a Bible study that my friend Patricia is leading each week at a local church. Connecting with a small group of women there has been such a gift. The study style - Lectio Divina - helps develop focus, too. It's not a teacher imposing her own opinions on a subject for everyone else to hear. Instead, we carefully listen as Patricia reads the Scripture passage three times slowly. We try to be attentive to what God wants us to take into our hearts from the passage, reflecting on the words and phrases, and then jot this down in silence. This is called Meditatio. Then we write a prayer based on this, which is Oratatio. Third, for Contemplatio, we write down how we plan to apply the truths and ideas this week. After this, we briefly share our thoughts and pray for each other. Later on at home, I spend a more extended time with the same passage, perhaps making a list or an outline, or reading it in another version. This practice - or spiritual discipline - helps me to focus better on God's word, which in turn brings clarity to my life and decisions.


And now I'll just leave you with some links to other posts.

Some of my earlier "One Word" posts:

Two other related posts on this blog:



Recent-ish posts from my other blogs... 




God of Joy, I See Thee


Mutual by Design 2017 Christians for Biblical Equality Conference and No Little Women


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Strength in My Blue Haven (One Word)


"So what is your word for 2017? Inquiring minds want to know."

 My sister Barb asked me this via FB message a few weeks ago. I hadn't thought about a "one word" for the new year yet, so we joked around a bit about it. Bacon?

 Then she wrote, "I've had 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' running through my head this morning and I'm stuck on one word. I guess I could just Google the lyrics. I've got 'something for today and bright hope for tomorrow.'"

 That was a no-brainer fill-in-the-blank question for me since I used to sing the hymn as a lullaby for my children and still sing it to myself. 

 I replied with the missing word: "Strength. That's my 2017 word. Thank you."

 So I had my word, but why did she want to know it?

 A felted bowl. She was making me a felted bowl for Christmas, and wanted to know what words to embroider onto it. So, STRENGTH for today and bright HOPE for tomorrow. (It's a reversible bowl.) I should note here that my sister is pretty much housebound with chronic migraines (pretty much every day for a decade). She tenaciously knits through the pain.

And there it is now, on my desk.

Do you see it there on the shelf above my computer?

So that was the start of my "one word" for the year.

 Here's what came next:

I've had the frame for a while. Yesterday I decided to look up eleven Scripture verses about strength and print them out on blue paper in a pretty font. Here's one.



Next? A step stool. I've been learning how to use a wood burning tool (made a bunch of Christmas presents!), and I finally found the right kind of wood dyes. I bought the stool and more dye colors and other cool stuff with a Michael's Crafts gift card that three of my adult children gave me for Christmas. 

I bought the electric sander at Walmart today for less than $15. It made the stool much smoother than I could have done by hand, and much faster. Easier on the arthritis, too. Speaking of power tools, last month I bought a cordless screwdriver and drill combo to fix stuff around the house. I'm learning bit by bit, strengthening my practical skills and my confidence!

 This is an electric wood burning tool from Jo-Ann Crafts. I stenciled the letters in pencil first.

The stool is actually more of a deep turquoise color. I couldn't get the shade to come out right in the photo.

I store the wood dyes along with my paints and brushes (that my kids may NOT borrow!) in a flip top box in my closet. I have a whole stash of art and craft supplies in there!


My other big creative endeavor this past month was creating photo calendars on-line with Snapfish to give to some of my family members. It even has all of the birth dates and anniversaries printed in it. The theme? I took an amazing eleven day trip to Switzerland and France with of my daughters in October. We went to Geneva, Lauterbrunnen in the Alps, and Paris! I chose several photos for each page.

This is one of my Geneva pages.

While in Geneva, I had wanted to buy a Huguenot cross in honor of my French Protestant refugee ancestors, Andre and Suzanne Lamoureux. They showed great spiritual strength through their compassion and courage as they smuggled persecuted Huguenots out of France. I found some of the crosses at the Reformation museum in Geneva, but they didn't take the debit card I had on hand that day. Another adult daughter ordered this cloisonne one for my Christmas present instead. I love it! It didn't come with a chain, so I'm using white ribbon from my craft supply stash. The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the source of spiritual strength.



I bought the wood cube with prayers in French at Basilique de Sacré-Cœur in Paris. There's a prayer on each of the six sides. Here's one on strength... 



