Into Home and Heart

May 5, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 5 Comments

Food is one of my love languages (sorry Gary, I think you missed one…). I love the idea of opening my home to others, welcoming them in with warmth and wafts of goodness baking in the oven. My heart is in everything I cook and bake, especially when I do it for others to enjoy. But, for someone who expresses love through food, I’m not that great about inviting people to break bread with me.

Little pieces of me go into the food I make like another item on the ingredient list. Whether it’s a simple sandwich or a chocolate souffle, I offer myself along with the food I serve. Maybe that’s why I am tentative to ask others to partake. An invitation to dinner is an invitation into my home and my heart.

~~~

What if she doesn’t like mushrooms? What if he prefers corn tortillas? What if my popovers don’t pop? What if I don’t have the table set when they arrive?

The “what ifs” are endless as I consider making an invitation. Since those little pieces of me are in the food, cooking leaves me exposed. I worry because inevitably guests will see my imperfections. If I was able to share a meal with someone without one detail, however small, being off, I would not have been fully present. My efforts would have been more focused on the food instead of the friendships. I am hesitant because their response to my home and food is actually acceptance or rejection of me as a person. An invitation to dinner is an invitation into my brokenness and vulnerability.

~~~

Vulnerability is a key part of community and community comes most naturally to me around the table. I value both highly and have realized that neither of them happen automatically. Vulnerability requires humility and community requires openness. What better way to express these two things than by setting my table and inviting people to share a meal. An invitation to dinner is an invitation to share a part of me along with the meal.

Earlier this year I committed to living a more intentional life – in all ways, but especially in regards to developing community. For me, this looks like having company over more often. It’s stepping outside my comfort zone and serving up some vulnerability with a side of green beans. It’s not worrying about the end result but enjoying the messy process of sharing life with people around the table. It’s inviting people into my home so they can taste and see my heart.

What To Wear This Weekend

May 3, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

In April’s Primitive Pleasures, I mentioned Andy Stanley’s Follow series (a phenomenal sermon series that I want to share with everyone). I listened to the fourth installment yesterday. Twice.

His message on Colossians 3:12-13 was so powerful; I won’t think the same about what I wear again. I hope you’ll either watch or listen to the entire Follow series, but here’s just a taste of what made me listen to the fourth sermon twice within the span of three hours…

The following definitions made me pause and think and pray. This is what I want to wear this weekend and every day after.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12-13

Compassion: You feel. You care what others are going through regardless of what they did or how they got there.

Kindness: When you loan your strength to someone else.

Humility: Seeing yourself as you really are in relationship to other people and to God. There’s an equality among human beings. Humility gives us the ability to approach one another as peers because we are all loved by God.

Gentleness: The decision to respond to people in light of their strengths and weaknesses instead of responding to them out of your own strength. To communicate, “my relationship with you is more important that you being impressed by me. I will adjust for your benefit.”

Patience: The decision to go the speed of another person.

Forgiveness: To pardon unconditionally.

Love: The umbrella under which all of these reside.

photo credit: the cherry blossom girl via photopin cc

Primitive Pleasures {April}

April 30, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 7 Comments

This month certainly blew by! Maybe that’s because I spent a glorious week in Southern California. I should do that more often…

Read

On my flight back to Idaho, I read this lovely article in Spirit Magazine {my absolute favorite in-flight magazine}. It was refreshing to see simplicity so boldly publicized.

Friendship: I loved Relevant Magazine’s 5 Types of Friends Everyone Should Have and this guest post by Lesley Sebek Miller on Modern Mrs. Darcy reads like something Shauna Niequist would have written.

As and INFJ, I have a soft-spot for anything written about introverts. These four lies about introverts are so full of wisdom.

Eat

It’s getting to be quite Springy here in Idaho. The warmer weather makes me want to eat strawberries and angel food cake. Pioneer Woman’s Strawberry Shortcake is… I’m actually coming up short on words to describe this incredible cake.

Listen

Andy Stanley from North Point Ministries in Atlanta did an amazing series called Follow. It’s life changing. Listen or watch the sermons and then grab someone to chat through the discussion questions.

Smile

I borrowed this from Katie of Cardigan Way – it was too good not to share. My cousins and I sang this hymn at my Gramma’s memorial service and I walked down the aisle {almost a year ago} to a rendition by Jami Smith. Needless to say, I was alternately crying and grinning like an idiot while watching…

This touches my inner flower child – whimsical and beautiful.

I created this to express the reality of my Zumba experience. I love it though!

{photo credit: heraldpost and asterix611 via photopin cc}

Friend {Five Minute Friday}

April 26, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 6 Comments

I’m just beginning to understand the multifaceted concept of seasons.

