Yesterday Was A Day of Things

I did a thing yesterday.
Actually a few things.
Different things.

Different for me anyway.

I cleared off this table.
For me, this is a big deal.

Surfaces tend to get cluttered here. 
There is always book work needing to be done.

Checks to write.
Money to move around.
Balancing.
Praying.
Keep those plates spinning.
Don’t let them drop.

Mail, letters, lists, calendars.
All pile up.

Then dinner time arrives and the piles are pushed to the end of the table or piled higher.
Because dinner is a rush to get to the next thing. 

It is a daily battle.
A vicious cycle.

But.
Yesterday.
I took the time.

It was quiet.
We played music and lit a candle.

That youngest farm girl ran courier.
She delivered socks, and papers, pieces and parts to everyone’s rooms.

I love the end result.

Clutter is a battle I fight.
It can sometimes rob me of my sanity.
Most of the time I don’t mind the mess.
I am content with enjoying people.
Living in the moment.
Flinging open our doors.

Yet, sometimes the mess rears and frustrates me.
I can’t be productive.
I can’t find things and life feels weighed down and useless.

So this clearing feels freeing.

So much so, that my farmer and I did another thing.
A different thing.

We went out at 8:30 pm!
Yes.
Strange.
Yet fun.
Feeling less overwhelmed allowed us the freedom to go and experience this gift.

Friends.
Time.
Connection.

45 years of friendship.
Rarely time to visit.
But we made it happen.
It was a late night and my farmer still had cows to milk.
Today it’s raining and dreary.
But there’s a contentment.
Doing “a thing” makes such a difference.
I hope I can carry that “doing a thing” into other areas of this old farmhouse.

How many things weigh us down?
They drag us to distraction.

Our focus is diverted and the living in community becomes strained.
Our home isn’t clean enough so we can’t have folks come over.
We can’t head into town to meet friends because we’ve got too much on our minds.

There’s a balance I have yet to achieve.

I am eager to try though!
Doing these different things was fun.

I want this one life to count.
I can’t change our pain, or our circumstances. 

But I can change my response.
As I dig each day in the Ancient Word and quiet my soul to seek more of God, these practices become habit.

On this dreary Spring day may you find the balance you seek.

May your surfaces be clear.

May there be room to do a new thing. 

Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.