Here I am again, two weeks in a row - woohoo! I probably won't get to do this next week since I only have three days in the office, but I am going to relish it today!
Notes from The Noticer:
"...a true friend holds you to a higher standard. A true friend brings out the best in you... A best friend...will tell you the truth...and a wise best friend will include a healthy dose of perspective." (p. 30)
"We grow up expecting everyone else to be just like us. And they aren't." (p. 42)
"I just think it's amazing...that a person could lose everything, chasing nothing." (p.49)
"...smart people get tripped up with worry and fear. Worry...fear...is just a misuse of the creative imagination that has been placed in each of us. Because we are smart and creative, we imagine all the things that could happen, that might happen, that will happen if this or that happens." (p.52)
About 8% of what we worry about are legitimate concerns (p.55)
"Most people spend so much time fearing the things that are never going to happen or can't be controlled that they have no energy to deal with the few things they can actually handle." (p. 55)
"...the seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart." (p. 56)
Big takeaway from today's time: Perspective is everything.
A lot of you in my Vox Neighborhood are good photographers.
Not just good. Great.
Now that I oversee our church's website and various promo items, I am constantly looking for fresh, innovative, creative, original photos. On a limited budget.
Limited meaning I actually don't have a budget to purchase photos.
If you'd like to help a girl out by allowing me to occasionally use photos of yours that you've posted here or on other hosting sites, such as Flickr, would you send me a PM? I will let you know what I use, when I use it.
(I will not use photos that show any identifiable parts of a person, such as their face - I am looking for still shots, scenery, or photos with people's faces obscured - or just feet, legs, hands, etc. And if I am using a lot of your photos, it would move into a paying gig - or, I can give you a charitable contribution letter if you let me know the value.)
Gracias!
I have made a decision to create "white space" in both my work and personal life. What does that mean?
It simply means taking time to notice things - to be aware.
In the context of my work, this means taking some time out each week, during work hours, to read and study and create. Rob and I found a local coffee place with free WiFi on Monday, so here I am today. I don't have as long as I'd like - the original plan was 2 hours, but I am here, and that in and of itself is a good first step.
I want to remember things I read today that resonate with me, so I am going to record them here. Feel free to tune out from this point forward.
From Leading Smart: Don Miller at Story
"We have a relationship with Scripture that is really strange. We sit down and say, "What's in this for me?" What if it's just a story about God? What if He just wants us to get to know Him?"
"Success doesn't tell a very good story. It takes a character with flaws who does good."
"The story that we are telling ourselves is almost always different than the story we are telling the people around us."
Leading Smart: Dave Gibbons at Story
"When there is personal revelation of your weakness--it more fully releases the power of the Spirit."
Leading Smart: Story Launches with Ed Young
"Everybody wants to reach people until you start reaching people."
"The question is not: "How many people are showing up?" The better question is: "Who are you reaching?"
"Change. Conflict. Growth. That's the sequence. Many people won't change. Or they do change and then stop at the conflict, and they never experience the growth."
"...you see only the sand at your feet and what you are eating that you wish was something else. I don't tell you this as a rebuke; you are very ordinary in your views...Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases." (p. 13)
"...a grateful perspective brings happiness and abundance into a person's life." (p. 13)
"When a person is negative, complaining, and disagreeable, other people stay away. And that person receives less encouragement and fewer opportunities - because no one wants to be around him" (p.14)
"Ask yourself this question every day: 'What is it about me that other people would change if they could?'" (p. 15)
...because People Matter: SWITCH | Navigating Change with Chip Heath: Session 3
" People are often not ready for change. Consider...
- moving people into the first sky-scraper
- eating the first shrimp
- UGG boots in the middle of summer
- But one change agent impacts another who impacts another who ... (you get the idea)
- New norms are formed that redefine the "win" for the person or organization"
This has been a great exercise! I am going into work with a relaxed, centered attitude.
This is a definite "rinse and repeat" activity.
