Great Balls of Fire!

Wow.  What a day.  I'm sitting down to have quiet time and it's 7:56pm.  This is the end of day one and the big change for Lisa Chicken!  Here's putting the action toward moving forward - living differently.  I sat down this morning with the kids and my challenge was on my mind - set goals for my day.  Antony has encouraged me to be a goal setter since we were married - I always knew it was a good idea but I never implemented it.  Man, have I missed a lot of opportunity that time has presented but it all slipped me by with every passing second.  Well, can't cry over spilt milk!  The point of the matter is to make a change starting now – there’s still time to benefit from it.  And even though I want to look back and think of all the missed possibilities, I have to choose to let it go.  That’s a lesson in itself. 

Anyway, I had the boys help me make a task list – things we wanted/needed to get done today.  Jonathon started with his idea of cleaning the bedroom.  But I urged him to be more specific.  Pick up Legos, make bed, vacuum floor, put clothes away…etc.  Generalities leaves room for distraction – specifics makes way for progress.  Oh, I like that…thanks Holy Spirit.  ;)  So we got all our thoughts down – even things like “Cut Marc Alec’s finger nails”.  Then we made a time chart – and put tasks in the order we wanted to do them with play time, snack time and meal times specified.  Yes, it took some time…about 27 minutes to be exact (I’m weird about being exact with time) but like Abraham Lincoln said, If my task is to cut this tree down in 8 hours, I will sharpen my axe for 6 of those hours.  (My paraphrase).  Basically meaning preparation is key.  Taking that little bit of time to prepare for the day is key to having a successful, purposeful day.  27 minutes preparing for 10 hours of my life.  And wow, can I say this was an amazing day! 

The boys were like little worker bees.  They took out the garbage, cleaned their room, mopped the kitchen floor, did school work, played outside…and every few minutes they would check the time – making sure they were right on task!  Did we get it all done?  No.  Is there still so many other things that I could have put on that list that need doing?  Yes.  But I feel amazing!  How is that?  I worked diligently today b/c I had something to work towards – I had direction.  I feel like I accomplished things today.  I did things purposefully and what that does for me, personally, is amazing in itself.  I don’t know what it is about our minds but they are pretty amazing.  Just writing the tasks down and putting a time frame to them somehow makes me WANT to get things done – and get more done…I wanted to beat the time!  Like it was some kind of race – me against the task list and I was going to win!  And to know that I got things done that I had planned to do brings a sense of freedom.  I don’t feel bad about the pile of laundry that is sitting there waiting to be folded/put away.  B/c I know tomorrow, I can write it down and git ‘r done!  But the funny thing is that not writing it down and then not doing it makes me feel bound to the task somehow.  And it pushes me away from wanting to do it.  And it’ll sit there for a week if I don’t just write it down and say, “This is what I will accomplish today”.  I’ve had a load of socks that literally sat in a basket for at least a month, once…and I’m being conservative on that figure! 

 I challenge you to live just one day with specific, clear, attainable, written-out goals and a time line to go with it and just tell me what you felt about that day's outcome.  So, in a nutshell – “Goals, are good, Goals are great, plan ahead – it will set you straight!” 

P.S.  Did you wonder why my journal entry is called Great Balls of Fire?  Well, my melting butter became a huge flame in my kitchen today…that one was definitely not on the task list!  What a day, indeed!

The Muscle Man

There's this guy.  A weightlifting dude.  He's the one everyone notices in the gym, mainly because he does those loud breathing noises with each flex of his muscles.  Then after each rep he hikes up his shorts to expose his muscley leg so he can do his pose for the wall mirror.  And I'm the one who just can't help but stare.  I've always been a people watcher.  I love staring at people, much to Antony's dismay.  I like to put myself in their shoes, I wonder what their life must be like, how they must think and feel.  Anyway, back to the muscle man.  Although he made the show of being a pro, I found it odd that he didn't look super fit, in my humble opionion.  I'm far from being Mrs. Olympia, but his tubby belly just doesn't make the cut.  Antony wanted to ask him for his expert advice and I said, "Why go to someone who says he knows all this stuff but doesn't have the body to show for it?  If I'm going to a trainer, I want to go to a trainer that actually looks fit."  Like at the makeup counter - do you go for a makeover to the girl who is all made up or the girl who doesn't have any make-up on and really needs it?  I want to buy from someone who's knows what they are talking about and can prove it with results.  It made me think, what are things in my life that I say I know -  principles and truths that I believe and have seen work, but I don't put into action on a consistent basis?  Ow.  I've heard the time management principles and about writing out my tasks and appointments in a daytimer type thing. I know it works, but I've never flexed those muscles before and therefore I don't see the results of a trim schedule.  So, I think it's time to get this work out in my daily routine.  In your own life, what are some principles that you know work but aren't putting into action?  Think it over - God will show us the things that we can begin to walk out to ensure we are as fit as can be!

