Lauren Sparks

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Living and Learning: A One Word Update

May 20, 2022 by Lauren 28 Comments

living and learningGod is teaching me so much as I continue through Lisa Hite’s 40 Day One Word Lenten Challenge.  Yes, I know Lent is long gone, but I’m slow (in more ways than one).  Day 27’s activity was to list 22 ways you can live your One Word in 2022.  With your indulgence, I’d like to share my list in order to explain how I’ve been living and learning so far this year.  They may not all make sense to you since you aren’t inside my brain (lucky for you), but the list as a whole paints a picture.

 

Living and Learning to Rest in 2022

  1.  be more intentional about sabbathing (can sabbath be a verb?)
  2. have days I don’t produce
  3. pray more – especially when I start to worry
  4. befriend my emotions
  5. use avoidance techniques less
  6. let myself read before it’s bedtime
  7. plan more friend time
  8. call Patsy (my best friend) more
  9. have some moments of doing nothing – and be ok
  10. plan more fun – Top Golf?  another scavenger hunt?  explore trails when walking?
  11. complain less
  12. work a puzzle
  13. stay in the word
  14. read Another Gospel? to increase trust
  15. listen to music and sing more
  16. game nights
  17. watch funny things
  18. be comfy as much as possible
  19. ask for what I need
  20. continue pursuing pain relief
  21. go on house- looking drives
  22. seek out new places/ experiences

 

Here’s where I remind you that my word focus for the year is rest.  It goes hand in hand with last year’s word – trust.  Here’s what I learned about myself as I made this list.  Being unproductive is a big struggle for me.  I already knew this and yet began to see the issue differently in light of what rest means for me.  I wrestle with resting in and trusting God because I think I need to be working all the time.  Or maybe I think I need to be working all the time because I struggle with resting in God.  Whichever way, the two are tightly connected!

 

This sounds like a strange conclusion for me to draw since I only work part time 1-2 days a week.  But that’s the work I do to make money.  I also take care of a house and family, spend time studying God’s Word and writing this blog and I stay involved in my church.  I often hear the clock ticking on all the things I “need” to do.  Which is exactly where I’m getting myself in trouble.

 

More Learning

 

My second lesson from this exercise?   Play = rest to me.  Even though I’m not physically resting, time spent with family and friends laughing, playing games and trying new things rejuvenates me.  And as I’ve ruminated on this, I believe more fun and enjoyment  would decrease stress and actually increase trust in God.  You know – more abundant living.  When my life is not all work and struggle, I feel more peace.

 

Two weeks ago I shared with you a journal entry on play.  This prompt came from a book I read.  It’s totally unrelated to my One Word work.  And yet, God often speaks to me in two’s.  Probably because I don’t listen well the first time.  So I’m not sure I would have make the play to rest connection had I not already journaled about it.

 

More play would force me to stop being so productive.  If I’m not producing all of the time, I’m leaving room for God’s provision and I’m in better position to watch Him move.  And He does promise He’ll move for me.  I’m going to make some changes so I can rest in that.

 

“O Lord, You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless till they rest in You.”  – from Augustine’s Confessions

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Link Up Time

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Last week I shared a post about Mental Health Awareness month and I want to continue to be a part of the conversation by sharing Grace and Truth’s own Maree Dee’s resources on mental health.  Check out her favorites here.

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might be sharing this post, click here.

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Let’s Play

May 6, 2022 by Lauren 30 Comments

Let's playAre you wearing pants?  No, this is not the beginnings of an obscene phone call.  It’s National No Pants Day!  Are you celebrating?  I may or may not be bottomless right now, but either way, it’s okay!  Spring is in the air.  The temps are warmer and the days nicer.  Now, I’m a winter girl.  Sweatshirts and blankets and a nip in the air feed my soul.  In fact, I recently did a One Word challenge exercise describing my perfect day with my word.  I won’t bore you with all of it but it involved snow on the ground, a fuzzy blanket and a fire place in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  But I recently completed another writing exercise that had me singing about spring!  Let’s play!