After 26 years, I can see the mini-seasons that have already come and gone in my life. I entered into a new season – marriage – almost a year ago and know there are plenty more ahead. Though I don’t adapt as well as I’d like to the transition between seasons, I am starting to see the beauty and nuances of each one as it molds and shapes my life for a time.

I’d like to say I’ve totally embraced all of the seasons in Idaho, but Winter still challenges me a bit. Fall brings riotous color and crisp air. Winter has freshly fallen snow and Christmas. Spring is glorious with its new growth and blooming trees. Summer is full of sun!

Transitioning from high school to college, back home to on my own, single to married has taught me that friendship is also seasonal. Forever friends do exist. I’m fortunate enough to still be good friends with my grade-school best friend, but that’s not the case for all of my friendships.

I look back over the past 10 years and marvel at the amazing people God has placed in my path. Friendships were formed over coffee, in foreign countries, at the cafeteria table, in Bible studies. Some lasted for years, others only months.

It took me a while to realize that was okay. Each of those people held a ray of hope, love, and joy for me when I needed it most.

Instead of mourning the reasons those friendships have gone dormant, I see the beauty of each season, the special purpose of each relationship. Friends should be cherished with open hands and a heart willing to see them change with the seasons.

~~~

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday

Soreness in Your Soul

April 22, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 3 Comments

My alarm went off yesterday morning with a steady cadence of groan producing honks. Normally I’m already surfacing by the time it goes off, and my hand is quick to swing over and hit the snooze button before I rouse myself enough to shut the fool thing off properly. This time, I was still cradled snuggly in dream land when my alarm started. Those steady pulses of rakish noise coming from my bedside table sent my heart pumping at an alarming clip as I moved my arm to silence the sound.

The adrenaline coursing through my body from being jolted awake wasn’t strong enough to mask the stiffness I felt as I rolled over and poked my hand out from beneath the warm covers. I could feel every muscle tighten and resist all forms of unnecessary movement. My abs protested when I sat up, a knot in my lower back making its presence known. Up and down my body, muscles I didn’t even know I had ached.

After a week off, I must have been overly enthusiastic at Shake and Tone {my favorite class at the gym}. I was sore, but a good kind of sore. Even though my muscles ache for days, I can always feel my body getting stronger after a week of challenging workouts. I have a sense of accomplishment when I leave a class red faced, breathing hard, and an even more prominent sense of progress when I wake up with sore muscles.

Sore muscles mean I have stretched my limits. Sore muscles mean I have worked hard and long. Sore muscles mean I am growing in strength and endurance. Sore muscles mean that next time around those leg lifts and lateral raises won’t be so difficult.

I willingly put my body through such riggers multiple times a week. I walk into the gym knowing I will spend an hour huffing and puffing. I will dance {it IS called Shake and Tone…}, squat, lunge, lift, and crunch until I’m dripping sweat. I’m never sorry I did it.

~~~

I’ve been feeling spiritually sluggish lately and I think I know why. I have neglected to give my spirit the same workout I so willingly give my body. Those sore muscles? I crave the same soreness for my soul.

I don’t want to languish in a convenient faith, making lame excuses for being a couch potato Christian. My faith should be dynamic, my heart pulled taught and straining with the love of Christ. My relationship with God should be growing, stretched until it breaks then rebuilt on a firmer foundation.

The particulars of a spiritual workout are still developing in my heart and mind, but here are some of my initial ideas for getting my soul into shape. One thing is for sure – just like keeping in physical shape requires discipline, I know I’ll need a game plan.

Wrestle with God – Jacob did it and I want to as well. There is no better opponent to my doubts/fear/anxiety than God Almighty.
Lift others up in prayer – Interceding for others is often more healing that praying for yourself. I’m tired of my prayer life being so self-centered.
Record how God is working. When people ask, I want to have a ready example of God’s transformative power.
Memorize Scripture – What better defense is there then Truth imbedded in your heart. Added bonus: keeps your brain sharp, too!
Jump over any hurdles – I shudder to think, “what if I had said no?” for so many things in my life. I don’t want to let excuses get in the way of being used by God.
Challenge my limits – My personal best isn’t always the best I can do WITH God. He enables me to see, think, feel, and do things in a different way. It’s time to let God set the standard.

Above all, I know I need to practice. If these things are not put into action, I won’t see results. I’m a bit intimidated by this list, but there’s a spark of excitement too. I can see past the struggle and pain. I can see God molding and shaping a little lump of clay into a sturdy vessel.

I will sweat. I will cry. I will fail.

I will love. I will grow. I will stretch.

And you can bet that my soul will be sore.

GYM { I like via photopin cc } HOOP { Funky64 (www.lucarossato.com) via photopin cc }