Gratituesday - The Women Who Have Gone Before Me

I'm reading a great book this week, Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina. It reminded me again of how grateful I am for the women who have gone before me in leadership and specifically in leadership in the church. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have the opportunities I have today to use my gifts and strengths to serve on staff in the arts at a church.

Leading in arts in the church can often feel like a boys club. I've been at conferences and in meetings where I'm the only one wearing heels around the table. And while it can be awkward, God has put me there at that time for a reason. There is something specific that I have had to offer to the situation that was unique to me including the fact that I am a lady.

So, the next time you find yourself in one of those situations be confident in all that God has created in you including all of the wonderful qualities and attributes that come with being who you are as a daughter of God.

By the way, another great book in this vein is Gifted to Lead by Nancy Beach. I gained a lot of insight and confidence in my role by reading this. If you are a lady in any leadership position you would be doing yourself a favor to read these books.

[image by Thomas Hawk]

Gratituesday - Healing

I was reminded today of the first time my oldest son got a really bad cut on his forehead. At the time that it happened I remember feeling devastated at how his formerly perfect face now had this ugly gash in it.

Of course he was still perfect to me, but now had this terrible wound that was the first thing your eye was drawn to when you looked at him. I didn't want anyone looking at my son and thinking of him as anything other than perfect.

OK, so that is the raw, very proud reaction of an adoring mom.

It's almost a year later now. The horrid gash that was so difficult to look at is now almost non-existent.

The reality is that there are so many ways we all get wounded or sick in life.

Today I am so thankful for healing.

God has an amazing way of, so often, bringing us through the wound or illness and giving us complete healing on the other side.

Healing and a little wisdom that will help keep us from a similar wound again.

[image by bluewinx15(busy)]

Gratituesday - Nothing profound, just life

Today, what am I most grateful for?

A family where I belong and am loved wildly.
Enough friends that I have to book coffees and dinners three weeks out.
A home that is so big that even my car has a room in it.
Enough clothes to want to complain about the amount of laundry I do.
Two freezers that are full of food.
Appliances that really are the ones who wash the dishes, laundry and cook the meals.
A phone that does everything short of cooking for me.
A laptop that gives me instant access to just about anything I could imagine including friends and family miles away.
A job that is fun, challenging and flexible.


Today I am grateful for the incredibly over-privileged life I live.

[image by John Wardell]

Gratituesday - a lesson in letting go

What you may know about me is that I'm a control freak. Of course, the first half of the battle is admitting our problems, right?

What you may not know about me is that I'm a biker chic. Not your ordinary biker chic, but I am one none-the-less.

It had been a long while since I had had the opportunity to get away on the bike with my favorite biker guy and just ride. We got a chance to do just that this past Sunday.

I was flooded with reminders of why I love it so much.

First, when you're out on the bike it's just us and the bike and the road. No distractions. None of the normally multiple things I carry with me everywhere I go - no purse, laptop bag, daytimer. (OK, so I take my phone... there might be an emergency! And, this is a "lesson in letting go." I've obviously not arrived fully.)

Second, it gives me space to rest my mind, think and pray. I usually sit back and have a chance to just be - no responsibilities other than leaning left or right at the appropriate times.

But the one thing I love most about being out on the bike is what God teaches me about faith and trust as we ride.

The area we live in is definitely not biker friendly in my opinion. Traffic is crazy and crowded and fast. But as I sit on the back of the bike and we take off I am reminded of what it feels like to truly let go and let someone else be in charge.

Rather than being filled with the anxiety and fear that fills my heart often in other situations, I can really relax knowing a couple of things.

My driver can be fully trusted. He loves me and will do everything in his power to keep us safe as we ride.

Also because he loves me he'll intentionally go out of his way to take routes that are not only safe but beautiful just for my sheer enjoyment.

While I do avail myself to as many pieces of "saftey" equipment as possible, I realize that they really offer false security. The sissy bar and my helmet will likely offer limited protection in the event of something going wrong. My only real security is in the driver keeping us out of that situation.

