SAVOR - Creativity

A couple weeks ago I was able to carve out some crafting time. It is something I would love to do more often, but I feel like there are never enough hours in the week to get everything finished.

This was for the category, "Rituals" for an online class I am taking. It includes space for first-day-of-school pictures for the next three years.

This page is about the tools I use in my new profession.

This last one is a group of 12 lists:

12 characters I love

11 life essentials

Top 10 books today

9 favorite movie moments

8 favorite words

7 things I love about my everyday life

6 places to visit

5 things I do every day

4 stores I love

3 favorite pictures

2 choices I have never regretted

1 thing to know about me

I am SAVORING any creative time I am able to carve out of my schedule. 

Too Late for Lent

"Lay something down to take something up." 


This was described as the "invitation of Lent" in a recent church bulletin. Beautifully phrased. And it made me realize that I do a fair job of laying something down most years for Lent, but I rarely take something up.


The sermon was about Mary and Martha in Luke, chapter 10. If you don't know the story, Jesus is visiting the family of Mary and Martha. Martha is working her tail off, trying to have everything just right and her sister, Mary, is just sitting around listening to Jesus. Finally Martha gets fed up and asks Jesus if he is going to do something about her slacker-sister. Jesus tells Martha that Mary has made the right choice, to sit at his feet and listen and learn.


I am totally a Martha - "distracted by many tasks." There are always things I am working on and even more things that need to be done.


The sermon made me wish it was early February instead of early March. If Lent hadn't started, I think I would have approached the season differently based on the images in this sermon. I would have looked at ways to make the Mary choice, to spend time with Jesus instead of being busy and distracted with many other things.


Thankfully, it is never too late. Jesus is always available, waiting to spend time with us.

The Myers-Briggs and Book Reviews

For years I have enjoyed studying the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Individuals who complete the MBTI are given a four-letter personality type, one of sixteen possible combinations. The individual letters and their combinations communicate things about a person's personality and approach to life.


My type is ENFJ - Extraverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging. One description for this type is:  Popular and sensitive, with outstanding people skills. Externally focused, with real concern for how others think and feel. Usually dislike being alone. They see everything from the human angle, and dislike impersonal analysis. Very effective at managing people issues, and leading group discussions. Interested in serving others, and probably place the needs of others over their own needs. . [From the website Personality Page. You can read a full description of ENFJs here.]


Recently I have started to wonder if I would be a better book reviewer if I was an S - a Sensing type - rather than an N. Those with an S preference use their five senses to take in information while Ns rely on instincts and intuition. N's are all about the big picture. One activity to illustrate the difference is to put the Ns in one group and the S folks in another. Then ask the group to write down words related to "leaf." And you do this verbally. The S group will typically describe leaves - crunchy, green, stem, veins, autumn, etc. The N group's answers can be all over the map - Leif Erickson, Leif Garret, leaf in a table, etc.


I read book reviews from other bloggers and there's all this great detail. I look at mine and they are pretty short. I use a lot of the same words to describe books I like. I try to summarize the big picture and let readers discover the details on their own. 


This was illustrated recently when I finished a new book. Through the last couple chapters, my heart was racing. The author had thrown me a curve I never saw coming and it was absolutely brilliant. All the pieces were woven together perfectly.j


I finished the book right before going to bed and I couldn't get to sleep afterwards. My mind kept replaying how perfectly things came together in the story. I thought about how I wanted to talk to students about the book. I thought about how I wanted to review the book on my blog. I was thinking things like, "Amazing," "Brilliant," and "Clever!" I was thinking about characters I liked and the great "voice" of the main character. So much of what I loved was reflected in impressions and feelings that I couldn't translate into words. 


I hope I can do the story justice when it's time to post a review because this was one of the best books I've read in the last year - and I read a LOT of books! I imagine this one could be my favorite book of 2012.

SAVOR: Time and Distance

Twenty-two years ago this week, I went home for Spring Break in order to see my mother who was very sick. At the beginning of the week, the doctors told us she had maybe 6 months. I held onto that number like a lifeline, assuming I could finish the semester before having to deal with "any of this stuff." She was gone before the week was over. 


Every year in March, I think about that week so many years ago. So much happened. So many things I thought were true on Monday evaporated by Saturday.


This year, our grief over Dad is so much more fresh. March has lost some of its usual sting, and I'm thankful for that. I am thankful for the grace brought about by time and distance. I am counting on that grace to come to us once again for the losses we suffered in 2011.

Trust in the Lord

A week ago, our pastor spoke on trust, specifically trusting God.


Before the message, one of the highly-esteemed women in the congregation led the congregational prayer. Her focus was the fact that God is worthy of our trust. She even went so far as to pray, "Surprise us." That level of trust - that feeling of readiness for whatever comes - eludes me.


As I mulled over her prayer and the sermon, I realized that I am a little too raw from the last year to have the courage to pray something like "Surprise me" or to express the level of trust the pastor talked about. I recognize, acknowledge and am thankful for God's faithfulness. But I am still wary. I am not wholeheartedly ready to dive into whatever God sends my way next. I'm getting there. I'm closer than I was six months ago. These days, though, trust is a choice more than a feeling.

Monster Mac and Cheese

Over Christmas break, we were wandering through a new mall and stopped at Williams-Sonoma. There was a HUGE bottle of mac and cheese starter for $14. I have successfully made my own M&C before, but making the roux is always the hardest part, and I'm never 100% satisfied with it. While the price seemed ridiculous, I kept coming back to that jar over and over and over. Finally my husband said to just get it and try it out. A few weeks ago, I gave it a try.

It was yummy. And it held together a little better than my homemade roux. But I don't know that it was worth the extra $14. I think I'll go back to my homemade version, but might try this again for a treat some time.

SAVOR: Family Time

A couple weeks ago I was looking at this online and I thought the format would make a great "About Me" scrapbook page. So I chose my categories and worked on my answers for an afternoon. I really enjoyed the whole process.


That night at dinner, I posed one of the questions to my husband and it snowballed into a delightful evening, sitting around the dinner table, talking to one another about the things we liked - favorite characters (movie, book, TV), favorite movie moments, etc.


There was a moment in the middle of it when I realized this was it - this was the sort of thing I was talking about when I picked SAVOR to be my word for the year. This was the sort of moment that would be easy to speed through and forget. But I don't want to forget it. It was a perfect moment in time.