Crafting the call

The temperatures in Bandung this week peak at 89o (days) and swoop to 62o (nights). What's not to like?!

As we pare down clothing for a smaller closet and a new climate, I'm happy. I've experienced so many occasions in the clothes that I'm giving away. There have been birthdays, funerals, weddings, dinners, walks in the neighborhood, bike rides on the trail, and everything between. Groceries and a grandchild have leaned against them. Very few haven't been worn often: I like variety in dress.

We're looking forward to two days of instruction: our ministry network hosts a LAUNCH workshop in Snoqualmie today and tomorrow. The landscape is gorgeous nearby, but the people in the room are more precious. We're learning to gather resources for service to others.

W spoke in chapel Wednesday. Students asked how they could go to Indo: that's very cool! The missionaries have told us to recruit people, as well as our necessary finances. We believe God will use every kind of participation to bless this country. Will you be part of that effort?

Do you sense a change coming in your own life? Is God asking you to go? Is he calling your name, whispering a new job, different country, or ministry challenge into your ears? Are you willing to listen? To respond?

For us, saying "yes" means clearing away anything that doesn't belong in the new season. It's an arduous process because we've rooted ourselves deeply in our community, church, and home. It's an ambitious project because there's so much to learn and to do.

This season is also reflective and meditative. We're rethinking life, going forward without all the props we've enjoyed. God is confirming our calling. He's drawing us in through scriptures, mentors, and stories. [Our story here.]

I want to ask you again: Do you sense a change coming in your own life? Is God asking you to go? Is he calling your name, whispering a new job, different country, or ministry challenge into your ears? Are you willing to listen? To respond?

Read more:
*Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. Joel 2:23 ESV

*God says, "I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily." Hosea 14:5 NLT

*Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. Luke 12:27 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Providing God, grant us the faith to trust in you providence. If you care for the simplest parts of creation, how much more do you care for us whom you created in your own image? May we cease to worry and put our trust in you. Amen.

The quiet wait

Have you ever had to wait? You know something is changing. You're not able to read the outcome of what's coming. You hope it will be good, but the past is still with you - and you're not sure you're going to be able to negotiate the future.

The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter has become an annual day of reflection. Today I look out my office window at a forest of bare branches among the evergreens. Inside those trunks, life starts to stir. The cool nights and warming days trigger sap to move and buds to swell and open.

A few plants are early adapters. The Japanese maples have begun to unfurl; the witch hazel is setting out leaves after dropping its blooms; the sword fern fiddles are peeking out of last year's growth. But the big oaks, maples, and alders? They look deader than dead while their new energy accumulates.

Are you a quick sprout-er or does it take you a while to leaf out?

How do you negotiate the "between" day or days - when what's coming may not be confirmed but the past is too uncomfortable to hold onto? When you're being propelled into the future, whether by choice or circumstances?

1. Remind yourself that God knows the past, present, and future. He's able to help you into - and beyond - tomorrow. Be intentional in asking and listening for His help and counsel. For Jesus' disciples, hope had been crucified. The Messiah was dead. In contrast, God knew the glorious resurrection, the unanticipated wonder of Easter, coming in the morning!
2. Transition is a process. Give yourself grace as you explore, fail, reinvent yourself, and become more than you are today. Like the disciples, you may huddle behind a door in fear. Or you may be like the women, doing the chores of grieving to move on.
3. Let the past rest. You can't change yesterday. Resolve to move ahead with who you are and what you know. Yet don't let the limitations of the past determine the rest of your life.
4. Let the day unfold. Wait and watch. Transition is uncertain, scary, wonderful, awful, delightful, painful, healing, and many other experiences. Emphasize the emotions, actions, and attitudes that will move you forward.
5. Get a coach or mentor while you're negotiating change. Mentors show you what they've done. Coaches help you figure out what you want and how to get there. (NOTE: I have some "free" hours available for phone-coaching. Please contact me if you're interested in being coached. Your benefit: coaching. Mine: hours toward certification.) Trusted friends and family can also help you see where you are and where you're going.
6. Take steps toward the future. There are big and small steps in any change. Sometimes it means journal-ing dreams and hopes; sometimes it means making a phone call or sending an email; sometimes it means moving to another job, a new neighborhood, or another city. However, don't just blindly move. In a rafting metaphor, you have some control of the process: get your paddles and safety gear in the boat and make sure it's in good repair. Be purposeful about pointing the raft into the stream, and then let the current help get you there.
7. Evaluate whether you're moving in a good direction. Change course if you need to. Jesus' disciples spent listening to the risen Christ. The experience of Pentecost empowered them with resources and possibilities beyond their wildest imagination. If they had said, "We've never done this before. It's more comfortable not to think about what God's calling us to do," most of us (2000 years later) would never have known about Jesus.
8. The future is better than the past. God has taught you through family, friends, school, experience. What you know is important. Who you become serves and changes the world around you. Whether one or many are affected, fulfilling your destiny and following your passion is your choice. GO FOR IT!

What transitions have you negotiated? What about the new place surprised you, either in the moment or in retrospect?

Read more:
*You shall eat your bread to the full, and live securely in your land. Leviticus 26:5 NLT

*And taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. Luke 9:16-17 NLT

*Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Jesus, may we recognize you in the miracles of daily life: bread shared; a helping hand; a welcoming embrace. Feed us with your Spirit, so we will be inspired and willing to work toward your just and compassionate realm. Amen. 

Lent Day 14: Life on pause, temporarily

The same questions: "So what are you doing? You looking for work?" I've heard it dozens of times this sabbatical year. I'm always at a loss for an answer.

