Tag: 31 Days of Letters

Dear Autumn {31 Days of Letters}

~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

Dear Autumn,

Of all the seasons, you are the most complex.

You usher in change with a splendor unparalleled.  With chameleon-like qualities, your citrine turns to amber and your emerald to auburn.  At the height of beauty, you shed your colorful skin to brighten the drab earth below.  A second wave of Fall opulence can dance across gravel, grass, and dirt.

You are a golden rae between the vibrant and the colorless.

Your time is fleeting.  One frost or one gust of wind could sap your fragile life.  But while you last, you bring forth the harvest.  Labor and toil is rewarded with maturity and abundance.

May I enjoy your fruits and your grandeur during this season. May I dwell in your warmth for however long it lasts without looking toward the ominous cold ahead.

Warm regards,

Emily

You can find all my letters here.

For more information about the 31 Day Challenge, visit The Nester.

Dear Jesus {31 Days of Letters}

~ Emily ~ 9 Comments

Mary DeMuth wrote Everything, a book about letting God be your everything.  In her words:

I’m a mess like you (though you’re probably much less messy!). I truly want Jesus to be my everything, but some days I try to be my own everything. I forget God’s strength shines best when I feel small and weak. And I bootstrap myself more than I’d like to admit. {Mary DeMuth}

Sounds like me!  I don’t own this book yet, but Everything is on my to-buy-ASAP list.  I’m looking forward to reading it, and I’m also kind of nervous.  I fail at making God my everything and know Mary’s book will stretch and challenge my daily walk with God.

In honor of Everything being released this past Tuesday, my letter today is based on The Worrywart Prayer.  Worry is a self-inflicted road block to letting God be everything in your life.  It distracts us, demeans God, and deadens our joy.

Here’s my take on The Worrywart Prayer, which Mary wrote to help us all let go of worry.  I encourage you to fill in the blanks for yourself.  Prayerfully consider what worries are disabling God from being everything in your life.  Pray for God’s freedom from those worries.

Dear Jesus,

You are far greater than anyone or anything I can fathom.  You have been faithful to me – faithful in my doubts, in my worry, in my unbelief – for all my twenty-five years.

You are more than able to handle my burdens.  You are more than capable of caring for my loved ones.  You are more than willing to turn my worries into a thing of the past.

Jesus, I give You my future.  I give You my emotions, my health, my marriage, my family, my writing.

I don’t know what You will do with these things, but I know that You are more loving and more wise than I could be, even about the things that I hold so dear.

I hold on to my life with such a tight grip that I strangle Your plans and purposes.  I am sorry for my obsession with control.

Please give me the strength to let go, to open my hands, and relax my grip.  I want Your will and Your presence.

Jesus, take it all!  Help me to trust You today and forever.  I give up my desires, my plotting and planning.  I humbly ask for Your guidance, for Your will to be done in my life.

I choose not to worry about my future and all that it holds or doesn’t hold.  When I slip and stumble along the way, let Your grace overcome my worry.

Amen.

Emily

You can find all my letters here.

For more information about the 31 Day Challenge, visit The Nester.

Dear Gramma {31 Days of Letters}

~ Emily ~ 6 Comments

 

Dear Gramma,

I miss you.  I miss you a lot.

Has it really been five years?  Those five years have held so many changes for our family – good changes, exciting changes, important changes, changes you would have loved to be a part of.

Reminders of you.

Missing you and knowing the things you’ve missed has been a daily reminder of God’s sovereignty.  He is anxious for us to dwell in His house.  I cannot dispute His perfect timing in the number of your days even though I would have preferred you to have more of them.  I strive to have my heart echo Job’s words:

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.  {Job 1:21}

I do praise God for the 20 years you were present in my life.  You taught me how to make pie crust and divinity.  You passed on your lust for travel and learning. You cheered me on in all my endeavors.  I think you were my biggest fan when pep flags performed at football games.

But, my heart aches when I look back on my college graduation, on my wedding, on my move to Idaho, knowing that you weren’t able to witness and celebrate those events.  You would have been proud of me in my cap and gown.  You would have loved my Tim.  You would have loved to visit Coeur d’Alene.

I know as time goes on, there will be more milestones that my heart aches over, especially when little Gardners arrive.  However, I am thankful for the undeniable legacy you have left in your stead.

I miss you.

Love,

Emily

You can find all my letters here.

For more information about the 31 Day Challenge, visit The Nester.

