Reason # one: They seem to leave
this air of permanent absence.
Reason # two: I have always loved the quote…
“Do not cry because
it is over. Smile because it
happened”
Reason # three: Saying “see you later gator” never ceases to make me laugh
This leads me to explain the choice of our sign-off….
Why { LIVE LOVED}?
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a video by Mike
Donehey from Tenth Avenue North. It hit me hard as I realized I how much I didn’t believe or understand that [He]
loved me. I started looking back
at my reactions to situations, people and events that proved my disbelief
true. Talk about eye opening.
There is truth in the fact that knowing that Jesus lovesme changes everything.
When we live as if we truly
believed that we are deeply loved by the Creator of all things created, by
the Savior of the world, by the Lord of all, we are free. Free to be who we were created to be, free to live without
regret or plagued by guilt, without care of what others think of us, free to
just be. We are no longer pulled down by our insecurities or the lies of the
enemy. We are free to relate to others out of the depths of our heart, rather
than the surface of what we allow them to see. We are free to think good
thoughts [about ourselves, others, and God] because we know that God is a
loving God and that He loves me and the people I interact with. Living in the
knowledge that we are loved by the Father brings freedom to every area of our
lives…
so
how will it change your life if you LIVE LOVED ?
So remember when awhile back I wrote a post on being a dangerous women? [Guys, if you've gotten this far, stick around... this applies to you too- the quote is just directed at women]. Here's a reminder of the quote I was writing from:
“A dangerous woman is alive!She knows she is deeply loved by God and grounds herself daily in that love. She delves deeply into the truth about who she is and claims her unique temperament, gifts, passions and dreams. She refuses to let fear stop her as she responds to God’s calling on her life. And out of her fully alive heart, she radically engages with the needs of the world.”- Lynne Hybels
I want to explore the next aspect of living a life that is dangerous to the kingdom of darkness- knowing you are deeply loved by God and being grounded in that love.
If you think about it, this is the very same concept that I sign off with every post- live loved. So you might as well just read the post that describes why I sign off with that and be done with it. Just kidding. I'll give ya a little more.
You are deeply loved by God. You are deeply loved by God. You are deeply loved by God. I cannot say that enough, and you cannot hear it enough. So how do we root this truth so deep down into our hearts that we are grounded by it, that no earthly thing can tear it away?
Pray and ask God to open your eyes to His incomprehensible love for you. Ask Him to show you in new and big ways. Ask Him to make you aware of the little ways He loves you. Ask Him to cultivate in you a deep gratitude for His love.
Renew your mind and meditate on His Truth. Spend time in God's Word, keeping a look-out for truth about how much He loves you. What we spend time thinking on is what we start believing. If the thoughts you are thinking aren't true and don't line up with God's truth, get them out of there! Replace them with the truth you find in His Word.
Ground yourself in the truth of God's love for you DAILY. We're humans. We forget easily. Far too easily. The antidote to this is to remind ourselves often. Be asking God to open your eyes to His love daily. Meditate on the truth you find daily. Position yourself under His love daily. And maybe, just maybe His love will go so deep in you that you are grounded in it, rooted in it, like Paul talks about in Ephesians. "...that you, being rooted and grounded in love,may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3: 17-19
Editor's Note: I met Becki through the Navigators in college (how else would I have any friends?!). She is a joy and cares deeply for others. Becki is a registered nurse in Eau Claire and is currently working in oncology. She loves drinking coffee, playing Scrabble, and dancing. She hopes to be able to travel the world, meet interesting people, and become a wife and mother someday. Becki can do almost any impression of Kristen Wiig and she has seen every episode of The Office multiple times. Whether for a laugh or a good cry, she's your girl! -HB
Ministry in Nursing
When Heather asked me to be a guest blogger, she told me to write about something I’m passionate about. My first thought was, “Would anyone really read a whole blog post about how much I love coffee?” [I’m sure there would be a few interested readers.] But the thing I am really passionate about is my ministry in nursing. I say ministry in nursing because I decided a while back that I never want to view nursing as just a job that pays the bills, or as a career that runs my life, but as a ministry that God has chosen, prepared, and designed me for. While many of my fellow RNs would say that they chose nursing (for the patients, for the intellectual challenge, for the job security…), I would say that God chose nursing for me. I am thankful that in months of applying for nursing jobs and waiting, God corrected my mistaken identity. You see, for a while I thought my identity was in being a nurse. I felt like if I didn’t do what I had gone to school to do, I wasn’t living out my calling. But then I realized, I would only ever live out my calling if I understood my identity as a beloved daughter of Christ. We can choose to live in God-centered identities that pursue His mission or we can choose to live in self-centered identities that wear a “Jesus is my homeboy” t-shirt. I have been an oncology {cancer} nurse for about two months. Being a novice at anything is unsettling, but especially so when it revolves around other people’s lives. When I tell people I work with cancer patients, most people’s first response is:
“Oh, that must be so sad! Isn’t it difficult?”[To this question, I have no easy answer.
