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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I am technically on vacation, although blogging is not a job, and parenting doesn't really allow for breaks at this stage, so it could just be that I am having a month-long change of scenery. Posts here might be a bit fewer and farther between as I make the most of time with family and soak up the beauty of Canada's west coast :)
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
My day started unusually early this morning when Torre felt that 4:30am would be a good time to chat and play rather than go back to sleep after nursing. I checked my email while we sat in the living room and learned some sad news for our family.
Sitting in the dark living room, I held Torre and felt sad and prayed, and I was grateful for the stillness of our apartment and for the time just to sit with God. In the stillness, I thought, God is good, which surprised me because his goodness is yet to be seen in this situation. And I thought about what I have been learning lately in the Bible and in daily life, and I wondered whether those lessons still apply to a bigger problem than a sink full of dishes, whether God is the same refuge for disappointments that weigh heavier than spit-up on my favourite jeans.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I am not always a big fan of The Message Bible translation, but sometimes it gives me such a fresh perspective on scripture, and the simple language allows the truth to get right into my heart. For example, this week I read Matthew 5:13-14:
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?... Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.
It can be so easy to get bogged down and forget the greater purpose our lives are designed for, making God visible and tangible to the world. I know that I often get so wrapped up in my own concerns and struggles, I forget they are opportunities: chances for my faith to grow, examples I can look back on, obstacles I can wrestle with, and all of these things will shape me and the way that I reflect God to the people around me. To me, that is the best way to understand the meaning of being made in God's image, that my purpose is to show what God is like. Certainly on most days, reflecting God is not the first thing I think of, and my actions and reactions often fall very short of this lofty goal, but it helps me not give up when I remember that it's God's plan, not my own.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I have not managed to read my Bible very much lately, but I have been so struck by this realization since it came to me two weeks ago that I think about it nearly every day. I almost feel like I can't read anything new until my soul finishes savouring the Beatitudes in light of this new perspective. I am familiar with the Beatitudes as a challenging/confusing list of all the ways God's kingdom is upside down and backwards to what we might expect. However, as I read through Matthew, I freshly noticed the passage between Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and his teaching of the Beatitudes to his disciples (Matthew 4:23-5:2):
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,and he began to teach them.
In the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is on the fast track - he is fulfilling his mission to proclaim the arrival of God's kingdom in word and deed, and the news is spreading. He is fantastically well-received, and the intensity of people's response is hard to imagine: pained, seizing, paralyzed and possessed people from across Syria flocked to him for healing. Crowds followed him, but his response was to withdraw away from the crowd and teach his disciples (those who followed him even when there wasn't a show). He teaches them the way to obtain God's blessing, and it is pretty much the opposite of what you would strive for if you were pursuing a promotion or raise in any earthly context.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Matt and I went car shopping yesterday. BLAT is on its last legs, and we are hoping our next vehicle will be more reliable for us over the next several years. The car we test drove today was nice, but not the right price, and the sales guy was merciless in his haggling. He stood firm on the asking price despite some obvious work the car would need, so we walked away (literally - to the bus stop), but it was a good experience for us to confirm what is important in the next car we buy.
The most interesting part of the day for me was reading through the CarFax print-out that laid out the history of the car. We could see how many owners the car had, how much mileage each owner put on the car, and whether there had been any accidents or other claims (such as the car being stolen or vandalized). This car had a pretty clean record, but it got me thinking - what if people came with a printed out history? Would it make relationships easier or harder if we could know everyone's past right off the bat?
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: decluttering
Earlier this week I shared a new endeavour I've undertaken to get a better handle on my wardrobe. For the next 3 months, this is the wardrobe I'm working with:
It doesn't actually look that minimal to me, although to be fair I have bent some of the rules. Although there are in fact 33 items pictured above, I decided not to count my shoes after all - I did a decent job of decluttering my shoes a while ago, and wearing only those three pairs (one pair of runners, one pair of casual sandals, one pair of dressier sandals) will just wear out those shoes and my feet. This is not a project in pointless suffering! So since I am just getting started, I'm not going to count shoes. Having un-counted those three pairs, I added in another top, and I've been wearing a jacket that is not pictured either. True Project 333-ers include jewellery in their count, but I am not. Down the road, if I repeat this challenge, I might be a little stricter with myself, especially if the next two and a half months go as well as the last two weeks have.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: decluttering
The seed was planted when I changed my closet over from winter to summer clothes (we kind of missed spring here this year). I weeded out a few t-shirts and tank tops I hadn't worn and wouldn't miss, but ultimately my closet was more full than before I switched my wardrobe over. One option was to ask Matt to pick through his clothes and pack up his winter sweaters or dress shirts he won't wear, but these things tend to go more smoothly when he works at his own pace :)
Another option was to bear with my crammed closet until Fall comes and hope I remember what I wore or not so I know what to pack away and what to give away. Chances of that are pretty slim, however, since even if I did remember what I wore, I always have the nagging thought that "maybe next year" I'll wear the shimmery top I've been hoarding since grade 11. Maybe next year indeed.
The rich soil in which the seed was planted is the fact I am visiting my parents for a month and am totally overwhelmed at the thought of packing for that trip. The last time Matt and I were away overnight it took him three trips to bring everything down to the car. "When in doubt, pack it" doesn't work so well for air travel, and I know the more streamlined I can travel, the easier it will be.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It is my first Mother's Day to be a mother. Three months into this new role, however, it doesn't always feel real. After all, I feel like the same person inside as I was last year and the year before, but today I'm being celebrated.
Some people have asked if I'm excited for my first Mother's Day, but the fact is that it hasn't really connected for me. Reality is still settling in that I have a child, and that he will one day call me Mom. I am glad this holiday exists but not because I want extra attention or appreciation; if anything makes this Mother's Day extra special or unique, I think it's because it is the first year that I have really appreciated my own mom.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. Colossians 1:5 [The Message]
I would love if this passage described my life. Unfortunately the lines of purpose in my life are often tangled, and they do get slack, forgetful as I am of my future in heaven, at least when the going gets tough. I put my hope in a fridge full of food, or a full night's sleep, or a balanced budget, and I end up taut with anxiety or frustration when those things don't happen.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Reviews
Time management is something I’ve loved to dabble in but have never mastered. I am very good at keeping busy, but not so good at accomplishing the tasks and to-do lists that constantly whirl in my mind. Enter Tell Your Time, a short ebook that has recently reframed my relationship with the clock and the calendar!
What sets this book apart from other time-management books and articles is that it doesn’t tell you how to fit everything into your schedule – in fact, if you follow the system in this book you might end up doing less than what you started with. The author, Amy Lynn Andrews, has a very realistic approach that I love – there are only so many hours in the day, and they are a God-given limit on what we can accomplish. The trick is figuring out how to use those hours in the best way, to be productive without ending up burnt out or dabbling aimlessly in many things without accomplishing our most important goals.
Tell Your Time outlines four basic steps to building a schedule that works, and even though I decided not to create a schedule in the end, I found it really helpful to go through these steps on a personal level, outlining my values and goals, and plotting out ways to achieve those goals.