Month: April 2016

Go ahead – daydream!

Today I’d like to encourage you to daydream. My teachers used to scold me for it. Many if not most report cards described my tendency to gaze out the window during important lessons. ‘Crystal is always daydreaming, looking out the window when she should be concentrating on her studies.’ Truthfully it was usually the lessons that prompted my mind to wander. I could see mountains or seashores during geography class. I imagined wagons and forts or steam engines during history class. And I could hear snow crying underfoot as we read poems during English lessons. My parents seemed to understand. The first few times he read the criticism, my dad would ask what I was looking at. I’d tell him what I was imaging and what prompted the images. He’d look at the grades (they were usually pretty good) shrug, smile and sign. He never said so but I believe he did the same thing. He was a story-teller for sure. He could spin a tale that had you sitting at the edge of your seat waiting for the outcome or smiling in anticipation of the punchline! His dad was the same. I come from a long line of dramatists. The simplest words can create the most elaborate images. Proverbs 29 tells us that without visions (or revelations) people perish.  Acts 2 says the young will see visions. There are of course times when it is not appropriate to let your mind wander; while dissecting during biology or parallel parking in driver’s Ed. But I believe that exercising your imagination is just as important as a cardio workout. Go ahead – daydream. The Lord may just show you something amazing.

Should I stay or should I go?

To go has always been my choice. It’s learned behavior. My parents moved a lot. By a lot I mean that we never lived in the same place for more than two years. And then, the same place might have been in the same town but wouldn’t necessarily be in the same home. I say home because it we didn’t always live in houses. We also lived in duplexes, apartments and trailers. But no matter where we lived it was still a home. We had nothing in today’s standard of stuff. And the stuff we did have was normally used, second-hand. If something were valuable then it would be mailed to our future location, otherwise, furniture, clothes, dishes, books, games, toys, stuffed animals; would all be sold or more likely given to someone who needed them more than we did. “It’s all just stuff” my dad would say. And he was right. It wasn’t the stuff that made the home it was the hearts. My parents loved each other and my sister, brother and me. We never had any doubt of that. No matter where we lived, when you walked through the front door you might see the lack of stuff but you could feel the love. Today when given the choice to stay or to go I choose to stay. Oh going would mean more stuff – lots more. But I choose to stay for love. I’ve never stayed for love before. I left two husbands because the stuff replaced the love. It’s not an acceptable replacement. Fill your heart with love, not stuff. When you have to decide to stay or go choose the path of love, not stuff.

Universal rules.

They really are rules of the universe.There are 31 Proverbs. I try to read one each day. Today is the 21st so I read Proverbs 21. Sure enough it’s in there; there is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord. Which in today’s English means; no matter what excuse you come up with or who might try to convince you otherwise – if the Lord has put it on your heart it must be. Only you know what He tells you but it will never be something that contradicts the lessons in the Bible. Knowing His Word will make it easier to understand His urgings (those little things you can’t explain but you just know). He speaks to each of us. Don’t ignore Him or try to rationalize away those stirrings as nonsense. If you are in doubt about what He is saying read His Word. Some people (especially the young) never have a doubt. They jump in head first just knowing they are meant to do. Others (like me) look to others for acceptance and guidance. The problem there is that they haven’t heard what you’ve heard.  If you are being advised to ignore the call the Lord has put on your heart ignore that – not the call. He has a plan for your future (Jeremiah 29). Don’t let someone else’s fears or doubts guide you. Be brave, rejoice in His Voice, read His word and do what He says.

 

 

 

Pick a promise and believe.

Romans 12 informs us that God’s promises are fulfilled when we renew our minds.  Hebrews 10 says that with patience and endurance we will receive God’s rewards. John 10 assures us that God want us to have and live life in abundance.

God has given each of us some special gift. He sowed a seed of writing in me. He sowed a seed of music in my brother. What seed has He planted in you? Has a small voice spoken to you, perhaps in days past, prompting you to do something, to be something? Listen to it! Cultivate it! It only takes a little dirt and water for most seeds to grow.

You say you haven’t heard any voice, big or small. Perhaps not. Perhaps you’ve been too busy or too noisy to listen or hear of Gods promises for you. If this is the case I recommend that you choose one. The Bible is full of God’s promises to us. Pick one.

Pick one of His promises. Tell Him you are claiming that particular promise as yours. Tell Him repeatedly like a child relentlessly asking for a toy. His promises do come with stipulations and always require you to believe. Pick your promise and fulfill the required stipulations (forgive, trust, show mercy, etc.) and believe. As you do your heart and mind will be transformed and I believe you’ll see that promise fulfilled.

 

Wish with a list and it will happen!

Inspirational speakers say it all the time. Make a list of what you want, your goals if you like that term. Put the list away for a little while then pull it out again every now and then to see where you are. True heartfelt dreams should be on track or perhaps even completed.

