{a walk through} psalm 79

I've been thinking much about my {a walk through} series lately, and how if somebody has arrived anytime after I started the series, they might be wondering what is going on.

Last year I started recognizing that I needed to make scripture a bigger part of my life. I wrestled with it, largely because I wasn't sure how to incorporate my own personal study here on my blog, without it coming across as a devotional, which isn't what I was aiming for.

There's nothing wrong with devotional style blogs, or blogs that spend a lot of time unpacking scripture, but I really wanted to just read a verse and just share what it made me think. No Greek, no Hebrew, no fancy hermeneutics. Simply sharing how a holy word impacted me.

I also wrestled with it because spiritual discipline takes that second word - discipline. I knew I wasn't making scripture a priority, so I had revamp the way I viewed it. I needed to see scripture as food, necessary for life, tasty and healthy.

This series has taken on different styles throughout the year. I sometimes like scrolling back through each Psalm in my images files because I can tell when I liked blue and when I liked ombre, and when I really liked bubbles. Lately I really love real images instead of simply coloured backgrounds (though today I am not proving that true). No matter the season, I always love colour. That's true in normal life too.

It's been a stretch for me as a designer, so much so that this is the first time I've written down that maybe I'm starting to think of myself as a designer. Not in a fancy, formal, or paid way. Just in a I like to make all the images on my blog and sometimes they don't suck kinda way.

Anyway. The heart of the series has always been a few things:

be in the Word.
blog consistently about what you learn.
be okay if some weeks you don't share what you learn.
make and share images.
repeat.

Up until my October break, every Tuesday and Thursday, I popped in with a Psalm. I started at Psalm 1, and have been slowly working my way up. It's my most long term project probably ever, and I love it. Some days I share thoughts on the scripture, some days I just share other things.

I say that I love it, and I do, but I realized something over the month off. Making the images for a twice a week series takes a lot of time. It takes away from writing time, and it takes away from life.

So I'm switching it up a bit. Because Mackenzie told me I could. It's true. We were chatting last week and I said that the series felt a bit burdensome and I was thinking about ending it, but how that felt like a cop out. She told me it wasn't a cop out. Yay friends. So instead of ending it completely, I'm revamping it.

Instead of twice a week, I'm just going to share one Psalm per week.

One thing Jessi & Haylie pushed at influence was the idea of a funnel. How we need to take all the things we do and funnel them down to the things that give us life. So this is me funneling down this series so it's a bit more life giving to my time.

Come by any Thursday. We'll be here. While you're at it, pop by anytime okay? 

A Cup of Writing

I wonder how writing works for others. I crave writing. 

I crave it similar to the how I crave a cup of coffee in the morning. I can cope, even cope well, without a cup of coffee, but I sigh deeper and smile wider if I have a large cup at the start of my day.

So too writing. I can go without. I'll be okay. I appreciate joy and cheerfulness enough that I can live both out most of the time. Even without time to write.

But if I write, things clear up. Emotions (typically the irrational type) settle. Decisions almost seem to make themselves.

I don't need a topic, though writing within the challenge of one is a good one.

I treasure the moments, the chances to take hold of the thoughts that race, the ideas that float in and out of my head.

I can do without. I'll really be fine. I will however, do better with a nice cup of writing.

What's writing to you? Is it comfort? It is escape? It is a means of peace?  

Setting Goals: November edition

When it comes to change, I so often set a huge goal and then when I fail quickly, I quit quickly.

Hayley encouraged her readers to link up to share their November goals. Then I read Anne's goal update, as I do whenever she shares them, and I felt like maybe it was time.

Like I mentioned, I'm a big goals person - but not a good goal setting person.

As my sister wisely said to me on Sunday, in regards to an entirely different issue but that also fits here, "You're quick to escape".

An escape mentality is one that has been mine for much of my life, and it is one that has grown larger and wider, higher and deeper over time. My tendency to escape has stopped me from accomplishing numerous things.

It's stopped me from setting goals. It's stopped me from accomplishing goals.

When smart people talk about goals, I always hear the words actionable, measurable, and other fancy ones like that. So I'll try my best to keep them at that.

1. Keep eating breakfast and lunch every week day.

This one should be the easiest. The family I nanny for provides food for me. It's amazing what having to sit to eat with an infant does for your own eating. As I prep her food, I prep food for me. As I hand her her food, I eat my own. I know this sounds silly and obvious, but it's been a huge shift for me. I'm not a breakfast person, and I'm a buying lunch fiend. It's unhealthy and not very smart. I had mostly fixed the problem back when I was working full time, but being unemployed for two months wrecked my good habits.

I'm on week three right now of eating breakfast and lunch every week day. I still don't always eat dinner, weekends are just fair game.

I've noticed change already. The change is small and it'll take time to see significant change, but it's happening. Little by little.

2. Pick one picture for social media.

At influence, I was super thankful to have my friend Megan take pictures for me. She listened to my ideas and we had a blast. I'll share more of the photos over time, but this one is probably my fave. I feel like it captures me pretty well.

This one doesn't feel right for all social media since it's not a head shot. I'm pretty sure I'm close to picking my favourite (which is hard to do when your friend takes a bunch of great pictures), and I'd like to have it up online in every social media area by the end of the month.

Now is when I sheepishly admit that I am only setting two goals. But Anne told me that two sounded good. So . . .

Two it is.

What are your goals for November? Have you linked up yet?

An ode to suite 103.

October. Oh October. She made me say goodbye to an apartment that truly was a home.

In November of 2010, I moved into that beautiful space with a dear friend. A few roommates later, it was time to say goodbye.

Moving out of that apartment was a hard decision. That space was where I felt safe. It was home. It was comfort. It was beautiful.

Many tears met that living room floor, not simply because of the move, but over the years I spent living there. Laughter was often heard echoing its hallways. Tasty smells filled the whole place. Friends were welcome, words were always, and a fresh cup of coffee could be brewed in just a couple minutes.

I have distinct memories of people dancing around, of the one time we got a noise complaint, of the loud people downstairs who should have gotten more noise complaints, of the sincere peace that seems to just permeate the walls.

It was the perfect space for a good conversation.

Suite 103 was where I started to find myself. I realized how much I appreciate beauty, how I need beautiful things around me in order to be at my best. Sometimes I think I miss the wall space for its scripture and big window for its light on the couch more than anything else. I loved that home.

I've only a couple times pointed my car that way instead of my new space . I've only a couple times driven by just because. I've only a couple times woken up and been disorientated.

I sure do miss that space.

What's your home space? Where are you at your best? I'd love to hear.

quiet.

October. Woosh. It's over.

Quiet. Quiet was good. Quiet was necessary.

October was a month filled with sweet rest. It was filled with loud laughter, long conversations, flights, retreats, family, friends, and so much.

I journal wrote a lot. I read books well I read one and a half but that is huge progress for me. I went for long walks, took pictures most of which got deleted from my phone when it busted, boo, and did my best not to waste the days.

I had so many words to share, and I'm truly ready to share them.

So pop back next week and I'll start.