According to the translation on my phone, it means, "Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, that I may keep what is holy." Such a lovely prayer for my strength quest!

My eleven year old daughter made this encouraging sign for my Christmas present.


It's right next to my dish of word stones on a book shelf. Yes, I have a STRENGTH stone. And it's blue. Of course.


One of my goals is to build physical strength. I don't know how I could have done so much walking and climbing in Europe if I hadn't worked out on the elliptical machine I got for free from a neighbor. I should have done it much more often! Now I need to get back in the groove again. (The curtain is actually a flat sheet from the turquoise sheet sets I finally found at Walmart to match the comforter.)

And spiritual strength. I need a core of courage and fortitude. I haven't exactly been ultra faithful at daily Bible reading lately. So here's what I'm doing to get back on track there. 

 I chose a plan to read through the New Testament this year, and put the bookmarks in my Bible. Each night, I am putting my Bible on this small tilting desk in front of my recliner, opened to the passage for the next morning. I also put a journal there for my study notes or verses I want to copy. And I put a small "to do" list pad there. I'll get to that in a minute.


Verses on strength in my journal from several days ago...

Here's my To Do list page. Yes, I still use the gTasks app on my phone, and it beeps at me at strategic times. However, I find that I also need a hand written list of top priority tasks specific to just that day.

I have two new devotional books. One is Savor, a daily book by Shauna Niequist, and the other is Earth Psalms, a weekly photographic book by Francine Rivers.

I opened to the first devotional in Earth Psalms, and what did I see? That lovely old phrase: "Great is his faithfulness"!

God is faithful. He makes me bold and gives me strength in my soul.

Strength in my blue haven, and wherever else I go.

 I know this has been a really LONG blog post, but I've got some related links (some of them from my other blogs) to share!

 Blue Haven:
Europe Travel Photos:
For the Spirit:
Happy New Year, friends!

 Virginia Knowles

P.S. Here are all of the verses from my STRENGTH frame.

The joy of the Lord  is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
The Lord my God is my strength and my song. Isaiah 12:2
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31
I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
In quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.  Psalm 84:5
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him and he helps me. Psalm 28:7
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5
She is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31:25

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. Ephesians 3:16

May the Lord encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Move Forward in 2015


Dear friends,

Are you ready to move forward in 2015? It's been popular the past several years for bloggers to choose "one word" for the coming year.  In 2013 I chose REFRESH. I didn't do this again in 2014, but I already know what mine is for 2015: FORWARD!

My ten children and
four grandchildren on Christmas
Now that Christmas frenzy is over, I'm eager to start the new year off right. Yes, I'm definitely taking the time to have fun with my family before school starts again, but I'm also trying to be productive around the house. For now I'm mainly focusing on organizing (starting with my own bedroom and closet), paperwork, and personal goal setting.

I need to make some MAJOR progress in so many areas, but I realize that I have to take changes in small increments. I've felt stuck for so long in the ruts of my own attitudes and habits and now it's time to ditch the procrastination and MOVE FORWARD one step at a time!

Let's think a little bit more about goals!

GOAL SETTING

I found this quote by Orrin Woodward recently: "A goal is planned conflict against the status quo." I'm ready for that!

I decided to set goals in several key areas of life. They are:

  • Family - nurturing and training my children
  • Health and Nutrition - diet, exercise, medical care
  • Homemaking - organization and household routines
  • Home Schooling - just one child this year!
  • Spiritual and Emotional Growth - reestablishing devotional life and getting more involved in fellowship
  • Personal and Professional Development - productivity skills, creativity, and preparing to re-enter the work force in a couple of years
For each of these areas, I wrote several goals, along with specific actions. One of my adult daughters recently posted on Facebook about goals needing to be S.M.A.R.T. That stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. When I worked on formulating my own 2015 goals in the past few days, I tried to think of that. I asked questions like, "Why do I want to do this? Is it necessary?" and "What steps do I need to take? Can I pull it off?" and "When is my deadline for each phase?" and "How often do I want to do this?" and "Why am I not already succeeding at this? What is my weak spot here?"

