Three years ago I started a daily calendar on which I'd write down one thing that happened, every day. I know Facebook does the same thing with their "On This Day" feature, but I started this project before they offered that... and I like sitting down to intentionally think about my day and choose what specific things I will remember. Most of the items I write down are fun memories or positive things that happened. Sometimes they are silly things, like an inside joke with a family member or friend. Sometimes they are big accomplishments and projects I completed. And sometimes I write down hard or challenging things, or even failures. I want to remember the good and the hard. As I flip through the stack of 3x5 note cards, I can see most of them are exciting things because of how many "!!!" I use throughout the calendar. For someone who is often thinking of the negative first, this was really encouraging to see. I could easily find something negative about my day to write down...but is that what I want to remember when I look back on this day a year from now? Doing this exercise has helped me remember good things when I may have had a tough day, and am tempted to go all bad on myself. I get to read through the things I did that day, one, two, three years earlier and enjoy some great memories. I have grown in joy and gratitude for the big and small things in life. I'm a nostalgic person. I think one of the main reasons I started the calendar was that I could envision myself 5-10+ years down the road re-reading the snippets of my life. I love nostalgia and I love significant moments. Milestone moments marked on paper help me see how far I've come- or how much I've stayed the same- and turn into celebration or motivation to grow. Those with the significance strength will probably LOVE this exercise, as I've found I can often more easily find meaning or importance in the mundane of every day life. The best outcome of starting this daily calendar was completely unintentional; it has challenged me to be intentional with thinking through my day and choosing what I will remember. As I sit, pen in hand, this daily calendar has turned into a theological reflection exercise similar to one I learn about last summer in NMB. I am challenged to think through my day, remember the good, learned from the negative, not beat myself up, and let things go. I love Facebook's "on this day" feature, but I am so inundated with photos and text online that it is surprisingly refreshing to pull out a box of index cards and a pen, sit and contemplate, and select one thing to remember moving forward. We remember things better when we write them down. Putting pen to paper is oddly calming. There are no auto-corrects to annoy me. There are no notifications to interrupt me mid-thought. I write purposefully in pen so I can't erase, which forces me to think before I write. Maybe a daily calendar isn't for you, but I challenge you to take out a pen and piece of paper and see what happens.
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My church is reading through the book of Proverbs together in May -- one Proverb a day -- as part of a series on dealing with the "Crazy Makers" in our lives. We all have difficult people to deal with -- but we can only control ourselves and our actions when we interact with them. It's been a very convicting sermon series!
Proverbs is full of wisdom, which is something I desperately need in dealing with Crazy Makers. It's May 3 today, and as I read Proverbs 3, verse 27 jumped off the page: "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it." That reminds me of a verse someone shared with me recently, which has been rolling around in my head for weeks: "So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up." - Galatians 6:9 nlt Doing good is hard. And when the person we're trying to do good to doesn't respond the way we think they should, continuing to do good can be even more difficult. I like the wording in the amplified version of that verse: "Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good..." Are you weary from continuing to extend grace to a friend, when they seem to be oblivious? Are you discouraged when you continue to show loving care and concern for someone and they don't respond in the way you want them to? I am. As I thought about this verse today, I looked up the context surrounding it. The verse comes at the end of a passage that has the title "Bear One Another's Burdens" -- so you can guess what else Paul was writing about in that section of scripture. He talks about restoring someone when they are in sin, gently and humbly, as the nlt describes. It encourages us to carry one another’s burdens in love. Why should I care about someone else so much that I would "bear their burden"? The nlt reminds us: if you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (If you have not read the Bible in the NLT version, I recommend doing so -- it helps me look at things in a new perspective, and gives me a kick in the pants when I need it). The reminder to avoid comparison is even in there: "...You won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct." The end of the passage from Galatians reminds us we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up doing good. I'm not sure what that looks like, but it's a good thing to work towards. But trying to do that on our own is futile. I can't will myself to love people more or love them better. I want others to recognize the good I'm showing them and I want them to respond with good towards me. at the end of verse 8, Paul sneaks in the method we can use to do good, and be successful at doing good: But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. It's only through living by the power of the Holy Spirit that we will be able to continue to do good to those "crazy makers" in our lives. |
Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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