If I’m being flat out honest – yes. It is extremely difficult. But it is also extremely rewarding. One day I might be holding a patient’s hand while they cry and the next I might be singing Christmas carols with a patient who loves to sing. One day I might see someone on the edge of death and the next day I will send a patient home ready for another day of life. It is a rollercoaster of emotions and a mess of mercies. In the short amount of time I have worked as an oncology nurse, I have learned so much from my patients. One man gave me this simple advice on his 87th birthday: “Be honest. Work hard.”As a dying woman wrote her own obituary, she told me the best thing she ever did was ‘marry a good friend’. Each patient teaches me the value of life. Every person deserves dignity in life and in death. [After all, Christ died an undignified death so we might have LIFE!] They are teaching me to live a life that is worthy of the calling I have received (Ephesians 4:1). A life that brings hope, peace, and unconditional love. A difficult but eternally rewarding life. So while I know it is difficult, I would challenge you to live this kind of life. Remember who(se) you are. Allow God to show you why you’re here. And as my good friend Heather puts it, Live Loved. Becki
Last night Tenth Avenue North came to town, and although they have great music, they have even better teaching! Mike Donehey, the lead singer is basically a traveling preacher, with all his concert-goers being his church. This man speaks truth with such passion, you can't help but let it change you. He even got down into the crowd and stood on the chairs at one point [as shown below]. So naturally, at a concert, I took notes! :)
Mike challenged us to have at least one relationship in which we are getting nothing back- one relationship where we are doing all the pouring out, and there's no way the person can or will repay us. He argued that this is how others will know we are followers of Jesus... by loving with no return on our love. People will see our love and it will point them to Jesus, who first loved us. They will say 'You're not getting anything out of this exchange' and then we can say 'Yeah, I know. It's what Jesus did for me and I can't help myself.'
100% of Christian action is simply reaction.
Mike also talked a lot about the gospel- how it allows neither sniveling or swagger- "When you really believe the gospel, it robs you of your right to be miserable and it robs you of your right to think more highly of yourself than other. When we really believe God's love for us, we can't think highly of ourselves or low of ourselves... we just think of ourselves less."
Mike ended with talking about his story- how he broke his back in high school in a car accident and that's when he started to learn how to play guitar- when he was on his back for 2 months. It was so cool to hear him talk about pain and struggle and our circumstances. One line that really caught my ear was this- "the pain between the pictures." He was talking about how although he could have albums filled with hundreds of pictures of happy smiling memories, it was the events that happened between all those photographical moments that really shaped him and that he is really grateful for today- the pain between the pictures. He talked about how often we pray for the hard times to go away, for everything to be easy. But God responds- "It's not your circumstances that need to change, it's you."
I'd like to end with a few lines from their song, The Struggle:
Hallelujah We are free to struggle We're not struggling to be free Your blood bought and makes us children
So children drop your chains and sing
P.S. If you haven't read yet about how Tenth Avenue North inspired the "live loved" sign-off, you can check it out here.