I do catch myself occasionally closing my eyes when the ride gets filled with complications (too much traffic, bad weather, or any other potential hazard) but when I do I know that we're still safe because again, I'm not the one who's in control.

Finally, the point of the ride is me being with the driver, my husband. It's all about us having time to be away from it all, just the two of us.

As I ride I think about those things and I think about God and the fact that all of these things and more can be said about the ride He has me on in this life. So, as I head into my new work week, I'm thankful for lessons in letting go and I'm challenging myself to take the ride this week eyes wide open and holding on tight as God takes me down the next stretch of the journey.

What lesson have you had recently in letting go?

[image by dave77459]

Gratituesday - Sabbath

If you, like me are in any form of ministry, you know that the Sabbath is a day that is to be set aside as holy.

Maybe, though, you're like me in another way and wonder a bit about this.

Those of us in full-time ministry as staff work on Sunday. It's just part of the deal.

We also tend to be workaholoics. Ministry work is not 9-5 no matter how hard you try to make it fit in a time frame. Ministry = people and people will need you (and rightly so) at times that are outside of your ministry calendar blocks.

So, how do you do it? How do you work faithfully in your ministry to a degree that allows you to put your head on your pillow at night and know that you've given it 100%? But also how do you find a Sabbath in which you can regularly, and frequently (every 7 days) rest.

I don't have the answers. I am very much wrestling with these questions in my life and ministry. Here are some thoughts that I've had in my wrestlings:

1. Truly resting my mind from my ministry and work responsibilities is one of the best things I can do to improve myself for and in my work. When I go non-stop my brain becomes a tangled mess and I'm not nearly as efficient or productive as I can be. When I come at my work rested I have more optimism, more ideas, more grace, more direction, more clarity and more love. But it's easy to forget how much this benefits my work.

2. Someone recently gave me some advice that was given to him. One day you will leave your church and you will leave it with only two things: your relationship with God and your relationship with your spouse. This was a powerful thought. It motivated me to want to invest wisely. If these are the things that remain then I want to pour into them in a huge way. So I'm working hard to be present - really fully present - when I'm spending time with God and with my husband.

3. Turning my ministry/work brain off is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've learned that there are things I can do to help me leave work at work. I have times in my day and week that I ignore my phone and laptop altogether. They're always on. They're always near by. But there are times I just tuck them away and forget them for a few hours. If there is an emergency, someone will find me. If not, I can return the call, email, tweet or comment later.

4. I've also learned that as music can be a great tool to help me focus on God or communicate a truth in a service, it can also be a great tool to remind me how much I love my family. On my drive home if you were listening in, you'd hear the songs that I love that remind me of my husband and my children. This almost always makes me want to get home faster and has a smile on my face as I walk in the door.

There is some interesting food for thought along these lines in Anne Jackson's book Mad Church Disease. If you haven't read it yet, it's a good place to start.

Recognizing the Sabbath, in all honesty, is one I get wrong more often than I get it right. But, I can tell you that when I've gotten it right I know to the core of my being why God put it in the top 5 of the Big 10.

When I get it right I am truly grateful for a God who knows my needs way better than I know my own.

So, when is your Sabbath? When was the last time you really rested?

[image by fusiasa]

Systems

This will come as no surprise to any of you who know me... I'm a systems girl. I love having a plan...no I require a plan. The lack of a plan will throw me completely off kilter. So, this Tuesday I am truly grateful for Systems.

Perhaps I take systems to too much of an extreme, but there really are some significant benefits to having systems in place:

1. It's about the goal!
Systems allow you to focus your mental attention on the what of what you're doing rather than the how. They keep you on task.

2. Order from chaos
When approaching a particular goal (e.g. a production, a web redesign, the building of a new team) the number of "to-dos" can seem and be countless and overwhelming. Creating a system makes this less intimidating and gives you clear direction on where to start.