The last waiting season, I was in England while W finished his PhD. I took art lessons, toured Cambridge weekly with a fabulous (and free) blue guide, wrote, and rested. I'm similarly engaged this time around, compounded by work with/for other people. Last week I edited 4 articles for others. This week I helped 2 speakers pull together public talks. I've met with 6 people (but it's only Thursday morning.) This pause is productive: I'm helping others though it feels like my career and interests are paused. I bought an art notebook. I've written blogs, my Lenten discipline.

Real Simple Daily Thought here.

Friends remind me, "Don't worry. Remember the great fit that found you after the last sabbatical?" I do remember! Work that was pure pleasure, morning by morning. I couldn't wait to get there every day.

I'm not worried. I've begun to feel energy rising for the next thing. I'm not quite ready to apply for the jobs I've seen posted. The right thing hasn't come along.

Meanwhile, I'm happy. Very busy. Occasionally I feel a bit impatient, anticipating the new things ahead. (So I'm almost open, should you hear of work that's a good fit for a writer, speaker, editor, and connector. Smiles.)

Most of us will experience "seasons between." Jesus never seemed hurried or anxious about the future. He didn't rush toward the culmination of his life, that ugly cross and beautiful resurrection. He spent each day as it came, intentional about pleasing his Heavenly Father from morning to night. Why do we feel harried, rather than living one day at a time?

How can we value these pauses, when the next thing is not yet apparent?

1. Be grateful. How many people have time to reflect and choose their hours in Western society? Are most of your friends running on fumes? Thank God for the respite. He hasn't forgotten you. Maybe He's healing something inside you. Is He building something new, something not yet apparent?
2. Be prayerful. Seek God's face on these quiet days. On days when you're hunting for work. On days when you catch up on chores. On days when you have no to-do list.
3. Be intentional. Examine yourself to plan your trajectory, going forward. WHAT ARE: Your strengths. Your loves. What fills you with joy. How you best work (with others? alone?) The things in the past that made you laugh out loud. The skills you have developed over years of work and play.
4. Be mindful. How can you help those who are exhausted? My husband has the opposite schedule: every minute full, teaching, speaking, researching. I try not to load him with my ideas. How can you lighten the load for those around you? (Husbands, hint hint - how about picking up some cooking and cleaning stints for that exhausted wife? Dads, how about getting up at night to soothe the baby? Mom's actually WORKING during the day, too! Employers, relieve the burden of underlings. Coworkers, pick up a task for peers when you have a slow day?)
5. Be willing. Do what you need to do to bring in survival income. Volunteer. Help out in church and the community. Maybe the person volunteering beside you will be the link to your next opportunity.
6. Be alert. Look for opportunities coming your way. We are designed to work and enjoy it. What is on the horizon that will use your gifts, education, and experience?

Read more:

*The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2 NIV

*And David became more and more powerful, because the LORD of Heaven's Armies was with him. 1 Chronicles 11:9 NLT

*The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds. Isaiah 30:26 NLT

*We want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end. Hebrews 6:11 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Giver of light and hope, keep your children safe as we wait for the promised day of healing. May we faithfully do your will, eagerly anticipating that day when all earth will rejoice in your presence. Amen.

Time for the cure

One of five bouquets from
the January Cure

One of the most fun things I've done this year has been a January Cure. You know how it feels like time for renewal every year after the ornaments and tree are packed away?

• We typically reflect on the old year and how we lived. Were we fully engaged as humans? Did our spiritual and physical lives reflect meditation on God's word and prayer? Did we do good deeds (an old-fashioned idea) and work hard at where God has set us?
• Then we make resolutions or think about our hopes for the coming year. Some of us journal or keep track. Many of us forget our dreams as soon as the routines crank up to full speed.

I found Apartment Therapy's January Cure online here. It assigns a decluttering task every day. My floors are sparkling clean after hard exertion Friday at my LEAST favorite task in the house. (It was assigned so I did it.) The assignment after that was to buy flowers. One Costco bunch was enough for five arrangements.

Today's chore is to sit in a corner of the house and look around for 10 minutes. Hey, that's the kind of job that comes easily to me! (Click here for details.)

How significant! How few of us take time to think about how accustomed we've become to our patterns of relationships, work, and play. We walk past the people looking for friendship and meaning. We zoom by a cluttered corner of our minds or ignore a heap of sins tucked in the center of our hearts. We get less and less fit as we consume heaped plates of food three times a day.

Sitting and looking around is a good practice. I'm going to try for 10 minutes a day in several corners of the house this week. But more than that, I'm going to practice looking inside to see what God shines his light on. That way, I'm bound to leave behind what is spoiled and old and let Him grow the things that are reaching for Him.

What are you looking at today?

Read more:
*Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and he said to him, “What do you command your servant, my Lord?” Joshua 5:1

*Jesus said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Luke 8:2

Moravian Prayer: Holy God, as we worship you today, give us wisdom and understanding about your intention for us and courage to fulfill your commands in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you!

It's almost the last day of 2012. I want to say a special "Thank you!" to faithful readers of Peacefulones. I'm especially grateful for:

• comments that inspire and teach readers and me, whether sent privately or via the blog
• feedback on what helps or inspires you
• your prayers for requests mentioned in the blog
• sharing your story with me - everyone is intertwined in God's Story

I love writing and would write even without readers. But having you on the other end has made me a better writer. I'm so thankful for you.

Wishing you a final day of reflection on the past year and a wonderful New Year in 2013. If you have a tradition of looking back or making resolutions, we'd love to hear about it.

God is good!