“A dangerous woman
is alive!She knows she is deeply
loved by God and grounds herself daily in that love. She delves deeply into the
truth about who she is and claims her unique temperament, gifts, passions and dreams. She refuses to let fear
stop her as she responds to God’s calling on her life. And out of her fully alive
heart, she radically engages with the needs of the world.”
I L.O.V.E. this quote by Lynne Hybels! I feel like it does a super job summing up what I want for my life and for the lives of the women that I encounter on a daily basis. I love it so much that I'm going to blog about it. Not once. Not twice. But as many times as it takes me to dissect this sucker 'til there's nothing left.
So for today, we're going to take a look at the very first line: A dangerous woman is alive!
What does this mean? What does it look like for us to "live alive?" This morning I read an article over on storyline that was all about living in the present, not going numb, and choosing to be invested in all the moments of our life- the seemingly boring, hard, or painful ones included. The author talks about her friend who has gone through more than most of us will ever have to and she writes:
"She wasn’t waiting for the good part. She knows that these are the good parts, even while they’re the bad parts. She wasn’t shut down, going through the motions. She wasn’t holding tight till this season passed. She was right there with me, right there with her kids, right in all the glory and pain and mess and beauty of a spring night in between everything.That’s how I want to be. That’s who I want to be: deeply present in the present, in the mess, in the waiting, in the entirely imperfect right now."
I think that this is part of living alive. Being fully present in the mess, fully present in the boring. Not allowing our circumstances dictate whether or not we're engaged in life. Choosing to invest and feel and continue on even through the times that seem too painful to even look at.
This is what it looks like to live alive: to be so secure and safe within our Savior's arms that we can be fully present and engaged in whatever circumstances we face, whether our flesh would deem them worthy of our investment or not, safe for us to be present in or not, and exciting enough for us to be engaged or not.
I want to be a dangerous woman. I want the enemy to shudder when I wake up and the Kingdom of God to be advanced through my day. I want my life to showcase Jesus- the only one worthy of shining a spotlight on.
But for this to happen, I have to live fully alive. I can't keep choosing which moments I want to be present for and which I will just allow my brain to check out of. I can't keep going numb when hard things happen, shutting down my emotions so I don't have to feel all the things that God has put inside of me. I can't keep waiting for the next big thing to happen, just ignoring all the wonderful beautiful little things God is doing around me everyday. I have to live alive.
*This past Sunday and Monday The Navigators hosted a Sexual Health and Wholeness Conference out in Colorado. Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend in person, but I did watch a good portion of the live streaming. Ironically, the Lord has been placing quite a few young ladies in my life recently dealing with lust, sexual immorality, and the like (pornography, masturbation, same-sex attraction, etc). It seems like this happens in seasons, where God just dumps a bunch in my lap all at once, and I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it (the fact they all pop out of the woodwork at once, not the fact that they are struggling). And it just so happens that with God's perfect timing, after listening to Michael Cusick (counselor, author, speaker, and president of Restoring the Soul Ministry) talk about his story and give lots of helpful advice on how to deal with sexual addiction, I received an e-mail from one such lady, and what follows came mostly from my reply to her.
Dear child of the King,
Jesus loves you. He sees you in your deepest, darkest hour, but yet He still chooses you. He knows the worst about you, but sees the best in you. There is hope. Jesus meets you in the broken places and brings resurrection, hope,
freedom, and joy. This is the first step in a journey with many steps. You're not just changing a behavior... you're becoming a new creation! You are holy, blameless, forgiven, adopted, chosen, loved, victorious, clean, reconciled, blessed, and NEW in Christ (Check out Ephesians 1)! When you begin to see who you really are in Christ, you can begin to live the life that He has for you.
Imagine a year from now, five years from now. What do you imagine it would look like if you were whole; if you were free? What would it look like for Jesus to be using your story, your struggles, to bring healing and freedom to others?
