What's Next?? What's Next??

Good Morning!
Awake early today, but not unreasonably so. Seems my body clock has adjusted to puppy time zone and to my surprise Matt(hubby) was already up and Miss Willow was already being tended too. A blissful moment as I realized this was a first.

This Saturday will be seven weeks of being a single early morning dog mom to Miss Willow. Matt's evening shifts have always left me my early a.m time to myself, for writing, pondering, reading, praying or whatever else shows up in those wee hours. Adding Willow to the mix wasn't too much of a shift except for six of those seven weeks I haven't had as much freedom to do those kinds of things fully and have been up far earlier then my past life would have allowed for.  Lol.. B.W.(before Willow), was there such a time?? :)

It felt good to lay their for a little while. I listened to the birds from a different slant around the house. The sun was shining through the bottom crack of the room darkening shade and the whirr of the mini fan near Matt's side of the bed was still going. Summer's coming.

Lying there I thought about the day ahead. The last couple of weeks we have been in garden mode, yard mode, puppy mode and the last couple of days, birthday mode with our youngest turning 24!! Twenty Four! It can't be true.. but so it is, time just kinda flies doesn't it. So, with all of those pieces in place and seemingly behind us I thought... What's next?

What's next? Mmmmm... Too many things I'm afraid sometimes. I'm getting kinda tired of "task mode" and could use a little space, some retreat time to just enjoy the fruits of our labor, watch things evolve a bit, have a little dreamy time to wonder or be creative, to read, walk or get my cruiser non gear bike on the road.. get the kayaks out... pause.

I am definitely THAT person in our relationship. THE CREATOR OF THE PAUSE. My dear Type A has no off switch and for some reason just can't seem to relax when he's home. He touts that the "work" relaxes him, but I differ in that thought. I think the task being finished relaxes his inner list, but it just never ends... To my reply... UGH!! What's next is his first, middle and last name in that department and after a while, this creative, maker, dreamer gets a little undone, cranky and resistant to anything MORE.. so I have to draw a hard line. Well, I think it's a hard line, but he just looks up, sometimes... from whatever he might be doing like hammering the nails back into the deck(insert eye roll) and states... "well if I don't do it, it'll never get done."
Mmmm.. his statement is entirely true and we both know this, but... then my reply is usually, "well, if you get hit by a bus this afternoon, will it matter? Followed by, "Let's go do something else, anything else!"

So, this did actually happen in real time today and I can attest to you now that the pause will be happening around lunch time. The motorcycle is ready to go, Willow takes a three hour nap in her crate and we will NOT be doing anything else except creating a pause before we even think or talk about, what's next!

Enjoy your day friends!! What is your go to pause? Share here in the comments below if you want or share the blog on social media with someone you think might need a little pause. Peace Always,
Denice

Be A Positive Force

Last night I gathered with a small study group that started or should I say evolved over the last six months. It's a wonderful clutch of women that share their experiences, involvement in community and spiritual journeys on a weekly basis.

I say it evolved mainly because I didn't set out on my own to host or create it, it just happened. The parts of my life that reveal themselves in this way I always try to lift to a higher power then myself and know that if it all opens up and most things just kind of click along it is divinely created and meant to be. Therefore, I try to get out of the way and just create the space needed for whatever is supposed to unfold within all of it.

Our discussion last night was prompted by a small portion of a book that we've all been reading. Beneath the topic of discussion was a noticeable concern that came up and was politically charged due to the obvious campaign circus that lie blatantly before all of us.

The first comments shared boiled down to complete discouragement, disbelief, frustration, anger, fear and helplessness. On so many levels you really couldn't resolve, guide or comfort anyone with the reality that each of us have found ourselves in. After much selective ranting and finding that we were all of the same mind we stopped. We decided not to go there and to relate somehow back to what we had been reading to what we were experiencing and thought unanimously to seek a better way and to reach for higher ground.

The book that we are reading is a parish wide small group book study by Matthew Kelly. Our pastor thought it would be a wonderful devotional and spiritual boost for our Lenten journey and provided books for everyone. The grace that came from our shared experience last night felt like one that should be shared on a bigger scale no matter what faith base you've been planted in.

Here are a few pieces of where we went with that grace.

"Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances." Thes 5 16-18

~ God is always at our side to help us make the best decisions
~What are you most grateful for today?

This stopped the fear, anger and any other entourage of thoughts to a screeching halt and gave us "pause".. Gratitude does that. Gratitude gains you the prospective to create that pause in the middle of the flurried funnel of despair that can consume us when we feel out of control. Gratitude for the simplest things and once you begin to follow that trek of thought you begin to see things with a bit more light, a shred of hope and begin to trust that this isn't up to us all by ourselves and to let go a bit.

Another piece that worked it's way in was...

"A joyful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22
~There is nothing like the joy that God wants to fill our hearts with.
~Who or what is robbing you of your joy today?

Again, this gave us hope for the journey. Another tool, another place to pause and gather up our strength and courage to not feel defeated but to feel challenged instead. Challenged to stare fear, anxiety, panic and defeat right in the eye and.... Smile! Laugh! Be Kind! Help Someone! Turn off our phones, social media, news and drama binging and sit with a real person for an hour. Sing! Dance! Be Foolish and Silly.. relax!! 

After some processing this morning and mucking about in all of the pieces that made our evening conversations passionate and lively, I came up with a few certainties to embrace in these uncertain times. Certainties that if applied daily could change your life and even others around you that you didn't even know were watching.

Be a light in the darkness. Be a positive force in the world. Remember that negative thinking empowers the problem and if we embrace joy in its truest form~ LOVE. We have all won the race.

Can I get an Amen!