 

A fellow blogger recommended Carrie Underwood’s book Find Your Path:  Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, and Get Strong with the Fit52 Life.  I have been in the fitness profession for almost as many years as I wasn’t, so I’m not really looking for someone to design an exercise program for me or put me on a diet.  But the reviewer said just reading her personal stories motivated her and I need a little motivation to put my health first these days.

 

Carrie’s love of health and fitness is inspiring, but I found her journal prompts most interesting and helpful!  The very first one had me turning over spring and summer days of my childhood.  Such a simpler time when all I needed was my imagination and the great outdoors.  Maybe my free write will bring back pleasant memories for you too!

 

Prompt:  What are your earliest memories of physical activity?  Were you into sports?  Did you like to play outside?

Answer:  When my family lived on Rita Street, I climbed trees in the yard.  I probably wasn’t more than a few feet off the ground, but it felt dangerously high!  My Papa eventually built us a tree house over the sandbox.  It was simple – it didn’t even have walls or a roof – but we felt like the luckiest kids in the world.  My sisters and I decorated it and held club meetings that required a secret password.

 

The front legs of our metal swing set came up out of the ground if we swung high enough.  It felt like the whole thing could topple over.  The perceived danger make it more fun.  When I got my swing going as high as I could, I liked to jump out while singing the theme song from “The Greatest American Hero” TV show.  “Believe it or not, I’m walking on air.  I never thought I could feel so free!  Flying away on a wing and a prayer.  Who could it be?  Believe it or no, it’s just me.”  For the 2 seconds I was in the air I moved my legs as fast as I could to mimic walking on air.  And I did feel free!

 

I loved to play in the dirt.  I liked to dig worms out of the ground almost as much as I liked to pick cicada shells off the trees and plants to collect in a bucket.  The mud pies I made in my sandbox/ pretend restaurant were the tastiest in town.  I know my mom appreciated the storage room that sat between the backyard and our house.  At the end of a day’s play, she would often step out the kitchen door and have us strip off our filthy clothes before setting foot inside.  If we had turned the water hose on in the sandbox, she might use it to hose us off as well.

 

Our little yellow house sat catty corner from the high school’s tennis courts.  My sisters and I loved to snap our metal roller skates onto our tennis shoes and skate around and around on that smooth concrete.  Our best friend Jennifer from across the street came too.  She had the pretty white traditional skates with colored pompoms on them.  We weren’t jealous, though.  Much.

 

We also invited Jennifer to play badminton or croquet in the back yard.  I’m sure the equipment came from a garage sale, but we didn’t care.  We also rode our bikes all over the neighborhood.  We often picked up more friends from other girl named streets like Joyce and Scarlett.  The developer named all the streets after his daughters.  I loved to explore and pick up speed with freedom and a breeze for wings.

 

I came to organized sports a little later than most of my friends.  My twin sister and I asked to play little league softball in the 4th grade because our friends did.  We had a learning curve to catch up to the others.  This is probably the first memory I have of competition and comparison.  Sports didn’t come easy to me but I loved being active and a team dynamic.  I would go on to try my hand at volleyball, basketball and track before graduating into the real world.

 

No matter what I did outside, the best part was running in the house to stand in front of the window air conditioning unit to cool off.  Nothing ever felt better.  I’m still convinced.  I would stand there as long as my mom would let me.  She would eventually tell us to quit hogging the AC.  We would get a drink or a snack and then head back out again.

 

All this nostalgia makes me wistful for play.  At what age do we decide it’s unnecessary?  I know I do a horrible job of incorporating it into my days.  And I’m sure I’d be a lot better for it.  My idea of play may not include worms anymore.  (If you like worms, you do you!)  But it probably would include being outside.  While it’s true I am an avid indoorsman now, I think I’d do well to shake up my routine.  Especially in the spring.

 

“Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for humor.” -Stuart Brown, MD

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

I have been journaling lately and it has been so revelatory, so Michele Morin’s post Journal Keeping as a Tactic for Self Awareness and God Awareness was so helpful to me.  I pray it will be for you too.

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

To find some great places where I might share this post, click here.

 

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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