Go deeper than the behavior when thinking about how to combat this sin. Yes, you are acting out. But WHY? Triggers and circumstances can be a good place to start, but they aren't the end goal. WHY, deep down, are you acting out these behaviors? As humans we are always asking: “How can I get to a place where it is well with my soul?” Every idol promises that it will make it well with my soul... that's really what this sin is... an idol. Satan is lying to you and telling you that it will make it well with your soul, and so you run after it. Satan wins when he can get us distracted from God by worshipping other idols. And then he wins again when he can get us to feel shame about it. But GOD WINS when we turn to Him and make Him central in our lives. He wins when we can stand naked and unashamed before Him and allow Him to sing over us, to call us beloved. He wins when we repent from worshiping idols and turn the other way- “Jesus please forgive me for worshipping that idol.” And He DOES! He forgives us the first time we ask! Beating ourselves up is offensive to God because He already beat up his son for us. So believe that you are forgiven, believe that you are loved, and start walking in the other direction!
Some questions to think, journal, and pray through:
Right now God feels _____________ toward me or with me. (Why do you think that?)
How do I feel about myself in regards to this struggle?
How's my heart? My inner being? My soul?
How am I trying to make it "well with my soul" when I am going to this behavior?
What might God be doing in me through this struggle?
What makes my heart come alive?
What do I need right now?
What are my deepest desires, and how does this behavior relate to them? Does it fulfill those desires?
What are my triggers?
What are the lies I believe when I am by myself?
To get you started- here are 4 core lies that addicts often believe-
I am basically a bad or unworthy person ( I don't measure up, I’m not good enough)
No one would love me as I am
My needs won’t be met by depending on others
______________ is my most important need (fill in blank with sin or addiction)
Remember: it's all about a relationship... and it is a spiritual war for your soul. God wants you to be wholehearted for Him and satan will do whatever he can to get you to be half-hearted.
Suit up! Since this is a war, you need to be properly protected and prepared. Go through the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18 and pray through each specific piece of armor - "Lord, I am putting on the belt of truth today. Give me the strength to believe your truth and not the lies of the enemy. Help me realize when I am given lies and protect me from believing them." etc.
Jesus specializes in redemption. His heart beats for you to be made clean and new. He yearns for you to come to Him just as you are. Run to Him. HE LOVES YOU!
"I have seen the best of you, and the worst of you, and I choose both." How we as humans long to hear another human say that to us! How we long for deep, meaningful relationships, for intimacy, for love. How we ache to be known fully and still accepted, to be truly vulnerable before another and still embraced. To be unconditionally loved.
What a gift it is be loved this way. How rare and uncommon, yet beautiful.
Unconditional love is not loving someone in spite of their flaws, mistakes, and imperfections, it's loving them in view of those flaws, mistakes, and imperfections. It's not ignoring their weaknesses and just loving their strengths, but choosing to love them- strengths, weaknesses, and all.
Unconditional love is a choice we must make as we see the light and the dark in people. It's a choice that requires us to face the darkness inside ourselves. Because really, when we see others' imperfections we are often reminded of our own. So it's easier to sweep those flaws under the rug and just keep on loving that person, pretending that whatever we've just discovered about them doesn't exist.
But that's not really loving them. That's only loving a portion of them, a version of them that doesn't line up with reality. Truly loving someone involves acknowledging their imperfections, their flaws, their weaknesses and mistakes and saying "I see you as you truly are, and I still love you. I know what you've done, but that doesn't change my love for you. I want you in my life and I want to walk this path with you."
