Life Now

Wow, it's been a week since I updated this last!  It's been kind of a crazy week.  I'm not even sure why but it seemed I had a million and one things to do and go and I worked late almost every day too :(

But I did get a long-overdue oil change so I feel productive :)  And I found beautiful new music (The Civil Wars >>  "I don't have a choice, but I still choose you"  - how lovely is that?  You should check 'em out :).  And on top of it all, my heart is peaceful.  I love it!

If you noticed on Facebook, I'm taking a bit of a break from it (for 30 days to be exact).  I am going to keep updating my blog though as the notion strikes me though :)  And of course, there's the old fashioned phone and email.  Better yet, send me a snail mail letter!  Of course, none of you will, because who even owns stamps these days.  But a little FYI, that's my favourite thing.  haha

But the whole reason for this self-imposed ban on social media for 30 days...God started speaking to my heart about wasting my time online and not spending enough time with him.  So my goal over these next 30 days is to really dig into His heart and see what He would reveal to me.  I love that old song Meet With Me by Ten Shekel Shirt that says "I'm here to meet with you, come and meet with me. I'm here to find you, reveal yourself to me."

I've been learning a lot lately about living life in the present, lately.  I had kind of lost sight of that there quote up there at the top of this page.  God has been challenging me to be engaged and to live life to the full wherever He has planted me.  Be here now! right?  So that is what I am trying to do.  Mostly, just chilling out and resting where I am.  I tend to strive a lot to be or do certain things and I'm sick of it.  So, right now I'm all about just de-stressing and enjoying life to the full and being prepared to do whatever God asks of me.  And that''s where my heart is at these days.

Anyways, I've been reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, who I must say is probably one of my favourite authors.  Usually I fly through books as fast as I can.  But Steinbeck...his words I have to eat slowly.  It took me a full week to read East of Eden.  And it was delicious.  There's this one passage at the beginning of Grapes that reads:

"Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust.  The men were silent and they did not move often.  And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men - to feel whether this time the men would break.  The women studied the men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained.  [...] After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant.  Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break.  Then they asked, What'll we do?  And the men replied, I don't know.  But it was all right.  Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole."

There is something so beautiful about that that speaks to me.  I love it because it speaks to the strength of a good man.  I can't even quite explain it.  I love to how it speaks to wholeness.  Thoughts?  Feel free to comment.  I love to read them, because it makes me feel less like I'm talking to a wall (which is not necessarily a bad thing).  And I always get a fancy little email that notifies me and then I get all excited and get to check what it says.  Love it!

Now I'm off to be creative and take pictures.  And maybe, just maybe, use the amazingly vintage dress that I bought for picture taking purposes this week ($20 from Winners, how can I not?)  Stay tuned, maybe I'll post some pictures later!

Have a lovely day all you beautiful people!