It's NESTING Time or is it BUY MORE and DO MORE Time?

It's NESTING Time or is it BUY MORE and DO MORE Time?

Oh my -- the holiday ads, promotions and marketing campaigns are amped up. Everyday, the message is "buy now for best bargains, 50% off today only, decked out deals, deal of the day, last chance deal”. BUY -- BUY -- BUY!! There are banners outside stores, ads coming in the mail and tons of them coming through on social media. It takes great willpower to NOT be drawn in. After all, it's only 20 more days until Christmas!

Peer pressure -- rather, buying pressure. I’ll admit I was sucked into some of the online “Free Shipping”, and purchased a few things that saved me the trip to the store on Cyber Monday. Amazon Prime is a wonderful gas saver, shipping and time saver. The days of going from store to store to purchase our “must have’s” are over for many of us So that extra time should certainly give us more time to embrace the "Reason" for the season. Right?.

Oh, but more time, means I can get caught up in all the chatting on Facebook and Pinterest about really gorgeous decorations and craft items, as well as delicious goodies to bake. Once again, our reasoning is we need to do more to make this season bright and just right. The question is “Isn't there something we can do to stop the deafening sounds that separate us from what, rather WHO, this season is all about?”

This is the most incredible season of Advent where tranquility and peace is needed in our hearts and souls – to be able to find that "nesting" place where we're awaiting the birth -- the coming of our Lord. Don't we really want to push the MUTE button to separate ourselves from the crowds and busyness to enter into His stillness by taking some R&R (rest and relaxation) time to go find HIM in the secret place? But with so much to do and so little time to do it all, how can we squeeze in any time at all for “just sitting and nesting”?

I'm a realist and I know we often don't have much choice but to stay on hyper-mode, but somewhere there must be a quiet little "nesting" spot we can find so we can pause for some silence when we can. It may mean we have to turn down the TV and the radio OR the kids -- so we can hear God's still small voice. It may be we practice God's presence even if it's just to read a short devotion or simply to whisper His name in a prayer. On Sunday, my pastor encouraged us to not wait until the last minute to come to church, and when we do come, rather than to have idle talk and busyness even when we walk in, we should come at least 10 minutes early to STOP, take a deep breath, silence the world and then breathe in the Christ of Christmas.

Advent is about preparing for the Christ Child to arrive. Maybe that means, like a Mama Bird preparing for the arrival of her babies, to sit and wait and breathe in peace and quiet and exhale the worries, the stress, the fears and concerns. I promise, God is quite aware of all that's on our plates. He totally gets us, but all the while....He's over in a quiet "nesting" spot just waiting for us to cozy up to Him for refreshing and restoration.

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

To Nana From Lexi

Day 171 of Photos Inspirations -- To Nana From Lexi
Returning home after a week away, I went to my desk and found this envelope with big letters: QUOTES -- OPEN AFTER Nationals -- To Nana From Lexi.

She had been here for a couple of days before heading to Nationals in MN.  She loves to hang out in my office where a lot of her creativity takes place. Usually she's drawing or working on paper creations.  When I had an electric typewriter (back in the day), she loved to create on it.  Those days are long gone with the leading edge technologies that have changed our world.  But I was quite impressed with what she did with pen and paper.  I found that she had taken the time to write quite inspiring quotes, as well as some with her "Life with Lexi" humor.

Inside the envelope were a couple dozen handwritten notes and quotes.  For example:
"I love you because you join in my weirdness."
"What if I fall?"  "Oh, but my Darling, what if you fly?"
"Sometimes you win; sometimes you learn."
"You will never know the vaue of a moment until it becomes a memory."
"You're too blessed to be stressed."
"The earth has music for those who listen." -- Shakespeare
"It's not who you are that holds you back, but who you think you're not."
And, a PERFECT "Life with Lexi" one.....
"How does NASA organize a party?"  "They PLANET!"  AhAhAhAh!!

I called her to ask where the quotes came from: "From my Pinterest page."  Oh me.  My 13-year old granddaughter does Pinterest -- something I haven't wrapped my brain around yet.  And she continues to urge me to get more involved in Instagram.  I'm still working on mastering Facebook, but I'm teachable -- Instagram will soon be another social media app that I'll adapt to.

And, finally, I asked her "Why did you take the time to write all this by hand,  put it in an envelope, and didn't want me to open it until we got back home?"  Her response...."Because I knew you would take a picture of it, post it and write a story about it."  Smart AND hilarious girl.  And, so, here's my post, and perhaps, there's something in those quotes that speaks to your heart today.  Just maybe Lexi did this for me AND you!

Calm Down & Get Your Zentangle On

Day 125 of Photo Inspirations -- Calm Down & Get Your Zentangle On
DW -- my first Zentangle masterpiece.  LOL!   One of the perks of travelling several days at sea, was the free time we had to relax, play games, read, talk, go to culinary and health classes, eat and eat and eat, and learn Zentangle from our talented friend, Nancy Crow​.  She's a Certified Zentangle Instructor. Zentangle is like doodling, but with purpose.  It’s a specific way to draw images, designs and patterns using a pen and paper.  And, beyond the enjoyment of just doing it, I understand it's become a phenomenon that is used for stress reduction, education, therapy and even motivational training.  Nancy has been called upon to go to crisis women's groups to teach Zentangle, and because of the positive difference it's made in the women's lives, she is brought back to train others to teach the classes.

Zentangle is based on a human behavior where you refrain from planning and you just allow the lines and shapes to unintentionally emerge.  Marilynn and I had issues with that part -- we wanted to correct and erase what we viewed as mistakes, but the point is to go-with-the-flow.  If you go to Pinterest or search the internet, you'll see some really great inspirations for designs.

There's several reasons why people Zentangle:
It's Simple -- it only requires a black pen and paper.  Nancy told us that Don, her husband, likes her company while watching TV.  If she's not so interested in the program, she Zentangles.

It's Self-Soothing -- it's calming and provides relaxation benefits -- especially if you're not a perfectionist and you just enjoy putting the pen to paper and staying open to whatever emerges.

It Teaches How to Own Your Mistakes -- using a pen on paper requires that you risk making mistakes.  Zentangling teaches you how to incorporate what seems like “mistakes” into the overall pattern of the design.

I told you about Zentangle in this post because it just might be something you'd like to try.  And, the benefits remind me of how we should live our lives.  It's okay to make mistakes.  Nothing is ever perfect -- but how we adjust to imperfections (mistakes or the unexpected) in life is what really matters.   My husband was a Type A personality -- he was a perfectionist.   His perfectionism was seen in the labeled baskets in my pantry, in the way he dressed and every building project he pursued.   His example made me strive for being more like him   I'm quite sure one of the reasons why our marriage worked is because I was his complete opposite.  I was okay with "so so", or "it's good enough"!  I didn't have to win the game.  I didn't have to be number one.   He did.  I rounded him out -- he became more relaxed in his perfectionism over the years, and I became more organized.

The point is, if we stay so focused on perfection, we'll lose the joy of the here and now and taking life in stride.  If we simply enjoy the creative process and realize that "all things (even the mistakes) work together for good", we can enjoy every single moment of it. So let's calm down and get our Zentangle on!
Romans 8:28 "ALL THINGS work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purposes."