In the car, the kitchen and in the stair well.  These seem to be places I end up with the kids, that I fall into “quit fooling around and do it mood”.  I need to remind myself that time is short.  Kids need love and direction more then they need a clean house.

• “You can be busy and not be hurried”
• “Your kids are only this age once~enjoy it!”
• “Build them up with your words.”
• “Have you given them something to love, something to do and something to think about today?”
• “Call out what you see God doing in them.”
• “Discipline consistently in love.”
• “Take a picture~one day you will smile at this mess!”
• “Savor every moment~it is a gift”
• “You have  a beautiful life”

My days are wonderful most days but there are days that at 4:00 I loose my sanity.  I am shoring myself up for those 4:00 moments when I have lost site of the goal.  Little sign posts that will point the way and help me stay grounded in reality.

Peace to all~

Some may not be familiar with this term. I was not until a few years ago myself. I am so glad that I have been blessed with a deeper understanding of what spiritual direction is and how Christians can benefit immensely from it. It comes out of the Catholic tradition, and although I am not Catholic, there are many tools from that stream that I wholeheartedly embrace.

For some time now, I have been working on the disciplines of silence and solitude. I do not schedule as much as I need to, but I must say what I do do is revolutionary. I would say more so than most any other discipline I have ever practiced within my Christian faith. I found this quote and it really highlights the value of these.

There is something both appealing and transforming about silence and solitude. Other than Jesus Christ, perhaps the greatest men under each Covenant—Moses and Paul—were both transformed through years in virtual isolation in a remote wilderness. And there are moments in our pressure-cooker days when years of escape to some hidden place sounds wistfully compelling to the Christian spirit.

Before we had our third child, I was visiting a spiritual director at a catholic retreat center in the local area. She is a widow with 4 grown children and joined the Cenacle Sisters in order to dive into her faith more deeply. I’ve been wanting to give her a ring and set some time up with her again. Now that I am spending 90% of time with the dear kids, I need a little “spiritual direction” if you know what I mean. Just wanted to share a little of what I am processing through as it may be helpful to others.

I just finished reading “I capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith.  It was a delightful read and worth the time.  The main Character, Cassandra told the story through her journal entries.  They were the way she taught herself to write.  It was her process.  I was thinking of the earlier quote I left from Study in Brown and thinking a bit about blogging.  This is my process “live and in color”.  It helps me think out loud.  I have journaled off and on for the past 15 years and it is always interesting and amazing to go back through what I have written.  I can read something I wrote 10 years ago and almost remember what room I was sitting in the moment I wrote it.  It brings me right back to that place.  I find that very fascinating.  It is also fun to see how I have grown or changed.

So I have been wondering, can a person be really “in tune” with what is going on in their life if they are not processing it in some “creative” way.  Painting, poetry. writing, reading something thought provoking……something that expresses what is going on inside in an external form?  If it stays inside….and not processed through do we experience the depth of what could of been……or just the surface stuff?  Those are my thoughts at 5 am today.

In other news, I feel God “stirring” something in me.  I started feeling it on Monday. I am not quite sure what it is yet.  I am a feeler first. Anyone else like that?  I feel it first and then it takes me some time to get the words for it.  So I am taking note of it here.  It kind of feels like when you smell a “hint” of something in the air, that is somehow familiar and comforting.  Like someone cooking something good several houses down, and you need to stop and wait a moment for your brain to catch up and remind you of what it is and why the smell is comforting to you.  That is what it feels like.  So today, I am stopping and listening, and wondering, and mostly waiting on God.

What are you waiting on God for?