We are doing the One Month to Live Challenge at our church. The basic premise is to ask yourself at the start of each day, "What if I only had one month to live?"
Every day. For 30 days.
I have done this once so far - today.
Let me tell you: it is already changing my thinking.
I've already sent out one apology note and made one phone call just to say hello to someone I love.
This will be an interesting month, my friends.
Some time ago - gosh, I guess it's been close to 10 years - Savage Garden (I believe that's the group - you may correct me if I am in error) came out with the song "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You". I am sure they didn't intend for it to be about Internet relationships (much to the chagrin of one sister and her spouse, who were the victims of some mis-intentioned ribbing in the wake of it's lyrics). But in this social media era, relationships are being forged without face-to-face meetings at an impressive pace.
When I first started blogging - also close to 10 years ago - I can remember the looks, the questions, when I talked of fellow bloggers as if we'd been meeting for a cuppa Joe at the local coffee joint on a daily basis. There were eye rolls, scoffs, even concerned warnings about the safety - and validity - of such friendships.
But each time I took the risk of meeting a "virtual friend" face-to-face, I found that person to be exactly as I'd expected. I knew I'd liked them - shoot, loved 'em - before I met them.
My most recent meet-up was no exception.
Bec and I first "met" on a bulletin board for an author whose books we enjoyed. From there, we started reading each other's blogs. At some point, she, Paige (another gal who'd been a part of that BB), and I stared the "OSB* buddies" group, keeping track and encouraging one another in our fitness efforts. It was in that little group that the real friendship was forged, I believe, as we began sharing more than the miles we'd logged on our runs.
I was fortunate to meet Paige a few years ago when she braved the craziness that is my family and came to one of our Memorial Day shindigs. And Bec and Paige had met a few times through the years. But I'd yet to meet the fabulous Bec.
That is, until last weekend.
There is always a bit of apprehension for me when one of these real-life meetings are finally scheduled. It's not really them - it's entirely me. "Will they think I'm a dork?...Will I talk to much?...What if I can't think of anything interesting to say?"
Or what if it's just weird. Let's be honest, it's one thing to chat and email and share photos. But what if we just don't sync up once the comfort and familiarity of my laptop is removed?
Time and again all of those fears have been cast aside as I've stepped out of my comfort zone and taken the risk of meeting a blogging friend. And this meeting was another confirmation that community and friendship can be forged on-line - and at perhaps an even deeper level than many local friendships.
Bec was just as witty, thoughtful, and engaging as I'd expected. And her hubby was pretty awesome too.
And while I haven't had, nor taken, the time to post here much lately, I was once again reminded how important this place is to me. Blogging has been a lifeline in so many ways, not the least of which has been the friendships I've made.
That's not why I started blogging all those years ago. I was just trying to retain some sanity in the midst of the "life in a fishbowl" I was experiencing as a church planter's wife. But the friendships came.
And while that wasn't why I started blogging, it's why I stay here, whether I am writing or not.
*OSB stands for Operation Small Butt
So, I will admit. I have had a chance to read anyone's blogs in 2-3 weeks.
:-(
That said, if there's a post you feel I just have to see, please send me the link.
I miss you guys! Glad many of you are on FB.
Per Hannah's request, here's my "third photo":
The how-cool-is-that part? And in about 11 days, we should be in front of this landscape again.
So, here are the rules if you care to participate:
Go to the pictures on your computer.
Go to the third folder.
Post the third picture in the third folder.
No cheating.
Now, why can't the QotD's be this fun?!
I had to change the title a bit because the bullet point I ended my last post with was too long. So, to refresh your memory:
Bullet Point #2: Change-agents are always seen as the enemy by those who prefer "but we've always done it that-a-way!"
(Note - excuse the continued italics - Vox is being lame tonight and won't let me convert the text back. Gah!)
As most of you know, Rob was asked to come back to our church here to replace the departing Business Manager, bringing his corporate experience to help implement systems and processes as the church moves toward some big changes, such as a third service and multi-site ministry. As many of you have also probably seen and learned, change of any kind, is often met with great resistance. I knew that and had seen it before.
