Growing Younger

May 17, 2015May 19, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

Apparently, it’s true. At some point in life, you hit an apex of maturity and then you begin to descend the other slope. Or maybe you just learn to relax and have fun in life, no matter the activity. I think I’ll go with the latter.

Yesterday was my birthday. How old, you ask? Old enough. A number large enough that I have a hard time imaging that it applies to me. A fact which I cannot change, no matter how disconnected I feel from it.

Happy Birthday to me! I found a store in town who still had chai! #getthechaiback #starbucks #ridiculoustorunoutofchai 😊 I was at Starbucks twice in the morning. Once for breakfast with John where I discovered that our favorite store is again out of original chai! They said all the stores in town are out. They’d already been out on Tuesday and Wednesday, had it back Thursday and Friday, and were all out again! How was I supposed to use my free birthday beverage on my favorite drink on my birthday when they’re out? Sheesh. So after dropping my niece off at a class, I went to another Starbucks location. They did have some original chai…for a little while longer, anyway, so I happily ordered my free birthday chai, hung out, and did some journaling.

The early part of my afternoon was spent playing on the Wii with my son and niece. We raced on Mario Kart, ran after one another on Mario Chase, and beat up cartoon enemies in Pikmin. Good times.

We went up to fix some lunch and my niece showed me some hilarious videos she’d created using the Rewind Camera app. It plays your video backwards – your actions, your words, all of it. I shouldn’t have been eating while watching her eating chips backwards. They merge together from bits in her mouth to a full chip. It was a riot. We wrote down words to figure out how to try and say them backwards so they would sound “normal” when played back. Which, of course, they don’t, which is what makes it so funny. We laughed ourselves silly.

It’s not easy to say “Happy Birthday to me” backwards.

Last night my whole family all went out for Italian. Whole family includes Mom, Dad, my sister, her husband, their two daughters, John, the boys, and me. Ten in all. It’s one of those places where they put butcher paper on the table and hand out crayons. Naturally, that means some doodling is in order. My niece wrote the smaller Happy Bday at my place before I sat down. The rest was all me. I tore that entire section out and brought it home. I just couldn’t see leaving it there.

Afterward we came back to our house for presents and cake. And a little more laughter and fun. Then I sat down with my iPad to read all the sweet birthday greetings I received on Facebook. I was surprised by how many there were. It was a wonderful day of fun, games, laughter, family, and friends.

Video games, silly backward videos, doodling at dinner. Sounds perfectly appropriate. Right?

Neighborhood Walk

February 3, 2015January 31, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

It’s very difficult for me to take a walk and not take a camera along. In fact, on this particular morning, I was more than happy to have the camera accompany me. Having recently had snow which was melting, it made for some fantastic reflection shots. Reflection pictures are some of my very favorites.

Clouds and blue skies. Lovely combo. Decorative grasses are nice in there, too.

For whatever reason, there were a bunch of ravens flying and squawking around the neighborhood on this particular day. Shoo!

I kind of like it when the leftover flowers and weeds aren’t pulled up at the end of the season. Probably why my garden is always such a mess. Ha! These are not in my garden, however.

Me, myself, and I. Or Sony. Or something.

This picture is sort of odd to me. I don’t really know why. But it is. Well, for one thing, I don’t usually wear shoes that tie. You’d think I was two years old. But the angle of the sidewalk crack or something. Oh well. Odd isn’t a bad thing.

Welcome home. It has become obvious which side of the mat is used more. The only way to even it out would be to turn it around and welcome us out of the house. Hmmm…maybe that’s not such a bad idea. When the weather’s nice and spring has arrived.

Reminder Pain

January 23, 2015February 23, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

My neck and shoulder have been kind of jacked up the past week or so. Long story, but the bottom line is that I hurt. Quite a lot. Sadly, even my chiropractor visit yesterday doesn’t seem to be helping and usually I feel fabulous when I leave her place.

But this morning, I was thinking about people who live with chronic pain. I tried to imagine how hard it must be to have this never-ending sensation. The difficulty of trying to do many basic things. The frustration of not being able to do certain things. Any of the times I’ve had problems with something – even if it lasted for weeks – there’s eventually been relief. But I know people who never get that.

My mom was rear-ended in her Jeep a couple of years ago and it has caused her some long-lasting pain in her neck and head. Sometimes she’s doing better and other times, not so much. She’s tried a variety of treatments. Today she is going for some acupuncture, as she’s hurting quite a bit.