In middle school (or junior high) our geography teacher had us make a list of our future destinations. Places we wanted to see, things we wanted to do. I made a list of world museums that I wanted to visit; The Smithsonian (NY and DC), Le Louvre, State Hermitage, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Prado National Museum, Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City), Kremlin Armory, and Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. I’ve seen them all except Cairo and I’ve come close three times and I’m not giving up yet!

Several years ago I made another list; the books I wanted to write. I’ve finally started to make progress on that list. I’ve a few dozen remaining and still – I’m not giving up yet!

I encourage you to make a list of the things you’d like to see or accomplish. Pull it out every few months to remind yourself and check your progress. It will make you smile when you realize you’ve unconsciously been moving toward them. But don’t feel bad if that’s not the case for your list. Sometimes things get in our way (Like life and making a living!). Or we simply change our minds as well as our direction.

Making a list of your dreams, wishes and goals is a very powerful procedure that works. If you can list ‘it’ then ‘it’ can happen. Try it…

 

 

What are you wearing?

Every morning my mother would inspect me before I went to school; hair combed, knee-socks on, skirt not too short. The socks were the worst! She didn’t know I would take them off as soon as I walked around the corner. She didn’t know that I had hose and make-up in my locker at school. She didn’t know that I would roll the waist of my skirt up to make it two or three inches shorter. Or maybe she did. Maybe she knew that she could only control so much. She did her best to instruct me on the importance of my appearance but maybe she knew that once I was out of her sight it was my will that took over not hers.

God does know. He instructs us constantly on our appearance. Are we wearing kindness, tolerance, love? It’s a difficult choice – choosing to love imperfections. But it’s how he made us. Each of us has something different than the other. Something we view as an imperfection either in ourselves or another.

I have two cats, brothers. One is fat and fluffy the other is skinny and scrawny. Neither is perfect but I love them because of their differences.

I’ve had some time to think about God’s penchant for our imperfections. Only with and through Him can we achieve perfection. Hard as I try, the minute I think I’ve perfected something He points out my error. Should I stop trying then? No, my trials and efforts are what builds character. And it is ALL about character, isn’t it?

You are different than me. Perhaps you have tattoos, or blue hair. Perhaps you have a PhD or speak eight languages. I choose to wear acceptance today. Not just tolerance but true acceptance that allows me to find joy in our differences. What are wearing today?

I’ve been set-up!

Announcing that you are a writer, a full time writer takes courage unless, that is, and you have nothing to lose. That’s me; nothing to lose, everything to gain.

A few years ago I thought I’d lost everything; job, apartment, car, phone, self-esteem.

Today I realize that I’ve been set-up. Set-up to write.  Today I have the freedom to be in a place where I have everything to gain.

If I still had all those things I wouldn’t have the discipline or the courage to give them up to write.

Today I possess the confidence that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do.

I wrote a dedication in Boots and Bridle to my nieces and nephews but really it was a self-reminder.

‘As you journey through life remember that each path you take is a lesson designed by God for you specifically to enhance and develop who you are to become.  Commit yourselves to His will and consider each accomplishment and each defeat part of the tutorial.’

If it’s true for them it must be true for me. And if it’s true for us then it has to be true for you, too. So please let me remind you and encourage you to trust that God has a plan, for all of us. If we believe in Him then we must believe that.

And if you believe that then you can know, confidently, that you are being set-up to do what you are meant to do.

empowering

 

If you’re a writer you should have a blog. Yes, we established that already.

The purpose of any blog is to share information. Must it be true information? Should I be exposing my true self in this blog? My stories are fiction. Fiction is great but shouldn’t a blog be based on truth?

Truth – I’m a writer, a storyteller. Whether or not you’ve read any of my books you are reading what I’ve written now – so there’s the proof. I’m a writer.

Writing daily is a privilege.  I love writing. The challenge is to have something to say that will build or restore not harm.

I’ve always understood that words have power. I’ve felt their power; to build or to break. I’ve used them; to build or to break. I’ve only recently learned that the universe feels them too. So my challenge is to employ them for the good of the universe.

We all know that two wrongs don’t make a right. This means if I want to help build and restore the harmony of the universe I can’t do it by writing about harmful and hateful things.

Artists build and restore harmony through illustrations of beauty; peaceful settings, calming colors, joyous themes. There are many mediums for art; paint, song and text.

My medium has always been speech. My father used to warn me that my mouth would get me in trouble one day. Oh that he were alive to see the truth of his prophecy today. Did he even realize he was prophesizing? Let’s have that discussion another day! But still he is responsible for my proclivity for storytelling.

When I was young (by young I mean first started talking) he would tell me jokes and then push me into the throngs of the family gathering to repeat them. I’m not sure if the roars of laughter were for the punchline or the delivery but I loved them. The idea that I could have such an effect on the people around me was and is energizing. The challenge remains; to generate positive empowering prose.

I believe my books do that. I hope this blog will, with your help, do that too.