For example, on my Health and Nutrition page, one of my goals is consistent exercise. Here is what I wrote:
  • Exercise for muscle strength, cardio health, weight loss, joint relief.
    • Work out at the YMCA at least once a week during spring semester and twice a week during the summer. Do at least 2,500 strides on elliptical and assigned reps on at least four FitLinxx weight machines. Start swimming in April.
    • Walk or bike one mile at least once a week. (Fix bike tires and find helmet.)
    • Use exercise DVDs and resistance bands at least twice a month.
For each major goal area, I also included a list of books I already own that could help me succeed. To make this more practical, I gathered all of these books and placed them on one shelf right next to my desk.

In addition to getting insight from books and web sites, I'm also asking for help from others. My 22 year old daughter is going to help me tweak my goal list. I am talking to my other kids - especially the six who still live at home - about what they need from me and how they can cooperate with what I'm doing. I have been meeting with two different Christian counselors, one to help me with accomplishing my goals and the other to help with parenting issues. I am also planning to consult a nutritionist since I have a few medical conditions that are food sensitive.

I am using iPod apps to help me keep track of goals, schedules, and tasks. The three I use most are ToodleDo, Calendar, and Evernote.

I also think, "What can I do to increase the likelihood of following through with each goal?" One of my teenagers who has been asking for healthier home cooked meals has promised to help me plan and cook. That will be fun and keep me on track, and will also go toward my "teach my kids household skills" goals. I don't particularly like cleaning up after meals and usually put it off until just before I go to bed. I am going to try getting it down by 8 PM from now on, but I realized I'd enjoy it more and stick with the task longer if I could listen to music at the same time. That would also help me accomplish another goal of playing more Christian music to help me grow spiritually. That's why I bought an extra iPod speaker for the kitchen yesterday. I listened to Sara Groves' song "Strangely Ready" while putting away dishes after dinner. Seems like a good soundtrack for moving forward!

Another problem area is keeping track of receipts and expenses for the family bank account and my personal credit union account. I recently bought a pretty flip lid box for my desk (fits behind my laptop) to hold receipts so they won't overflow my wallet. I can download transactions from my credit union's web site into a spreadsheet. Tonight I had the computer sort this list by payee, and then I took my pile of receipts (six weeks' worth, including a lot of Christmas ones) and sorted them by payee into piles on my floor. That made it a lot easier to match them up than doing it by date. Then I just had to itemize the expenses into categories on my spreadsheet. However, what would make this a lot less arduous is becoming disciplined enough to take 20 minutes every week instead of letting it pile up and forgetting what I bought. (It's not always clear from the receipts.) I need to schedule a time for that, but I also have to get over the emotional block of not wanting to deal with finances. It's not so hard once I get going with it.

Then there is home schooling my nine year old. I've been dabbling lately with a workshop approach to math instead of relying solely on her (frustrating) workbook.  The goal is not to "finish the book" but to build and maintain sustainable fluency in the key skills. Doing the work hands-on and orally seems to work best for her. I'll be reading more on this next week, and gathering my supplemental materials. While I was organizing my bookshelves, I found a book with fun paper math manipulative pieces to punch out. Works for me!

That's enough about my goals!  Here are a few web sites to help you get going with yours!


I'm planning to attend a free "New Eyes for a New Year" webinar by Lisa Grace Byrne at noon on New Year's Day. It's about self-care for "More Calm, More Clarity, More Vitality in 2015." Join me?  (P.S. I had already signed up for this workshop since I get her e-mails, but then I found this guest post on Simple Homeschool, which I also receive by e-mail: How Small Shifts Can Lead to Big Impact.  Be sure to read it, especially if you can't watch the webinar! Here is how her article starts... "All around us there are messages about the New Year — new possibilities, new opportunities for change, ways to set your resolutions and meet them! Do you feel like you already missed the boat? For years if I didn’t wrap up all my new year’s dreams, goals and action plans in a pretty little bow right when the clock struck midnight New Year’s Eve … I might as well just can my ideas and settle back into life as-is. And when I did think about what kind of growth and change I wanted in the new year, I bought into the idea that either I had to go for massive change or give up shifting direction at all."  So true!  Lisa goes on to explain how it's the little things that often make a big difference - especially since they are doable for busy moms!

Oh! One last link that I found after I posted this article: Stay Focusd is a Google Chrome extension that can block out web sites for a specific period of time so you can focus on work. Give it a try!

~*~*~

This post is part of my Get It Done series. The other entries so far are:

Moving forward,

Virginia Knowles

Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)