Even as I write this I know it sounds impossible. I am overwhelmed by this kind of love we are called to show to our brothers and sisters. I wonder how I could ever get to a point where I am not constantly trying to self-protect, or numb out my own darkness, or live in a fantasy world where people don't hurt me. But I know it is possible. But not by my own strength. Not through my own energy that I conjure up. This kind of love- this unconditional love for people in view of their imperfections and flaws is possible because God showed us this same love. He showed us His never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love by sending Jesus. And Jesus showed us this unconditional love that while we were still shaking our angry, entitled fists at God He chose to switch places with us and die, crushed by the weight of our sins, while we are given a new life, if we choose to believe. And as we follow Jesus, we are called to this same love... this never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. This love that loves in view of others' imperfections, not just in spite of. 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Editor's Note: I know Caitlin Elmore from EDGE Corps... we met out in Colorado at training back in May and have definitely been "social media" friends since- inspired by each others blogs, instagrams, etc! She serves at the University of Akron. (That's in Ohio... don't worry, I had to google it too) and has something like a bajillion siblings. Caitlin blogs over at Engraved. Her blog is deep, silly, snarky, and filled with DIY, music, and life. She recently asked me to do a "10 Things I am Loving Right Now" post for her... make sure and check it out (after reading her post of course)! Without further ado, I am SO excited for you all to read this... it's a real gem! - HB
CREATED BY THE CREATOR OF BEAUTY
So when I was asked to write this I panicked a little bit. In a
good way. I just could not figure out what to write on...a lot of things make
me tick! Gold glitter, Beyonce, knitting, kittens, infinity scarves...
But in all seriousness, I feel pretty passionate about a lot of
things and I was having trouble deciding what to write this precious guest post
on. And then, I was scrolling through Hellogiggles this morning and one of the
headlines stuck out: Creating the “Perfect” Man. What? This seemed out of character
for their site. I had to know.
So I click on it and there is this hilarious picture of Viggo
Mortensen with all these photoshopped body parts and such. Ah, I’ll just show
you: here.The picture was in response to an article from Men’s Health magazine. Based on the passion stirring up in my
heart, I knew I had to write about this.
I am about to tell you a dumb story about high school. It’s 2005 and I am 15 years old. Every
year in marching band we would have silly awards for our class. That year I won
“Best Butt”... which some of the guys in my class took as an open door to make
comments. They never said anything
mean... they were honestly trying to flatter me. But I was 15, growing into a
new body, and very uncomfortable with the attention my body was getting. I was
born into a family of women with child-bearing hips. I am what magazines called
“Pear shaped.” When puberty hit and things started changing, I noticed, but now
I knew that other people did too.
I was also a dancer at the time which meant that I was in a
leotard and tights three to four days a week. Standing in front of a giant
mirror. With ten other girls and their unique body types. It was then that I became an active
player of what I like to call “The Comparison Game.” And now, with the comments
the guys were making at school, all I could look at during ballet class was my
giant butt (I wore a 4...) and how wrong my body was.
This is not the first time I struggled with body image. And this
was definitely not the first thing to put the idea in my head that I had to
look a certain way, but it’s a very vivid, awkward, and sometimes painful
reminder that like most women, this is a deep issue in my heart that goes way
back.
Honestly, I can’t handle that Men’s Health article. And I really
can’t handle the picture that accompanied it. But I will say, I was encouraged
to see comments from men saying the article was inappropriate, offensive to
women, and offensive to MEN. So kudos guys. You rock.
Who has seen the Dove beauty campaign ads? While the campaign
itself could be controversial based on conflicting messages from Dove and their
media team, I do really enjoy the ads. This one in particular:
Ok so the “he” in the video is this young man who apparently has
a crush on Amy. But what if Amy is us (because she is, isn’t she? Quick: name
twelve things wrong with your appearance.) and “he” is God.
So, I’m not going to talk about how we need to show more “average
girls” on tv or how “curvy is beautiful.” Yeah those things are true, BUT if I
am going to claim to be a daughter of the King, then I am not going to tell you
that you are beautiful because you have “real” curves, but because YOU ARE ALSO
A DAUGHTER (or son) OF THE KING. We are beautiful because we were created,
beautifully and wonderfully, by the creator
of beauty.
To our Father’s sorrow, we chose to redefine beauty. And we’ve
kind of gotten to a point where those redrawn definitions of beauty and
perfection are just accepted, even among Christian women.