3. Auto pilot
There will always be days when we just have "off" days. Staying on goal on an off day can be at the very least challenging. A system allows you the luxury of going on "auto pilot" and not losing speed.

In the past year I have put systems into place for service planning, marketing, and team development. They have moved my goals for my ministry much further along than before. A plan truly is a beautiful thing, as long as you work the plan.

I recognize that systems come entirely from the organized side of this Organized Artist. What do you artists think?

[image by anthony mattox]

Gratituesday - A Cheerleader, Challenger, Friend

Sunday morning we sang the song God of This City. I stood on the front row of the auditorium with tears leaking from my eyes. It is a powerful song. But for me it holds extra power because of a friend who sang it with me the first time we used it in a service.

My friend, Cheryl Khan, was a spiritual leader here at our church. She served on many teams including several within Cypress Arts.

She served as a mentor for me, she was an incredible cheerleader for our teams, our ministry and even for my leadership.

Cheryl was constantly trying, learning and excelling in new things. From studying to become and practicing as a lawyer, exposing herself to different cultures and experiences through travel, to creative endeavors such as cropping, cake decorating, acting and singing she wanted to constantly grow and constantly give back to her world around her.

She would regularly find resources that she felt would grow me as a person and as a leader and get them in my hands. She had the beautiful ability to see things as they could be and the tenacity to not settle for second best. She was not afraid to let me (or anyone) know when I was dropping the ball or not living up to my potential. She spoke the truth to me. I needed that in my life.



A year ago today Cheryl went to be with the One of whom we sang "There is no one like our God." And Sunday, as I sang those words again, I thought of her and how much I miss her on my teams, in our church but mostly in my life. I sang the words knowing that now she truly knows the full meaning of them.

So today I am very grateful for the influence Cheryl Khan was and in many ways still is in my life. I hope and pray that you too have someone who will challenge and cheerlead you. If you don't, persistently look for that person. You and your ministry will be better for it.

Gratituesday - Winter

Living in Florida I really have no concept of winter. At least not the kind of winter folks in Minnesota know. I've grown up knowing many Christmas and New Year's days on which I could wear shorts or even go to the beach.

This year, though, we've had a bit of winter.

It's really been funny in some ways. Our "winter" has consisted of several weeks at this point. During which I've been quite amused to sit back and watch all of the comments by my FL friends revolve around the bitter chill we are struggling against day in and day out and when will it end?! :)

Other than our temporary personal discomfort, I have seen some lasting effects of our winter. I noticed some of them just last week on my afternoon walk.

Plants all over my neighborhood are no longer fresh and green looking. They are instead brown and wilted and miserable looking from the effects of frost.

As I was noting this on my walk two thoughts came to me. The first?

Spring is going to ROCK this year!!! My absolute favorite season of the year is spring with its newness and life and color. I love it! And I love it even more when it follows a dark, cold winter. It makes it that much more to appreciate. So, this year, after the cold winter we've had, spring is going to be amazing!

My next thought was as I passed a particular house. (please note, I'm about to sound really snobby and judgmental so if that sort of thing offends you you might want to stop reading now.) As I began to pass this house I heard myself think - Well, they really could use this cold winter to kill off some of that overgrown jungle they have going on in their yard!

No sooner had the thought passed through my mind as I felt very convicted. I wonder, how often God could say the same of my life?

I know that it is in the winters of my soul that God is able to sort through the overgrown junk I have been holding on to and kill it off and make room for new life.

So, in my neighborhood and in my life, in a real, deep and sober way I am very grateful for winter. After winter comes spring... and this spring is going to ROCK!

[image by Ava aka GeorgiaOnMyMind]

Gratituesday - Building a new house

Today my Gratituesday is dedicated to overwhelming gratitude for the generous hearts of the people I'm surrounded by.

Last week I rolled out the challenge to help build a house and start a business for two ladies in Nakuru, Kenya and I have been amazed and humbled by the responses I have received.

