Good for a Laugh

It isn’t always a laugh a minute with teenagers in the house. Especially when there are three of them! So I often begin my day with a peek at the Zits comic strip. It helps me laugh at my predicament with oh-so-true scenarios involving two parents and their teenaged son.

Check it out here. If you have—or ever have had—teenagers, I guarantee you’ll laugh.

Lessons Learned

Lessons learned this week: 

• Good advice stands the test of time: Twenty years ago, my history professor gave me some advice about how to write historical fiction. Yesterday, a historical novelist that I greatly respect and am honored to call my friend gave me the same advice.
• Submission and suffering often go hand-in-hand: Have you read I Peter lately? Chapters 2 and 3 talk about submission—to masters, to governmental authorities, to husbands and wives, to each other as believers—and about suffering for doing right, as Christ did. The juxtaposition of these two themes struck me for the first time. We will suffer when we submit to any other human, simply because they are human. Yet we are called to submit, without reviling, entrusting ourselves to God, as Christ did in His suffering. It’s not easy!
• God can give the most amazing encouragements: In the midst of wondering if I’m doing right in fighting for time to write, I received an incredible encouragement to keep at it, one that truly only the Lord could have done (because evaluation of any type of art is so subjective.) At the same time, my friend, struggling with the need to go back to work, also received encouragement for her writing and a reprieve from starting the new job just as her kids were off school for Thanksgiving vacation.

Have you learned anything this week? I know the Lord is always teaching. This week, I just happened to be listening!

A Good Day

I needed today. I got a fun phone call about a contest I entered. I caught up on laundry and the kitchen. And I got a bunch of research done for my (hopefully) next book project. I’ll top it off with a good workout , dinner with the kids, and maybe finishing the book I’ve been reading. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this content with my day.

I’m sure things will return to chaos tomorrow, but I’m enjoying this moment.

Uncomfortable Clutter

The comfy chair and ottoman that my husband bought for my birthday many years ago sits back in a corner of our living room. Beside it, the brick hearth stretches beyond the fireplace, giving me a convenient little “table.” Very often this is strewn with books and papers that need my attention as well as my calendar and my to-do list. I stay on top of it, making sure it is regularly cleared, usually while my family watches a football game or works on homework in the room around me. For almost two and a half years, this space has been convenient and manageable. 

Until now. 

Now it is cluttered beyond recognition due to my lack of time to sit and clear it! I have a stack of research books, most uncracked, one flagged with sticky notes on information to be transferred to paper. And I MUST check the due dates on all of them! 

Blank notecards are stacked, waiting for my words of encouragement to our football team before their first playoff game. A book by a friend of mine sits beneath them, waiting to be read. Booster club receipts and checks occupy the corner near the mantle, needing to be entered into my bookkeeping system, and a rubber band surrounds 25 elementary school literature pieces I agreed to judge. 

Of course the usual stuff is there, too: school papers, calendar, pen, random pieces of paper that need to be filed or noted or even just thrown away. The need to unclutter calls to me. I will sit down this evening and go through things, piece by piece. At least that’s the plan. And you know what so often happens to the best laid plans . . .

 

Mind Mush

I know. I’ve been quiet. The truth is, I have nothing to say. My brain is mush. Too many “to-dos” clogging up the flow. Not just too many in number, too many in variety. It makes me tired to wear all the hats I’m wearing at the moment. Keeping everything straight is like juggling cats—every time one falls, it dashes out of reach and scratches when you try to get it back in the mix! But some of my responsibilities are winding down now—at least they are supposed to be. 

So forgive my lack of words. I promise it won’t be like this always. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself!)