Another friend posted on Facebook, asking for prayer as she was getting an injection for her neck problems. There are countless others I know with issues, too.

It occurred to me that maybe I have this pain right now so that I can be mindful of praying for my mom and my friend, as well as others. Maybe God has allowed it as a reminder, knowing my forgetfulness.

So when the pain gets my attention, instead of whining and complaining, I’ll pray. For my mom, my friends, and for me. And I’ll continue to do all the things I know to alleviate my own pain.

The Long Way Around

January 20, 2015January 21, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

***Okay, this needs a little back story, as well as some after story. I wrote this probably a year and a half ago as a devotional to share with a small group of ladies. It’s been in the back of my Bible since then and the other day, I thought I should put it here on my blog. It took me a couple of days to get it wrapped up, but tonight I finally did, and posted it. Then I went to read before going to sleep.

I’m currently reading Priscilla Shirer‘s book, “One in a Million.” I just started the second section, entitled “Deliverance.” The first chapter in that section is called, “The Long Way Home.” Lo and behold, she is talking about the EXACT SAME THING as what I wrote here. Even more interesting is that I’d never heard this particular point taught before God shared it with me for this devotional a year and a half ago. Never mind that her book was published in 2010.

Whoa!

God never ceases to blow me away with His careful weaving together of the details in my life.

I am awestruck.***

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After years of Egyptian captivity, when the Hebrews are finally freed from Pharaoh, “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.'” (Exodus 13:17) Instead, God took them the long way around.

How often do I long for short cuts? Yet, the Lord knows the danger they can pose. For the Hebrews, He knew they might freak out and go back to Egypt when obstacles arose. But am I any different? Isn’t it common for us as humans to look at difficult circumstances and become fearful? What do we do with those fears? I think many of us look for a place to retreat. At that point, it’s not always about our sanctification, growing in faith or closer to the Lord. It’s about comfort. But in order to keep us from fleeing in fear, God will sometimes lead us the long way around.

This reminds me of a sort of humorous issue I used to have with a particular intersection in town. There were two left turn lanes and people would very often be in the left of the two lanes and then jump over into the right lane once they were through the intersection (or as they went through it), cutting people off in the process, so they could make an immediate right turn. I would go in the correct lane to make that right turn like I was supposed to. I would pray and try to be patient and calm, but I couldn’t do it. I could never get through the intersection without becoming angry, critical, and controlling. Since I wasn’t able to handle that, God made me go the long way around. It will always be better to take the long way than to fall – or leap – into sin.

When the Hebrews reached the Red Sea, their perspective was probably that they were trapped; cornered by the Egyptian army. So what do they do? They complain against Moses, and ultimately against God. Notice Moses’ response:

“And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.'” Exodus 14:13-14

First he encourages them to not be afraid. Fear completely thwarts our ability to think clearly and rationally. Then he exhorts them to stand still. Naturally, that’s the last thing we want to do when we’re afraid. Usually, we’d rather run. In the opposite direction. They had no choice, though. There was nowhere for them to flee. Then he tells them to see. Fear can cause us to shut our eyes – tightly. How in the world can we deal with a threat, or decide what to do, when we can’t see? But that’s not what God wants them to see anyway. He wants them to see the “salvation of the Lord that He will accomplish for you today“. Not salvation that comes from anywhere else, but from God almighty. And notice that He’s the one to accomplish it. Not with their help. Not with anything or anyone else. It’s God and God alone.

Additionally, look at the incredible miracle that God performed in taking them via the Red Sea. They may not have seen the hand of God in such a way had they taken another route. God’s detours can bring amazing, faith-building miracles. And this has been recorded for all of history to be shared with a multitude of generations.

The beautiful ending to this is recounted in Exodus 14:31 – “Thus Israel saw (seeing the right thing) the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord (the right kind of fear), and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.” The long way around may have seemed harder, but ultimately, it grew their faith and trust in God, and in Exodus 15, you can read their song of praise to Him.

So if you feel like your current path is longer than it should be, rest and trust in the Lord, knowing that He has you in His sights all the way. He hasn’t forsaken you, but He has something for you that will be worth it.

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***And now, another edit to this post. I shared this whole story with John this morning and my amazement at the way God wove these two pieces of the story together. Then he got excited as he pulled up his morning devotional from Alistair Begg, entitled “The Joy of Safety” It actually picks up where I left off, with the song of praise to God in Exodus 15. As ever, God continues the story.

