The need for change
I don't know what sets it off in me, but sometimes I feel the need to radically change certain things about my life at a moment's whim. I am one who isn't resistant to change, although the thought of it sounds better than the afterproduct sometimes (who else out there has had a regret?).
Yesterday, I was all awash with bittersweet memories of my little dog, Ariel. I was in much better shape than I was Tuesday, obviously, but I was still shedding tears at the very thought of those last few moments with her. What do I do with situations like that?
Well, I like silence. I like to sit in a quiet room, preferably near a window, and peer into God's beauty outdoors. It reminds me that I have so many blessings in my life that I should remember, and it calms me down.
I also turned to the Bible, of course, and I read the passages in Acts about how the church mended its own wounds and loved within its walls, as well as loved those on the outside enough to pull them in. (To all of my home group and other friends who are reading this, although I can't articulate it outloud right now, thanks from the bottom of my heart for all of the encouragement and kind words you've given me this week.)
Finally, I felt the gnawing need for change. Not crazy change (like going out and getting a piercing in a strange spot), but instantaneous, cosmetic change for my environment. The place where I spend 95% of my time each day, my home, was the likely victim. I got "into the mode," and pretty soon, I was a full-fledged furniture mover.
My little son helped me by holding the dust mop, and we set to work transforming our den into a new arrangement. On paper, it didn't work out. Once it was completed, I surveyed what I believed the best arrangement yet for the furniture we have in that room. More open, more inviting, less angular.
I felt renewed, rejuvinated. There are things in my life that I cannot change, and sad memories that I cannot erase. Yet there are also things which I CAN alter, and doing so is the perfect form of therapy for me.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy a couple of chapters of a book in my "new" den while Gardner naps.
What do you want to change today?
Yesterday, I was all awash with bittersweet memories of my little dog, Ariel. I was in much better shape than I was Tuesday, obviously, but I was still shedding tears at the very thought of those last few moments with her. What do I do with situations like that?
Well, I like silence. I like to sit in a quiet room, preferably near a window, and peer into God's beauty outdoors. It reminds me that I have so many blessings in my life that I should remember, and it calms me down.
I also turned to the Bible, of course, and I read the passages in Acts about how the church mended its own wounds and loved within its walls, as well as loved those on the outside enough to pull them in. (To all of my home group and other friends who are reading this, although I can't articulate it outloud right now, thanks from the bottom of my heart for all of the encouragement and kind words you've given me this week.)
Finally, I felt the gnawing need for change. Not crazy change (like going out and getting a piercing in a strange spot), but instantaneous, cosmetic change for my environment. The place where I spend 95% of my time each day, my home, was the likely victim. I got "into the mode," and pretty soon, I was a full-fledged furniture mover.
My little son helped me by holding the dust mop, and we set to work transforming our den into a new arrangement. On paper, it didn't work out. Once it was completed, I surveyed what I believed the best arrangement yet for the furniture we have in that room. More open, more inviting, less angular.
I felt renewed, rejuvinated. There are things in my life that I cannot change, and sad memories that I cannot erase. Yet there are also things which I CAN alter, and doing so is the perfect form of therapy for me.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy a couple of chapters of a book in my "new" den while Gardner naps.
What do you want to change today?
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