I would look better if I
lost 10 pounds. My skin is too white. I have cellulite on my thighs. My hair
doesn’t ever look right.These are all lies. And they aren’t limited to appearance. I am too loud. I am too quiet. No one thinks
I’m funny. No one wants to be around me. If I were just more gentle. If I were
just more bold.
Stop. Breathe.
What does God say?
“All beautiful you are, my
darling; there is no flaw in you.” - Song of Songs 4:7
“The king is enthralled by
your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord.” - Psalm 45:11
“He has made everything
beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they
cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” - Ecclesiastes 3:11
“God saw all that He had
made, and it was very good.” - Genesis 1:31
Honestly, this is just scratching the surface of why we are
perfect in Christ. We are beautiful (men and women included) and we are worth
SO MUCH MORE than society has led us to believe.
Because I believe strongly in applications, I will leave you with
a list of things that you can do to start to reverse the effects lies about
beauty have had on your heart.
Stop filling your mind
with junk. You be the judge of what is “junk” and what is harmful for your
heart, but here are some quick examples. Beauty and women’s interest magazines,
music videos, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, The Bachelor, A LOT of
movies. I am not saying that you are bad for watching movies and tv shows, but
if you are really struggling and want to be really serious about focusing your
heart on truth, get rid of the junk that feeds the lies.
Fight with truth. Write down every lie
you are believing and everything that is “wrong” with you. Now get out your
Bible and do some serious reading (and some serious praying). For every lie your
wrote down, find a truth that proves it wrong.
Take care of yourself. I don’t mean
counting calories, and dieting and exercising excessively. I mean finding
clothing that is modest and makes you feel beautiful in the right way. Also, staying active in any
capacity that will give you energy, keep you healthy, and give you a more positive
outlook.
Find a network of encouragement. Are
you interacting with a group of people who tear you down or build you up in
things other than truth? Get out of there. Solid Christian community will build
you up in the right ways. Also, seek accountability. Find a woman (or if you
are a man, a man) who you can tell everything to and (this is key) who will
speak to you truthfully.
Incorporate some cheesiness into your life.
Leave a love letter from God next to your mirror. Let Scripture remind you who
you really are in Christ.
Most
importantly, spend time with your Father.
Who better to remind you of your worth than the one who deemed you worthy
enough to come into existence? Focus on your identity in Christ. Focus on what
is true and good.
You guys, we are beautiful. We are so beautiful. God calls us
lovely. He calls us his beloved. He did not intend for us to operate out of
these lies of unworthiness. “Finally,
brothers [and sisters] whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable –if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8
I wish I had pages and pages to talk further on this issue. This
post doesn’t even begin to go deep enough, but I hope it was at least an
encouragement to you. You are in no way alone in your struggle with body and
self image.
I will leave you with this song. What a powerful message of
truth!
Live Loved (because that’s what they say here and I think it’s
super awesome),
This is the last line of a Mumford and Sons song. And I find it so beautiful. This is how I want to love... with urgency, but not with haste.
I want people to know the Love of the Father, because it's the most important love they'll know. And it's urgent that they know it. I want to show it gently, and with passion. Quietly, and with shouts. Humbly, and as the only thing I can boast about.
I want to fill myself with this Love. Soak it in, drink it up, live in it. I want to depend on this Love more than any other love... any human love.
This Love. It's real. It's tender and fierce. It's the Love of a Father giving up His only son for us. For ME. It's a Love that was displayed for all mankind with urgency, but not with haste.
“For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." --John 3:16-17
Happy New Year! What better way to ring in a new year than by creating some new goals?? [Well... besides celebrating with family and loved ones, of course.] Here are 14 goals I have for the year of 2014... if they happen-- they happen, if not-- nobody's the wiser (besides all of you lovely people). So maybe these are more hopes and dreams rather than goals. I'm hoping for 2014 to be a bit more healthy, a tad more responsible, and a lot more creative!
Run a 5k
Learn a new song on the guitar
Live on a budget
Try a recipe outside of my comfort zone
Repurpose something
Get a job (after EDGE Corps ends in May)
Finish reading the Divergent Series (and see the movie of course.)