My Hair

January 3, 2015January 14, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

Warning: We’re wading into the shallow end today. Read at your own risk.

My hair, my hair. I know I’m not the only one, but I am sure fickle about my hair. When it’s short, I wish it were longer. When it’s long, I wish it were shorter. When it’s fluffy, I want it less so. And so on. My likes and dislikes of it are fairly extreme. The weird thing is that the days I think it looks great, no one compliments me. But on days when someone does compliment me, it’s when I thought it was kind of meh. So either everyone else is delusional or I have no idea what actually looks good upon my head. As much as I wish it was the former, I’m assuming it’s the latter.

I’m not excessively vain or crazy into selfies. But I do take some shots of my hair kind of often. I think it’s because I’m trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. The weird thing is that when I look back sometimes at pictures where I thought my hair wasn’t so great, I actually like it better after the fact. Clearly, I really don’t know what I’m thinking when it comes to my hair.

But I do know this. Every time I get it cut shorter, I get complimented. When it’s longer, I never receive compliments. Recently, I’ve been trying to get the photo mess on my iPhone cleaned up. Apparently 6,100+ is too many for my 16GB phone on top of the other stuff which resides there. Go figure. Anyway, in going through the pictures, I made a little effort to look more at my hair. Good grief, this is sounding terribly narcissistic. Nevertheless, I’ve gone this far, so I may as well keep on going.

I’ve decided that I agree with the people at large. I look better with shorter hair. It’s spunkier, funner (yeah, I know), and just all around better. So I guess it’s time to lob it off once again, but this time, it’ll probably be here to stay. Well, not stay, actually.

One of the reasons I grow it out is so that I can put it up in a clip or pony tail or headband. I don’t even know why any more. I think it’s because I used to like doing that, but really, when it gets long and I do that, I get tired of having to do so, since it’s otherwise a ridiculously big mop on my head which gets in my face. Not only that, the grays seem to be encroaching on the sides of my head nearest to my face. Therefore, when I pull it up, they’re no longer hidden. I just haven’t yet made peace with them, so I keep coloring them and they keep growing in too fast, especially around my face and I have to keep hiding them. Thus, no more hair pulling up, back, or in a headband.

So as soon as the budget will allow, the fun spirals and their less spirally friends are destined for the salon floor.

And if you stuck with me this far, thank you. Now you know just how vain and shallow I can be. Mostly just about my hair, though. Plus you get to see one of my epic bedhead shots. Lucky you!

Iggy

January 1, 2015December 30, 2014 / Dianne / Leave a comment

I shared about how I discovered the Instant Gratification Monkey here. Well, the guys who created him over at Wait But Why now have a plush version of him. One which I happily received on Christmas morning.

Instant Gratification Monkey is kind of a mouthful. So I called him IG Monkey. Then Iggy.

My hope is that his presence will remind me of those times that I’m not doing what I should be and that acknowledgement will put me back on the path of what I really want to be doing. If nothing else, he’s terribly cute and soft. He also makes a great model.

Move More Eat Well Jumpstart

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 / Dianne / Leave a comment

That’s a mouth full – Move More Eat Well Jumpstart. Or MMEW, as I shall call it henceforth. Forthwith.

I’m quite hesitant to join anything new these days. It seems my commitment and discipline muscles have atrophied significantly in recent years. With this knowledge, I predetermine that I will quit or fail, so it’s really not worth the effort of signing up, joining, trying, or whatever, as it will be yet one more guilt-inducing project, plan, club, group, or whatever.

But if I continue to live my life that way, I will go nowhere. Except down a slippery slope of self-loathing. Which I really don’t need.

The other thing I’ve learned about myself is that when I DO join something, I keep it to myself. I no longer share, I don’t have any accountability, so that when I quit/fail/etc., no one else will know. In fact, maybe it never really happened in the first place, right? Yeah, not so much. Somewhere in my teflon-coated colander brain, I know. And try as I might to ignore that, it’s still there, gnawing at me and leading to the slipper slope of self-loathing. What a vicious, ugly cycle it all is.

So here is my “throw my hat into the ring, admit that I’ve signed up for something to help myself, and that I really want to make changes in my life” post. Now I just have to let people know that this blog exists. Bwahahahaha!!! (It’s another one of those “keep it to myself” deals. Clearly, I have issues.)

Time to choose better and stop letting my life slide away while following the path of least resistance.