MISS ELAINI OUS

I walked outside yesterday to glorious sunshine and the world smiling in flowers.  The tulips had their best lipstick on in shades of purple, yellow, and flaming red.  And then there were the weeds.  So.Many.Weeds.  Here’s the funny thing.  We didn’t plant them.  But we do let them grow.  We also didn’t plant the beautiful tulips either but they came with the house and were a surprise the first year we lived here.

It made me stop and consider.  What’s growing in our thought gardens?  Thoughts pop into our heads all day long.  We either water them or pull them out.  There isn’t much neutral ground.  (Yet the ground does matter.  If we fertilize the ground things will grow better but either way if there is water and some sun things will grow.)

What will you allow to grow today in your mind?  Will you let the weeds take root?  Will you water the negative, ugly, anger, frustration, disgust, and other miserable thoughts?  Weeds grow easily.  It takes work to keep them out of any garden and our minds are no different.  We can dwell on them or we can tell them to leave.  But dirt isn’t too pretty either.  So if you’re going to take something out and something is guaranteed to grow there why not plant beautiful things?

There’s so many things these days that say to think positively and it will change your life.  While I’m not into the whole “just be happy deal and think that it will fix everything” I do believe that what we choose to listen to, dwell on, and tell ourselves matters.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8

We don’t always get to pick what enters our minds but we do get to choose if it will stay.  Here’s the thing though, pulling weeds isn’t fun or easy.  You can’t just pull off the heads of the flowers you have to get the root.  Getting the weeds when they are small or first pop up is easiest but the longer you let them sit the harder they are to pull and then they multiply.

Here’s some really beautiful news though.  Remember those tulips I mentioned, the ones we didn’t plant?  Well someone else took the time to plant them.  Now today my family and others who walk by get the enjoyment of them.  The same goes for the encouraging and beautiful words we say to others (and ourselves).

We can plant beautiful things.  We can leave them for others to benefit from.  Your words may even lie dormant for some time just like our tulips do each winter.  Yet, every spring we are surprised again by them.  Maybe your encouragement to someone won’t help today (although I’m sure it won’t hurt!) but it may spring up in their minds some day down the road right when they are walking down a place that’s not too pretty and needs some beauty.  Isn’t that amazing.  You can plant little seeds of grace, love, and beauty wherever you go.  I hope you do!

There’s an important word in that verse, the word practice.  Practice means you do it over and over and over.  Practice is the repetition of an action.  What will you practice today?  Will you practice encouragement or doubt?  Will you practice joy or frustration?  Will you practice grace or condemnation?  What will you allow to grow in your thought garden?  Are there some weeds you need to pull up by the roots?  Are there some spring flowers you need to water?  Friend, I hope your garden is filled with the most beautiful and lovingly cared for thoughts today.

Please “sow and plant” some encouraging thoughts for others to read in the comments below and then text a friend what you shared with us!

Do you ever just feel frustrated with your day?  A few weeks ago I was standing in the kitchen talking to my mom about how I was feeling that way.  I didn’t have any ideas for posts for the following week and I was a bit stressed about it.  Right there she stopped and asked me if I had what I needed for the current week.  I did. “Well then you have manna for today.”

So here’s the thing.  Manna is a weird food that the people of Israel used to gather daily as their sustenance.  Every day they would gather what they needed.  If they gathered too much it would rot.  Key word in this example is daily.  They couldn’t gather for two weeks and sit back and be done. They couldn’t even gather for two days except on the sixth day so they could have a rest day.  No, this offer was only good for 24 hours before it had to be renewed.  What do you need today?

So here’s some easy tips for you.

Are you feeling frustrated with all you need to do next week, tomorrow, in a month? What you need today is to focus on the tasks at hand.  This will make all the difference.  This doesn’t mean you don’t hustle and get things done.  It does mean you can stop stressing about it.  Today you just need to put one foot in front of the other.

Write out a list of everything you need to do.  I know everything probably feels like a priority but order them in such a way that highest priority is at the top.  What’s at the beginning of the list needs to get done first.  Do that item.  Take a break.  Do the next thing on the list.  Work your way down.  Don’t put things that can be done another day on the list!

This leads me to my second tip.  Work in 25-30 minute intervals with a 5 minute break.  At first I thought this was a super bad idea since I feel like it’s usually at about 30 minutes in that I finally get ideas flowing and progress made.  Yet since my progress was seriously lacking of late I decided that maybe I was just getting too brain dead staring at my computer hours at a time thinking I would actually get more done. (I wasn’t.)  When I stick to the 30 minute method I get WAY more done.  I think knowing you only have a short amount of time forces you to move past the distractions and zero in.  It’s also a great motivation knowing that once you’ve put in those 25-30 minutes you can be rewarded with a little break.  I know a few other people that do this and they’ve said it works for them as well.

During your breaks grab a snack, drink some water, have a mini dance party, or go the bathroom.  Maybe check social media…but make sure you set your timer!  The bottom line is to be intentional.

You can’t do everything today.  That is okay.  Start with what you have, where you are, and let today be your focus.  Worrying about future days only robs from today.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

What do you need to do today?  Let me know what’s the highest priority for you today in the comments below.

Have things ever just not made sense to you? Maybe your life today isn’t where you dreamed it would be five years ago. Maybe the career, the education, the spouse, the children, the travel or the success you’d imagined hasn’t gone according to plan. In fact maybe you’ve even started to believe that because things are so opposite of what you’d envisioned that you feel you’re going backwards. Confusion may have you stuck in a rut wondering how things got the way they were.

If you’re in a season of things not making sense then you’re not alone.

This week is a poignant one for me. It’s Holy week. The week that we pause a little bit more and reflect on the man Jesus. As a woman who deeply loves Jesus this week is essential for my faith. It’s a week though that had you had lived it, it wouldn’t have made any sense. I wonder what this week really felt like to the disciples.

The disciples had their whole world turned upside down in a short matter of time and it was pretty traumatic. Here are the disciples following their Lord at the beginning of the week to shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9) Just a few short days later though and they are watching as their leader is arrested and tried. The one they thought was their triumphant king was marred beyond recognition and killed before their eyes.

Let’s pause and consider here. These disciples believed that this was the person whom their entire culture had been pointing to for thousands of years. They had left everything to follow this man. They’d seen things that people had never seen before. They’d seen blind people given sight and lame men walk. They’d seen someone who broke through cultural restraints and fed the multitudes. They’d had a front seat to seeing the glory. Now the very one who had led them was buried. Suddenly everything didn’t make sense. In a twinkling they went from being the disciples of a praised man to men fearful for their very lives.

Sometimes this is the view we have of our lives. You know the feeling where everything is dark and unclear? That’s the in the grave view. Here’s the good news though. That isn’t the end of the story. In fact it was a very short part of the story (albeit a traumatic part). Three days later everything started to make a whole lot more sense. Jesus really was who he said he was. And the disciples realized something even more important. This man they were serving really was a king. He was the king of the whole world and he’d come to make all the bad things untrue.

Your story isn’t over either. Right now you may feel buried. You may feel like everything is dark. You may feel like hiding like the disciples. Things may not make any sense at all. My friend it’s not the end of the story. God is in control and he’s aware of what’s going on. He hasn’t left us and he never will. So in the midst of the confusion remember that God isn’t surprised by what’s going on. He knows and he cares. He cares so much he was willing to die. He’s not going to leave you in the dark. He’s come to bring light and life.

How does knowing this make a difference in your life?  Please feel free to share in the comments below! Have a great Monday friends. 🙂