Make [at least one] art journal, mini-album, or scrapbook
Wear my hair in a style I've never done before
Actually print and use something from my Printables board on Pinterest
Purge my closet
Memorize The Navigators' Topical Memory System (60 Bible verses)
Knit something- scarf, blanket, headband...
Keep up with the blog!
What are your goals, your hopes and dreams for 2014?
It's been awhile since I've shared our home here on the blog, and a lot has changed! (Because let's be real, change happens around here every week or so.) The last time I shared our living room, we had far less seating and the vintage mirror and bar cart hadn't made an appearance yet. Although we liked the spaciousness of the first arrangement, bringing in our other couch has been the best idea ever. Not only is our living room more cozy, but much more practical, which in the end is probably more important than the cuteness factor.
I'm still so obsessed with this giant rug we got for the living room! I might have to do a post on good rug sources soon.
Here's the cute little bar car that I snagged for $15 at a thrift store in Nebraska last year. There are some missing wine glasses on the bottom that are waiting to get washed from a little double date dinner we had the other night. It's my favorite when things like that are just a little "off" because it reminds me that we actually live here and this house "works" for us!
Speaking of working for us, we've so loved this little 4-seater table, but are hoping to move on soon to something a little larger. (No, this is NOT a pregnancy announcement... we just really want to be able to invite more than two people over for dinner at a time!) So the last week has consisted of lots of internet research and checking things out at a few stores, and will hopefully result in a new big table that will allow lots of room for rambunctious dinners and more of those wine glasses getting used. ;)
Thanks for taking a peek into our living and dining room! Maybe one of these days I'll get around to showing you our upstairs. :)
It can be really easy for me to get caught up in decorating, organizing, and making things pretty in our home, all the while forgetting the reason behind doing these things. I always seem to get distracted by one more project, or rearrange, or tweak, without really enjoying and using the space to its fullest... and isn't that the whole reason I wanted those projects, rearranges, and tweaks in the first place? I forget that although I love decorating and it is a continual process, sometimes it's ok for it to be a means to an end.
So I decided it was about time that I took some time to sit down, brainstorm, and come up with a manifesto for our home. A roadmap of sorts, to guide us to where we want to be when it comes to our home. To come back to when we I get caught up or distracted.
Vision
We want our home to be warm and inviting, fresh and invigorating. We want people to feel loved, accepted, and inspired in our home. We want our home to be a place where people can come as they are and where deep connecting happens. We want our home to radiate the joy of Jesus and convey care for all who enter. Mission
Our home is a place of acceptance. Our home is a place where truth and love are spoken and beauty is seen in the imperfections. Our home is a place where things look pretty because that's fun, but if they don't, then that's ok—you're still welcome. Our home is a place for deep conversation and laughter, tears and cheers, parties and quiet times. Our home is a place where people are more important than things, good stewardship is more important than the American Dream, and authenticity is more important than self-protection. Values
People > Things
Our home and our stuff helps us serve other people and serves the needs of our family; we do not serve our home and our stuff. We will not be mastered by things and instead will use them for God's glory in our lives and the lives of those we touch.
Good Stewardship > American Dream
We will not go in debt or spend excessively in order to have the newest this-or-that. We will steward our money in a way that is honoring to God and will give our first fruits. We will not succumb to the American dream, but instead will be creative in the ways we use our money to create a home that reflects our vision and mission.
Authenticity > Self-protection
Rather than putting forward a fake version of who we are, our home is meant to display our genuine selves. Our home will reflect who we are and where we are at. We will not cover up, apologize for, or otherwise make excuses for our home, but instead embrace the season that God has us in. Our home should be a place where others feel comfortable to be real as well.
So there you have it. The Douglas family home manifesto. Our hopes and dreams for our home, no matter where we live. What about you? Have you ever thought about what your home conveys to others, how you want it to function, your vision, mission, or values?