One Clean Counter Top

 So have you ever just cleaned one section of your kitchen counter top and just lingered there - staring at it, observing it's lovely cleanliness and wishing the rest of your house could be that clean, or at least just the rest of your kitchen?  I've been there, many times.  Am there still - right now at 8:06pm.  My feet feel like they're burning.  I don't want to look around the rest of the kitchen b/c the mess that is waiting to be cleaned is so far from looking like my lovely countertop that it's depressing.  Well, maybe not depressing, discouraging is more like it.  But every time I come to this point - which is often, with 4 precious children to look after - I say, "Lord, help me.  Holy Spirit I need your strength.  Thank you for your grace.  Lisa, just focus on one thing at a time".  I tell myself that.  Somehow it helps - I look at one small chunk at a time: one more counter, one more dish, one more chunk of dried dill potato on the dining room chandelier to flake off.  Okay, so it's not a chandelier, but food somehow makes it's way up on our speckled light fixture.  And I take the first step...I make a move...I put action to my prayer and self-exhortation...and then suddenly things are looking up.  And then a short time later, the kitchen is clean, relatively speaking.  My "definition of "clean" and my husband's definition of "clean" don't exactly match - and this is not a diss to him...he does a better job than I do!  But focusing on one small thing at a time works in every area of our lives.  There's so much I want to do and excel at, negative life habits that I am daily molding into positive ones - but if I look at all of it at once, the task becomes daunting.  If my eyes magnify everything that needs "cleaning and fixing up" in my life - it becomes overwhelming, discouraging.  So, I look at one small thing at a time and ask God for His help.  "...where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth..."  If he can make heaven and earth then he can undoubtedly help me clean my countertops.

"I am a Ballerina!"

We just celebrated Keziah's 3rd birthday.  She got a new dress from Grandee in England (why do the styles there seem so much cuter than here?)  She immediately donned her newest addtition to her wardrobe and proceeded to twirl and show it off.  "You look like a ballerina!"  I proclaimed.  She very definitely replied, "I AM a ballerina!"  It immediately got me thinking.  How do I see myself?  Do we define ourselves by what we look like?  I don't necessarily mean the outward appearance and the clothes we wear (though that could be a big one for us), but more like what we do - our daily habits, our weaknesses and strengths, our good, bad and ugly.  If we are in Christ we are new.  We are forgiven and righteous through Christ.  So, even though our tutus may not always be on straight, who we are in Christ never changes.  Check out Jospeh Prince Ministries to get a full-on revelation of what it means to be in Christ.  My whole perspective has changed through his foundational teaching.  I guarantee you'll be dancing like never before!
http://josephprince.org/
P.S.  No, this is not a paid ad.  ;)

Close Your Eyes and Dream Again

Well, this is it.  I am finally turning over a new leaf.  Today is my day of change.  The day that I finally made the decision that I was going to move forward in reaching my dreams.  So it starts with this.  I have said I wanted to journal for so long and I'm finally doing what I said I "wanted" to do.  I am finally starting my journaling.  Techincally this is called blogging, but it's my blog and I want to see it as journaling.  When I hear "journal" I think notebook and pen but I think typing is a bit more time-freeing.  When I write, I start out with the intention of making it look so nice by using my best handwriting but then I can't write fast enough to keep up with my mind so it turns into chicken scratch.  Thankfully not literally as I don't have any nails and even if I did, I'd still use a pen. I just read that to my husband and giggled out loud.  Well, I thought it was cute.

So, my journaling.  Why have I not done something that I've heard is so beneficial?  What was I so afraid of?  If I say that I know journaling "works" (is good for me) but don't do it, then I don't truly have the revelation and I won't see it the benefits operating in my life.  But this happens all across the board for us.  What is the thing behind us not doing what we know is good for us?  Fear, maybe.  A fear that if I step out and try this thing that has worked for so many, that somehow it won't work for me.  Fear of failure.  Fear of the unknown.  That maybe I wouldn't "do" it right.  And who is setting the standard, anyway?  It's amazing what fear will do to stop us from moving forward.  Stop us from doing something that will take me out of my normal day to day and thrust me into something new, something potentially great.  And when we finally just do it, we see how the fear was like a deadbolt - locking us out of walking through the door to our dreams.

