Balancing Act

I spend an awful lot of time trying to find balance.

As a wife, mother, writer, artist, and employee, I struggle to find how much time to give to each of these roles without anything or anyone suffering.

Many churchy legalists would say that my roles as mother and wife should be the only things I spend time doing. I used to listen to that well-intentioned advice and found myself digging into depression. How can you give anything if you are empty? It didn't work for me. Other people's self-imposed rules never do.

Another balance I strive for is also a common one. When I think about what I want for my future, I begin to wonder what parts of my dreams are ego-driven and what parts are the desires of my heart that God has put there. What to surrender, and what to go for and make happen. Just because God's in control doesn't mean He wants us to sit on our backsides and wait for miracles.

I heard a woman say recently: "If you want to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans."

I sniggered at it because it's true to a point. Then I thought about how He tells us to pray for what we want and believe that it has been given to us and it will be ours (in Mark). He also tells us to bring everything to Him through prayer and petition (in Phillippians). I believe our words are powerful. I believe we often get what we speak -- good or bad.

I know. I think too much. I've been called "intense" by more than a few people. But heck, He made me that way. And I have big dreams. And I don't want to get in God's way if He has other plans.

Although patience is not one of my gifts, in an effort to maintain balance, I'm just going to try to take this life one step at a time. And hey, today is fabulous!

We Want the Funk

We just got back from Mexico after a great week of R & R. Then we came back to below zero temps. I felt the need for some funk to warm me up, and I found this fabulous video.
Check it out!
here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkfOi3yGNR0

Expect or Hope?

Do you know the difference between expecting and hoping?

Expecting is attempting or wishing to control. It often ends with disappointment.

Expectation leads to judgment.

Hoping is putting your wish out there. Hope is a prayer. A release. A recognition that you are not in control.

Hope leads to acceptance.

Spiritual Direction/Life Coaching

I'm going to visit with my spiritual director today. His name is Tom King, and he lives in Missoula. He and his wife were two of the people who started the Good Food Store there several years ago. He's very cool, and I'm pretty sure he's an angel.

I only learned what a spiritual director is a few months ago. He or she is a person who listens and helps you discern what God is doing in your life and prays with you accordingly.

I have considered becoming a spiritual director myself. Either that or a life coach. I've read dozens of books on the subjects. I'm sure I could considered myself qualified for the job, since I have been studying the subject of life coaching for years.

A life coach is a person who helps you to get "unstuck" in your life. She helps you to figure out your potential and your goals, and then helps you to get on the path toward them.

I feel like that is my gift. I love to encourage people. It is my passion. To help women discover their potential and live their biggest, most authentic lives.

I also have an interest in creative expression. I believe that an outpouring of our own creativity can tell us so much about ourselves. In the appropriate circumstance, I would employ creative expression with a coaching client to help her tap into her gifts and longings and fears. It works. I've done it. In fact, I do it.

My practice is called Soul Arts. So what would I call myself? A Creative, Spiritual Life Coach?

Well, whatever you want to call me, I'm taking appointments! If you feel like you need encouragement or if you feel "stuck" in your life, give me a call.

Say You Want a Resolutio-on...

I'm finished with making resolutions each year that are no fun at all. I've tried to exercise more, save more money, eat more healthfully, blah, blah, blah...

This year I'm going to make a change that is worth the effort! This year I resolve to spend every Friday possible making art in my studio.

That's right, today was the first Friday of the new year; and it was heavenly!

I encourage you to do something similar. Make a promise to yourself to do something especially for you. Do something weekly that fills you up. It is not a selfish thing. It is only when you are full that you have something to give.

Snow

It's a snowy day, and everything is so peaceful and clean and quiet. I wanted to share this poem by Anne Sexton with you.


Snow

Snow,
blessed snow,
comes out of the sky
like bleached flies.
The ground is no longer naked.
The ground has on its clothes.
The trees poke out of sheets
and each branch wears the sock of God.

There is hope.
There is hope everywhere.
I bite it.
Someone once said:
Don't bite till you know
if it's bread or stone.
What I bite is all bread,
rising, yeasty as a cloud.

There is hope.
There is hope everywhere.
Today God gives milk
and I have the pail.

Do Me A Favor?

Eleven years ago, I had a skin biopsy removed that turned out to be
Stage 1 Melanoma.

January 2007, I had another one come back Melanoma In Situ.

Between the two Big-M diagnoses, I have had several abnormal biopsies.
My back looks like I've been hit with bird shot. Jamie sometimes calls me "Frankensteen." He's a goof ball.

Well, I got a call from my dermatologist's office this week. The biopsy
she removed last week came back "moderately-to-severely abnormal" and
she has to cut out a bigger chunk to "clear the margins." That will be
the end of January.

It seems pretty clear that this melanoma monster is out to get me. I go
to Dr. Vellanki, my dermatologist (who has caught them all so far) for
skin checks every three months, and she is very cautious. But this thing
is scary. I know Heaven will be great, but I'm not in any hurry to get
there!

So what I'm asking you to do is this: Whenever you think of me, please
visualize me as a great-grandmother, holding and playing with my great-grandchildren. See my face and hands all wrinkled and see me very old.

If you are a believer, please ask the Lord for complete healing for me
from this disease and my tendency toward it. And believe it is done.
Know it. And Thank Him for it.

I hope this is not too much to ask.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe
that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
(New International Version)

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:19-20 (New International Version)

Will you do this for me?