is doing what you like and not caring what anybody else thinks."
-Handsome's midnight words of counsel
Who needs a psychiatrist when there's pillow talk?
Today I realized, I blog without a place for comments because it gives me "confidence".
I don't need or want recognition.
I'm not looking for praise.
I write because I love words.
I love words because The Word wrote His image on my soul and brought me to life with His Spirit... living word to echo The Living Word.
I write to discover my voice, my art, myself...
who I was created to be.
I want to encourage,
to share what has inspired me; because ".... perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."
(just as Longfellow reaches across time and encourages me).
So how do I transfer that CONFIDENCE to the rest of my life?
I hear and see the them...
blessing, cursing,
complimenting, teasing,
joking, arguing, lying,
teaching,
questioning, debating,
whining,
yelling, cheering,
selling, manipulating,
persuading,
venting,
everywhere I go...
at home, on the road,
in the waiting room,
at the grocery,
at church, in the library
there is no escaping...
talk-shows, sitcoms, radio, sermons, commercials,
books, magazines, signs, emails, text-messages, junk-mail.
One month of so many words
from "one little word": WORDS
...and what have I learned?
words are tools
they can be used for good or evil
word-tools (from phones to facebook) are just tools
they are not "good" or "bad"
tools are to be used: they are my servants
I will not allow them to master or direct my life
"Everything is permissible for me
-- but not everything is beneficial.
Everything is permissible for me
-- but I will not be mastered by
anything."
1 Corinthians 6:12
This year, I will use words,
and the "word-tools" available to me,
intentionally.
I will be attentive to words.
mine
and yours.
With all my "senses",
I will... W rite intentionally O pen (my ears to listen) intentionally R ead intentionally D iscern (feel... via body language) intentionally S peak intentionally
(The words I've already written are words from personal friends who have chosen their "ONE little WORD for 2013". The verses I write in the back ground in another color tie their word with my "WORD". For example: "COMMIT" is the one little word of the friend who first told me about this class, and my verse for that word is Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my hear be pleasing in your sight..." - Lord, I commit my words to You this year!)
words: we READ, HEAR, and SPEAK
I even did a quick sketch for a section in my notebook for art; since we all know "a picture paints a thousand words".
One evening when I couldn't sleep, I came across some old magazines while doing a little cleaning,...
I had the inspiration of making a collage of clippings. This actually was the most fun prep work of all.
I even came across several helpful articles related to "words": seeking God (hearing His voice & reading His word), anger (using words to control others), encouraging children through words (written, spoken, and even 'non-verbal' communication), etc.
I even have a section for lyrics (words from favorite songs set to music)... My first entry is Sara Groves "The Word".
Today, Ali Edwards posted our first assignment and showed a few pictures of what her class did last year. I am so excited to try some of her scrapbooking/journaling ideas and to see how this creative gal with a kindred 'passion for words' challenges and inspires her class this year.
(Her personal blog is another beautiful garden of ideas you might enjoy visiting.)
Last year, when a friend gave me a special calendar, I began the simple tradition of writing one prayer request into the square for the day on the calendar. I was so blessed my that habit that I'm certain I will make this a life long practice. So, I bought another calendar for that purpose for this year, not knowing that my friend had ordered another extra-special calendar for me.
So... what to do with the extra calendar I bought?
Most of the verses on the calendar I bought are about praise and thankfulness; so I'm starting another habit this year: writing one thing I am thankful for or something I want to praise God for on each date.
Having kept a thankfulness journal for a couple years after reading One Thousand Gifts, I am excited to keep this habit of recording blessings/graces in a new way that will make them even more visible.
(I have the habit from last year of focusing on the one prayer request at the beginning and end of the day, reviewing the items listed at the end of the week, then praying over them all at the end of the month, and finally going back over each note, thanking the Lord for all the answers to prayer at the end of the year.)
FYI -
Before I mark any birthdays or vacations on the calendar, I mark my prayer day for the year (a day I spend entirely alone seeking the Lord) and my monthly prayer days (a day of simplified routines and meals so I can spend more focused time in prayer without neglecting my family)
Jan 1st (01-01)
Feb 2nd (02-02)
Mar 3rd (03-03)
etc...