 

I guess I should start from the beginning...there's no right or wrong way to journal.  It's mine - I can do what i want with it.  So, basically right at the end of 2009, I started to feel an urgency.  Just a realization that I was getting older...that time was ticking by and that if I was going to do the things I said I've always wanted to do, then I'd better get started b/c otherwise I'd miss the chance.  I'd always thought about writing a book as a child.  I even started one - on discipline, from a child's perspective.  My parents were supportive but wihtout the right guidance I never finished.  So, with this urgency and the help of a good friend, I started on a journey toward greatness.  I know that there's the potential for greatness in each person - it's only a matter of developing it, working it, channeling it so that it comes out.  Anyway, I did start my book but again the lack of guidance or maybe my lack of real direction stopped things.  I'm sure the addition of another baby to the family was part of it, as well.  So, that little precious baby is now 6 months old and about a month ago I started feeling funny.  Not pregnant funny, or sick funny, but that funny that you just don't quite know how to pinpoint.  Something deep inside your soul that niggles at you but you don't know what it is, which only adds to the funny-ness.  Well, that urgency I felt almost one year earlier was now a deeper urgency.  I have just felt like time is zooming by.  I'm going to be 30 soon...my days are slipping by and with what to show for it?  Hours spent on Facebook or watching some show on TV or the laest chick flick, all of which adds not one ounce of value to my life.  I just felt like I was being sucked into wasting time...again.  But I was feeling like I needed direction.  Just a bit of guidance from someone who was living outside the mediocre realm.  Wow.  I wonder how many people out there are seeking someone who could give them just a little guidance.  Someone who can give them a little help to nudge them in the right direction.  Someone who can ask them those really good questions that helps them see what they haven't been able to on their own, to help them see what they are naturally good at and have a natural knack for and then show them what they could do with that gift.  There's got to be more people out there than just me.  I'm sure it's more like a pandemic.  I'm sure that at the root of so many people's lack of drive and frustration is the fact that they just don't know what they're meant to do.  Like there's something out there...something more...something potentially great that they just can't quite put their finger on.  And thinking about it becomes scary or simply adds to the frustration so it's thought best to be left alone.  Well, I was needing someone to help point me in the right direction with a nice little push to get me rolling.  Anyway, I just trusted that God would show me and open up doors to get me to hear what I needed to hear that would trigger the change.  Sure enough, I went to an amazing women's event which I'd venture to say was the best one I'd ever attended.  One that I got something helpful out of.  Something that would change me forever.  At the end of the event, I still wasn't exactly sure what my place was but I knew that it was a marked day.  And a time I'd remember as the day that things shifted in my life and where I started to truly pursue my dreams.  I went to see the same speaker at another church that same weekend.  This time I'm glad I was on Facebook b/c that's how I found out she would be preaching in town.  I rallied up the chicks and rushed to get them fed and ready and out the door.  I was so hungry to hear more information that would not only inpsire me but that would get me going on my journey.  It's one of the pushes I needed...I knew I'd need more, but it was a step in the right direction.  After an amazing message, I came home.  Words, pictures, ideas...they just started swirling in my head and I just got more and more excited b/c I was allowing myself to dream.  For so long, up to that poing, I'd stopped myself from dreaming...and why?  Fear.  I'd close my eyes and picture something so great that I'd open my eyes to stop it b/c of fear.  I didn't think I could ever do something like that.  I didn't know if it was God or just me conjuring up those ideas...so I wouldn't allow myself to go there...but finally, I thought, "no more!"  I'm going to let my imaginatin run wild.  I started writing ideas down.  Questions started coming up inside of me and the answers revealed more possibilities.  I was so excited I called my husband.  I told him, "Babe, you've got a new wife!"  Seriously though, I'd felt like I'd finlly gotten out of a hump and that I finally could see more clearly and I could identify what it was that I wanted to do...and boy was it big - bigger than me, impossible in my own strength,  but not impossible for my great God.  So, journaling is the first thing that I'm putting in place in my life.  Just one small victory - it goes a long way.  So, here's to this day.  This is the time that I'll always remember as the day my life changed and I was alive again.  Ready to start my journey that would lead to me making my Jesus mark on this earth.