I have had some folks approach me quietly and behind the scenes and simply hand me an envelope. I have had people who have personally been hit the hardest by these economic times say that they will help. And the list goes on. In fact, I'm hoping tomorrow to let you know of a huge surprise in our efforts to build this house.

I am confident that we will reach our goal of raising $305 to help Nancy and Monica start a new life. And I'm tickled with gratitude for the privilege of being a part of it.

If you'd like to get in on this chance to build a house and start a business on the other side of the world, please email me and let me know.

[image is of Nancy and her son Caleb with Molly Bail]

Gratituesday - Thanksgiving post

As I have gone through the month of November I have found myself being even more mindful of all that I have to be grateful for. Today it seemed that all sorts of random, yet important things came to mind as I thought through my gratitude. Here's a completely random and completely incomplete list.

I am so grateful for:

God Who gives me new mercies every day
Opportunities for learning and growth
my amazing husband who still makes my heart melt with just a look
Time to spend with J before she leaves for college
3 yr olds' statements like "Batman's helper is 'tiffer Robin (Christopher Robin)"
my 2 yr old saying "God bless you" five times after each cough
"tuggling" with my boys first thing in the morning
YouTube
Dave Ramsey's FPU
Gorgeous FL November weather
a nephew celebrating his first birthday
good friends and great laughs
Hot tea and honey, robitussin, advil cold and sinus
my health (in spite of the above list)
my family's health
naps
monkey bread traditions
my upcoming visit with mom
smoked turkey and sweet potato casserole
a couple of good friends who taught me the value of gratitude this year
amazing in-laws
that I feel no compulsion to shop tomorrow
Bible stories at bedtime

There were so many more things that flashed through my thoughts of gratitude today.

How about you? For what are you giving thanks today?

[image by Lawrence OP]

Gratituesday - The Journey

As we have begun November I am so thrilled to see a resurgence of gratitude all over social media! This week as I have been pondering the things for which I am grateful one thought continues to rise to the surface. I am so grateful for the journey.

Like most of us, I spent years waiting to "arrive", certain that the next event or relationship would give me the contentment I was looking for. I turned back at one point to find I had missed out on so much. That was when I began to see the value in my journey.

There are somethings that I've noticed... first, I am and will likely continue to be a goal driven person so I will often battle the need to "arrive."

Second, there are many places in my journey that the path took turns I would never have chosen for myself. But I would also not trade them for anything. Those turns are places where God was able to teach me things I probably wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Finally, I am finding that the richness in life lies in appreciating each step while I am there. And while many people ahead of me in their journey told me this "secret of life" before, this is one of those that you learn on your own in your own time.

My prayer is that I can take each next step in confidence in my Guide trusting that the turns I'm afraid of He will walk with me through and that I will continue to see the beauty and grace along each step of the path. And that is my prayer for you as well.

What are you grateful for today?

[image by kazatzka]

Gratituesday

In my world where everything is maximized, evaluated and perfection is too often attempted, I am extremely grateful for hobbies.

My hobbies are my freedom to create for the sake of creating, to try something without the pressure of needing to perfect it.

I'm all over the place with my hobbies. I love photography, home decor, bicycling, scrapbooking, cake decorating and even golf.

Actually, I took up golf awhile ago simply because of how dreadfully bad at it I am. It was thrilling just to whack away at the ball and laugh.

What a gift it is to be able to do something just for the sake of doing it.

So,what have you done lately just to do it? I'm thinking I need to dig my clubs back out and head to the driving range.

Gratituesday

I am one of the very few people I know who can say that I do for a living what I love to do.

I get to spend the working percentage of my week using my gifts and strengths to create services and communication pieces that try to communicate to others the incredible love that God has for them.

The tools of my trade are Planning Center, CCLI, my mac, YouVersion, YouTube, lots of things Adobe, a flip chart, Blogger, Excel (gotta track your budget in an arts department... at least that's what my Exec. Pastor keeps trying to tell me) and Entourage (can't think without it.)

