My Blue Ink Inspiriation

I have found myself at the lake this morning, in the dark, thinking over the events of the week. The chaos, the busy, the events, the emotions, the hectic pace and packed calendar. I’m grateful for this moment of grace-filled peace… so so grateful. This deep breath, this quiet time, this call to reflection and recognition.

So much of my week was spent frustrated, rushed, heavy, emotionally taxed. I spent much of my week weary and worried. Some of it due to the nature of the time of year, some of it due to the nature of the personality God has “blessed” me with.

Rest is hard for me. Calm is hard for me. Go-with-the-flow is hard for me. Letting go and letting God is hard for me.
Yet over and over again I feel that these are the very things God is laying across my path, things that can so easy trip me up and get in my way if I’m not intentionally watching for, to try gracefully climb over before violently falling over them.

This morning I was reading a book (an amazing book - Still Waiting by Ann Swindell), and I underlined a paragraph. In my hand was a blue ball point pen. My blue marks mixed with the black marks from the person who previously read and underlined. The blue lines made me smile, and I thought… “I love blue ink…” And that simple thought led me to spend some time thinking about what fills me, what makes me joy filled, what makes my soul shine and my heart sing… Intentional thoughts of little things, tiny things, really probably insignificant things to the majority of the world around me…

And yet, I found it an amazing blessing, this blue ink inspiration… What a wonderful way to start a quiet morning at the lake.

What are the things you love, the things that bring you peace, and joy, and love, and fill your dangerously low tanks? Take some time and really allow yourself to think about this… jot down some words, no matter how big or how small, no matter how cool or seemingly silly… What really are some of the tiny threads that make up the whole of the fabric woven into your joy, your strength, your happiness, your sanity, your bucket-filling awesomeness??

Here are just a few of mine.

• I love blue ink, fat ball point pens.

• I love the glow of soft lamp light.

• I love whispering breezes through trees and leaves, while birds sing and nature quietly bustles around me.
• I love the golden changing hues of sunsets and sunrises. I love the click of my camera in my attempts to capture the vibrance and magic of God’s daily artwork.
• I love getting to push the stop button on my running watch at the end of a run. Stop. Save. Workout complete.
• I love reading a good book in the quiet.
• I love the soft glow and flicker of a fireplace or campfire.
• I love unhurried, un-rushed, unscheduled time alone, time at home, time away.
• I love the smell of fresh ground coffee beans and fresh brewed coffee.
• I love coming home to the lingering smell of warm cupcakes or baked bread as you open the door and re-enter hours after the ovens have been turned off.
• I love watching my children sleep sweetly and peacefully at the end of a long day.
• I love logo-ed hoodies and coffee mugs from the near and dear places I’ve been to.
• I love how my dog loves me, how she nestles in next to me and drifts off to sleep, so close, so peaceful as I slowly pet her soft fur and listen to her quietly snore.
• I love the sound of keyboard typing as words, thoughts, paragraphs, pages, form on the screen in front of me. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, colors captured through the black and white world of words.
• I love the sound of a howling winter blizzard outside when all my chickadees are warm and safe and home together under one roof.
• I love receiving unexpected words of joy, thanks, affirmation, recognition.
• I love the sound of unabashed laughter, especially that including my husband, my children, my best friends.
• I love when my running music app, on shuffle mode, chooses and starts one of my favorite songs randomly when I’m struggling most and wanting to quit, giving me just enough energy to keep going just a little longer.
• I love late night texting with friends… the deep conversations, the odd conversations, the hard conversations, the ridiculously silly and bizarre conversations between best friends.
• I love knowing God is always pulling me towards Him, even when I am pulling and running as hard as I can in the opposite direction… I just love the imagery in my mind of Him softly, quietly, lovingly pulling me to Him - over and over and over again… not in frustration or anger, but merely in patience and love, whispering “Come back home my child… come back home, I’m waiting for you…”
• I love early mornings and the hours and minutes before dawn, before the start of the rest of the worlds day, when the seconds on the clock still quietly whisper, and the promise and hope of calm and quiet still exist.
• I love the occasional late nights after the house is asleep and I’m still awake, walking quietly through the house that is lit only by two dim corner lamps.
• I love being in a clean house, counters with nothing on them, sinks that are empty, mirrors that are free of spots and splatters, floors and surfaces free of dust and grime.
• I love the deep and heady smell of lotions, candles, oils, heated melts in the scents of coconut, vanilla, coffee, baking, outdoors, woodsy…
• I love scrapbook paper, paper cutters, photographs, paper scraps, stickers, scissors, glue sticks, the surge of memories and the rush of reliving past events through the simple sight and touch of precious photographs.
• I love stacks of books. Stacks of books already read filled with underlining and margin notes, and stacks of books with still crisp white pages, words calling out and waiting to be read and ingested.
• I love the look of a crisply made bed with all the decorative pillows neat and in place.
• I love the little hint of sparkles, the little shimmer of glitter, the happy reflection of reflection.
• I love long dangly, decorative, colorful earrings with fish hook posts.

You know, I guess I could continue on and on as I realize that there are many more things that I love, that fill me with joy and happiness, that give me strength and hope, that can be woven in to my very core to straighten, lengthen, and enhance my simple every day life, love, and experiences.

Little things that perhaps add up in big ways.

My list of loves is probably rather odd, my own little “quirks” as I call them, that make up the meat and bones, the core of who I am, what I feel, and why I do what I do. We all have our own set of personal “quirks” that make us special and unique. We all enjoy, seek, and require different stimuli and requirements to help round ourselves out spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It’s how we were created, how we’ve been hard-wired for greatness.

Let’s all spend some time reflecting on the things we love today, on the things that bring us joy… rather than on the things that bring us stress and that bring us down. Breathe in deep and take stock of the good things in and around us, the warm things, the happy things. Seek the joy, find the happiness, hang on to the laughter. Let’s tuck the chaos and the fretting away for just a few minutes while we search our minds for the things of fullness and fulfillment within ourselves.

Let’s all take some time to thank the Lord for our life, our breath, our family, our friends, our health, our wealth, our provision, our joys, our gifts, our talents. Let’s intentionally seek that which fills us. Embrace the good. Cling to the things we love and the people we love. Surround ourselves with the things that make us better people, so in turn, we can reach out and touch the lives of those around us, making the world happier, healthier, stronger and filled with calm, grace, hope, acceptance, and love.

{ Next blog post "I Almost Missed This" HERE }
{ Previous blog post "I've Been At This For A Year" HERE }