What I hadn't realized is that sometimes it is met with downright hostility.
Rob is a high capacity leader. And not to toot my own horn, but I pretty much am one too. High capacity at least. And I like structure and processes, so helping Rob and executive pastoral team implement such has been great fun. With one caveat.
Not everyone feels the same way as I do. And that's caused a lot of stress over the past year. For both of us.
And while I still have some things to learn about being a better listener and being careful how I say things, I've also learned that this is just part of the package. The resistance I see and feel is not only normal, it's pretty typical and predictable.
Knowing that is half the battle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Bullet Point #3: God gives us just what we need at just the right time.
Each day when I open up my 'lil Macbook, I see the Vox tab, open along with iGoogle, Facebook, and several others, and I think, "I should write a bit today."
But coffee, and walking, and working, and schlepping together dinner, and then finally falling into bed...then doing it all over again - and again! - seems to spirit my time away.
It probably hasn't helped that I am doing a lot more writing at work. I love that, as it taps into the creative side of me that was largely unused when the majority of my day was full-up with mindless data-entry and "How may I help you?" phone calls. I am a firm believer that this blogging thing shouldn't be a have-to. So, I've stepped back a bit, and I am okay with that.
Have I missed it? Yes. And no. I miss the rolling chronology of thoughts and events that routine blogging brings. But giving myself license to not write as I've given myself license to write has been good, and very good.
This morning I awoke thinking about some things I've learned - or perhaps re-learned - in the past few days and weeks. Then all the stuff that accompanies a Saturday morning happened, coupled with a lunch date with out-of-town company, which then precipitated a lovely nap.
And the blog was cast aside again.
When I later realized that I was just mindlessly browsing some of the aforementioned sites, what surely resembled a thought bubble appeared above my head:
Why don't you write something in your blog, silly?
And so, here I am, with what has become a rather long and blathering introduction to some bullet point ah-ha moments. I was going to share them all in this one post, but you know, then I might not come here for another month or two.
Not to mention that would be one freakin' long post.
So, without further adieu, here's the first:
Bullet point #1: Never underestimate the power of a grandma.
The out-of-town company I mentioned above is Rob's mom, in for just under a week to visit us. Wait; who am I kidding? She's here to visit the grandkids.
But that's okay. She should be here to see the grandkids, and thus far the whole lot of them are having a glorious time as she spoils them (and us too - I haven't had to cook dinner for two days now). Yesterday, she took The Daughter shopping. Rob and I came home and just about tripped over two large trash bags full of the child's clothes. Post-mortum of said shopping spree, MeeMee and The Daughter had sorted through her entire room.
I can't tell you how many times I've asked the child to go through the mounds of clothes she had in her room and toss or give away what she no longer wears. To no avail.
The power of the grandma.
Ah, but Nicole, you said they went shopping. Good catch. They did, and they got some great deals on some new clothes - but no where near as many as will go to the thrift next week. And the best part?
Well. For months and months and months and nigh on forever, Rob and I have had a battle with this child over her jeans. Yes, the typical why-can't-I-wear-these-spray-painted-on-blues-whose-zipper-won't-go-all-the-way-closed-anymore jeans.
MeeMee comes to town, and The Daughter senses a possible ally. She begins to model pair after pair. "Don't they look nice?" she inquires, to which MeeMee wrinkles her nose and says, "No." To pair after pair after pair.
Guess where the jeans are now?
The power of the grandma.
Next time:
Bullet Point #2: Change-agents are always seen as the enemy by those who prefer "but we've always done it that-a-way!".
I've been terrible, awful, horrible about this blogging thing. I have been reading everyone's posts, but I haven't the energy to comment.
(I especially love the posts with photos - keep 'em coming!)
The Daughter and I are traveling down to Charleston, SC tomorrow to visit a dear old friend we haven't seen in 5 years. I will endeavor to take many photos and post them before 2010.
*Mwah!*