I am constantly faced with new challenges (for the past month I've been trying to learn web maintenance using Joomla - not sure yet where that falls on my gratitude list. :) ) And, as a person who loves starting new things my job keeps me far from bored.

On top of all of that, I get to work with incredibly talented people with huge hearts for God and for the people around them. People who regularly sacrifice their time and resources to do what they also love to do - share Gods love.

And while, in today's economy, I should be grateful for my job regardless, I'm not just grateful to have any job, I'm grateful to have the one I have.

How 'bout you? What are you grateful for today?

Gratituesday

Seasons

I am not a person who gets all amped about change. But, I do get amped about new things, fresh starts. Because of that, I love the changing of seasons. Of course, living in FL, it's all that much more to get excited about because that really only happens here twice a year. We go from blistering hot to mild and lovely. That's pretty much it. But it's enough for me to take notice.

Last week we had our first "cold front" of the season. Our temps dropped to 80s during the day and high 60s at night for about 24 hours. That was just what the doctor ordered for me. I loved it. I swear the sky was blue-er the grass was greener and I was thrilled to see the first hint of a new season.

So, what about you? What are you grateful for today?

Gratituesday

This week I am extremely grateful for...

Nothing.

Not in the way you might think, though.

In the past couple of days I have had a very rare opportunity to have times in which I had nothing to do. Not that there aren't alway a million things I can be doing, but for those moments there was nothing screaming and I could give myself guilt-free permission to do nothing and just be.

So, today I am officially, very grateful for nothing. And hoping I get more of it in this very busy season.

What are you grateful for today?

Grati-thursday?

Well, it didn't take long for my "regular" Tuesday Gratitude posts to become irregular. :) But I do have much to be thankful for this week. I think, at the top of my list this week is relationship.

God has put some truly incredible people in my life. And it is so often that it is through them that I am supplied the things that He knows I need, companionship, affirmation, encouragement, fun and laughter, reality checks, challenge and a different view point.

There are tons of things that make up my corner of the world, but the most precious piece of it all is the amazing people I get to share life with. I am a better version of me because of them and for that I am truly grateful.

Gratituesday

Today, and really any day during the last 4 months of the year, a very practical thing that I am thankful for is MS Entourage. (It's the Mac version of Outlook.) It truly becomes my brain from September to December as I try to juggle more than my human brain can hold on to. So, this Tuesday, I'm very grateful for Entourage.

How 'bout you? What are you grateful for?

Gratituesday

Recently a friend of my challenged me to keep a gratitude list. This is not a new concept to a lot of people, but it was to me. And for me it has been a huge gear shift.

According to the Clifton Strengths Finder, my top strength is "Restorative."

"If you are particularly talented in Restorative, you are adept at dealing with problems. You are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it."

Cool strength... but what does it have to do with gratitude?

I'm getting there.

At times, my restorative lens allows me to see the problems around me much more easily than the things that are "right with the world." When this goes into overdrive (which is often) I can get really overwhelmed. My gratitude list changes that. It shifts my focus onto the amazing things God has made right in my world.

So at the end of the day I take out my journal and my red pen and I write as many things as I want to that I am grateful for that day. I write in red because I feel like somehow, this balances out the universe for all the critiquing, corrective things I've written in red earlier in the day. It ends the day with red being the color of things good not bad.

I want to challenge all of us to make gratitude a part of our lives on a regular basis. So, each Tuesday I'm going to host "Gratituesdays" on my blogs. And I will post some thing(s) that I am grateful for.

BUT, this will only work to help you if you participate too. So, post a comment and let me know what you are grateful for that day as well.

For me, today, I am grateful for a sense of order and not anxiety in September (a month that is usually the start of all sorts of insanity). I am grateful for an amazing husband and children. I am grateful for friends God has put in my life who challenge me in my walk with Him. OH.... and I'm extremely grateful for my new webcam and skype. :)

How about you? What are you grateful for?