Dear Ash {31 Days of Letters}

~ Emily ~ 5 Comments

Dear Ash,

I think we could be poster children for the old adage, “opposites attract.”  If our physical appearances weren’t enough – my six feet with blonde hair and blue eyes verses your five-ish feet with green/brown/hazel eyes and curly, brown hair – our personality types are pretty drastically different.  My reserved self has always been in awe of your ability to engage a crowd.  You could make a tree laugh with one of your stories and I’m better off writing about my escapades.

In defiance of these differences, our friendship works.  Our history spans a quarter-century and we have the pictures, crushes, letters, embarrassing moments (some on tape… eg: falling off swing in southern belle costume), laughter and tears to prove it.  Like many friendships, ours was not devoid of bad boundaries, hurt feelings, and lulls in communication.

I am ever so glad that God redeemed the locust years, per se, and renewed our friendship.  With God as the center, our relationship has a whole new dimension that not only pushes me closer to our Abba, but also gives me a deep appreciation for having a friend who is so different than me.

Though I could make a lengthy list of all the things I love about you and what our friendship means to me, I wanted to point out two differences between us that have taught me so much about being a Godly woman: 1. your fearless vulnerability and 2. your intimacy with God.

As Anne Jackson would say, you have the “gift of seconds.”  Your honesty and openness is refreshing and challenging.  God gives you the boldness to share first so those of us who are silenced by shame, fear, or pride have an easier time going second.  I have mentally and verbally fessed up to struggles and sins that I would not have normally had the courage to think or speak.  But, because you were willing to be transparent, I was able to follow suit.

I’ve always been a bit envious of the way you talk about God.  You hear His voice in the inner most parts of your being and are able to articulate what He is revealing.  You see Him as the lover that He is.  Your intimacy with God has pushed me to reevaluate how I approach my own relationship with Him.  I have to remind myself that God woes and pursues me, but that idea seems to come naturally to you.  You’ve prompted me to open my heart to God as the Lover of My Soul.

So, I thank you for your vulnerability with me and your intimacy with Christ.  They have thrust me deeper into God’s arms.

This was in a post that you must read.

 …she told me why it was beautiful to HER and in that way, SHE became more beautiful to me. Because she let me see her and hear her story with all its unique markings and pain and hope and love.

It made me think of you and how you reveal beauty and how much I love seeing your beauty being revealed.  Being involved in your story, hearing about its unique markings, pain, hope, and love has made you even more important to me.

I love you!

Em

You can find all my letters here.

For more information about the 31 Day Challenge, visit The Nester.

Dear Wedding Well-wishers {31 Days of Letters}

~ Emily ~ 3 Comments

Dear Wedding Well-wishers,

I would like to propose that we think of a better way to inquire after a newly-married person’s life.  I include myself in this think-tank because I am just as guilty as anyone in this regard.  We mean well – we want to extend congratulations and see how the new man and wife are getting along – but asking, “How’s married life?” puts a new bride or groom in a tough spot.

Let me rephrase that.  It puts an honest person in a tough spot.  When most of us are just wanting to be nice and acknowledge the person’s new status, why ask a question that promotes the idea that marriage is a bed of roses?  The truth is, marriage takes work.  Acclimating to marriage, especially in the first few months, can be challenging.  Married life is full of adjustment, compromise, and self-sacrifice – all of which can be rather hard at times.

The difficult aspects of marriage do not diminish the joys and pleasures of married life (and aren’t those what we’re actually asking about when we inquire after a newlywed’s well-being anyway…).  For myself, I love being married to my best friend, living in the same house, sharing the same bed.  Those benefits of marriage can coexist quite happily with the tough parts.  However, I think most people don’t vocalize both sides to the married life coin as often as they are asked about it after the wedding.

When well-wishers like yourself asked me how married life is, I may have shocked them with my answer:  “Being married to Tim is wonderful, but married life is challenging right now.”  Tim and I, especially, faced a lot of transition and unknowns within the first few months of our marriage, which probably contributed to my transparent answer.

I realize not every couple has this type of start to their married life.  We didn’t have a home to call our own, and neither of us had permanent jobs.  Two months after we got married, we still had no idea where we would be moving.

I also realize that you well-wishers are well meaning.  But, if you’re looking for a one-word answer or small talk, you may want to rephrase how you ask about married life.  When you run across an open person, their answer may take you by surprise.

Sincerely,

Emily

 

You can find all my letters here.

For more information about the 31 Day Challenge, visit The Nester.