Author: clfuu

“At least one day in every seven, pull off the road and park the car in the garage. Close the door to the toolshed and turn off the computer. Stay home, not because you are sick but because you are well. Talk someone you love into being well with you. Take a nap, a walk, and hour for lunch. Test the premise that you are worth more than you can produce – that even if you spent one whole day of being good for nothing you would still be precious in God’s sight. And when you get anxious because you are convinced that this is not so – remember that your own conviction is not required. This is a commandment. Your worth has already been established, even when you are not working. The purpose of the commandment is to woo you to the same truth.”
—Barbara Brown Taylor

What helps you to remember that you are more than you produce?

Whether or not you believe that certain religious figures have the ability to confer blessings, you have no doubt been blessed. A kind word from a stranger, a smile from a baby, a hug from a friend—sources of blessing are all around us.

When was the last time you felt blessed?

The flip side of the abundant, overflowing cornucopia is the trash barrel overstuffed and spilling garbage all over the street. Face it. Sometimes what we get in abundance are things we never wanted, from the tiny mental assaults of bad drivers to the devastating losses of dear ones to death. Sometimes there is just more grief and anger and frustration than we can contain and the effects spill over into the way we treat other people.

What helps you to keep from spilling your trash in the street when the hardships pile up?

“Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.”
—Eugene Peterson

What do you see when you clear away the clutter from your mind?

Not every blossom becomes a fruit. And a good thing, too, or the tree’s branches would all break from the load. Sometimes “working out” doesn’t look like the fully developed thing you had imagined.

When have you been grateful that something didn’t make it to fruition?