Enough. Whatever that means.

At the turn of the year, I examine what's in my heart and my house. My home reflects who I am because we do most of our living here. We have people over. We sleep and eat here. And I move the furniture and chotchees around here.

Are you drowning in obligations? Cluttered by too much stuff? Stuck in place because you have too much life and too little time? I'm using three resources to examine my "ENOUGH" this year.

Here they are, offering those ready to consider what "ENOUGH" means three tools to act on that evaluation, materially and spiritually. Enjoy!

• Enough: Finding More by Living with Less by Will Davis Jr. A pastor takes a look at what it means to have "enough" and "not too much." Very engaging and a fun read. It will make you look around your home and office with fresh eyes. I hope it will also help you to engage the world in a new way.
• The January Cure by Apartment Therapy. A daily decluttering challenge that's fun to do.
• Glittering Vices by Rebecca DeYoung. A look at the grooves habits have worn in our souls and how to retrain the heart for the life God designed us for. Cool. Startling. Confrontational - in a nice and inviting way.

Hope your New Year kicked off with great gusto and anticipation, as though "God with us" invites abundant life.

Share your personal resources or goals in the comments below.

Read more:

*When the LORD brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! . . . Restore our fortunes, LORD, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest." Psalm 126 1, 4–6 [The farmers wept, parceling out seeds from what their family ate, not knowing if there would be drought that killed the seeds or rain to make it grow. They were literally "taking the food from their children" to plant next year's harvest. Ever feel that way when you invest in the future?]

*The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7

*Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

*Peter began to speak: “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34-35

Moravian Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us and loving us equally. Teach us to love one another in the same manner. In your name we pray. Amen.


* 

Full to the brim

Ever feel like exploding with possibilities? Or are you dragging your heels?

"Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed your hands have provided.


GREAT is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

That's the music track in my head this morning after a week of spiritual nourishment and physical rest. My spiritual accountability group spent three days on retreat. Then W and I relaxed for three days with dear friends -- on a boat in the middle of God's creation. This morning, I finished a 4-week "Get Unstuck Bootcamp" designed by Kim Martinez.  (I'll write more on that self-coaching system another day.) Wow. What a time of refreshing! (Thanks be to God, especially as the weather changes to Seattle autumn.)

What makes you feel "full" and ready to engage the world? For me, it's interaction with people that is paced by quiet times alone. Without friends and collaborators, I languish and circle in place. Without time by myself, I become exhausted and irritable, numb to stimulation and new ideas.

How do you refill your tank when you're weary? Here are a few observations:

1. Extroverts gather energy by being around people and introverts gather energy from time alone.

2. What you love to do aligns with at least one of your personal strengths or talents. Pay attention the next time you experience joy.

3. What you hate to do may align with a personal weakness. Do you have more choices about things you dread than you think?

• When possible, delegate the task. For this option, accept someone else's "done-well-enough." Don't micro-manage what you hand off to others.
• If YOU have to do it, emphasize parts that line up with things you love. Dislike driving to work but love to pray? Take the cause of travelers in cars next you to God -- while you sit in traffic. 
• Take a mental vacation while you work. Hate maintenance but have to change the oil on your car? Take a great book along or listen to a podcast while someone else does it. While you work, plan a reward that "rings your bells." Washing floors? Look around to see what you can redecorate or reconfigure in the room. (Decor possibilities were my pleasurable mind-escape this morning while cleaning bathroom floors.) 

4. Look around to see how people with your temperament or job cope. Copy copy copy. "There is nothing new under the sun," said the wise sage. What works for others may work for you, too.

*5. Most importantly, recognize and appreciate that The One Who Made Us is interested in developing our full potential. Whom or what has God already brought near you to help you refuel and kickstart the day or the next season?

Read more: 

*I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints—but let them not return to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Psalm 85:8-9 NIV 

*He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. Psalm 103:7–8

*I am teaching you today—yes, you—so you will trust in the LORD." Proverbs 22:19

*Declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” Isaiah 48:20

*God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by

making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 (NIV)  

Moravian Prayer: Great and loving God, you bring us redemption and reconciliation and we respond in joy to your great faithfulness. Thousand, thousand thanks to thee, dear Lord. Amen.

Earnestness

What a weird word. It looks odd on the page. "Ear nest." "Nest-ness." Ok. Stop it.

One definition of "earnest" is: a serious and intent mental state, "a proposal made in earnest"

With such thinking, we could accomplish a lot - of construction or destruction.

Today as I plow through edits of another tutorial, I'm tackling them with earnestness. I may be up to my neck in bubbles in the tub, with a scented candle burning nearby, but I'm planning an earnest effort.

What requires your undivided attention?

Read more:

*They made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart. 1 Chronicles 29:9 (NASB)

*Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. 2 Corinthians 8:7 (NASB)

Moravian Prayer: Holy Child of God, we contemplate what we will bring to you this season of birth and light. What will we offer you at the manger? Whatever gifts we bring, we will bring them with whole hearts and gratefulness beyond measure. Amen.