Scan the past

Today's big chore? Scanning as many binders and notes as possible, with the help of my d-i-love Rebekah. Hoping the work of two together accomplishes the work of three or more.

"Hopefully you're not like my friend, Mr. H," laughed my uncle during our phone call yesterday. "He takes out papers, lays them on the floor for sorting, tosses a few, and then puts the rest away. A few weeks later, he does it again. He's been doing that for years. It would drive me crazy!"

Oh, Uncle E, you'd be a madman in my office! Today is the day - maybe we can sort more than I imagine. Here's hoping. BTW: W found a great tool (right): the ScanSnap IX500 (Fujitsu) - it sorts single and duo-sided, sends it to my computer, and does OCR (turns it into searchable type.)

How do you tackle things that seem overwhelming to you?

Read more:
*Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Psalm 119:37 NIV

*Jesus said, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Luke 6:41 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Lord, too often we prefer issues over people, things over relationships, saving money over saving lives. We fail to acknowledge one another’s humanity, yet we personify other material things. Forgive us and help us to identify the priceless image of you in each person. Amen.

Lent Day 26: Always the same thing

I blogged 391 pages in 2008. I was astonished, scanning in the writing that amassed.

"When did I have time for that?" I asked myself. That year, I set up the first NU groups on Facebook, wrote looong gossipy alumni enews each month, and kept my private journal. I was stressed between work and courses for my doctoral studies (including 4 big papers and a few projects). I probably wrote myself out of insanity that year.

Dad prints out my blog ramblings so my mom can read it. I have posts going back to 2006 and earlier. I'm scanning them to my computer, and compiling the paper copies into categories for future publication.

I peeked at lines from the blog posts while I was sorting them. Several things are constant:

• I love change, the new thing. 
• I'm like a heat-seeking missile on a hunt for information and I delight in passing it on. 
• I enjoy connecting people to resources they need (especially if someone else feels good about sharing their abundance or knowledge.)
• I've always hated being micromanaged.
• People function best in their gifts and strengths, not their weaknesses. Demanding that someone work hardest outside their gifting creates chaos internally and organizationally.
• Secure people create realities that enrich the world, regardless of what others say. In contrast, insecure people think everything is a negative reflection on them.
• Follow your intuition! Just because someone says it can't or shouldn't be done doesn't mean they're right.

I learned a lot of other things that year, but those are a few things I'll be mulling over in the next few days.

What lessons from a few years ago have stuck with you and shaped what you do or how you think?

Read more:
*Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Psalm 16:5-8 NIV

*Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing. Psalm 92:13-14 (NKJV)

*That in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. Luke 8:15 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Creator of all that is, we pray for this remarkable, fragile planet: your gift, your creation. Today may we plant seeds of gratitude and hope so that your world will flourish for generations to come. Amen.

Lent Day 17: Scanning the past

2-3" binders (on a 6' bookshelf)
beside my dissertation files (7' high)

Technology. Sigh. Need it. Hate it.

"You're lucky," I said to W this morning. "You know that the program is not working. Most of us would just assume we're tech-idiots and tear our hair out in frustration."

The job of the day was a fresh start. I need to get rid of dozens (50+) binders of academic notes, writing projects and studies, and "maybe-some-day" papers. I planned to scan them onto the computer with the "super-easy, best-ever" scanner W picked up at the CES convention in Vegas this year.

The scan program won't install on my computer. The papers I pulled out? The binders I started moving from bookshelf to office? Stalled. W's sending feedback to the company about the program glitch, asking how to fix it. He's hopeful that he can install it tonight.

Freecycle stack: empty binders, blank notebook,
and unused ruled paper

In one pile, I've collected the unused binders, the ruled paper still in its wrapper, and a few 3-subject notebooks, handy for making notes while sitting in the tub.

This month I present one final conference session on my dissertation topic. The paper is written, published, and just needs to be read aloud. It's time to shed those hard copies of research. (Before I throw them in the garbage, I'll ask if the gal writing a paper on early Pentecostal women wants them.)

Alice Wood journal from the 1910s

I find several hundred photocopies of a missionary journal. Ah, yesssss. I promised a denominational archivist that I'd transcribe Alice Wood's diary if she sent me copies. Catherine duly sent the pages so I'm obligated. It will be nice to finish reading Alice's chicken-scratch and send that off. Alice was prolific. I'm looking at two full-time weeks of work. But when I'm done, I can trash the papers I filed two years ago.

Any of you in a similar season of shedding old skin? Is God calling you to new things?

As winter draws to a close, it's time to quit hibernating, to stretch out muscles cramped by the past so we can move into the future. How can you begin to stir and awaken for the work ahead?

Read more:
*Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. Psalm 44:26 NLT

*Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6 NLT

*I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name. Isaiah 65:1 NLT

*Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” Mark 15:39 NLT

*Christ says, “For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Luke 17:21 NLT

*[Jesus said:] There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. John 14:2–3 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Most Holy One, thank you for Jesus, your son, who showed us how to live, how to love, and how to be one with you. Thank you for your unconditional, everlasting love.

May our hearts be open today so we might recognize you in our midst. May we see you and affirm your presence with assurance and strength. Amen.Amen.