Sunday, April 12, 2015

Claiming My Blog

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What I am Learning from the #the4500
Part Two of So Many
I am a writer. These are life changing words. They speak of new dreams and new goals. They speak to my heart and my soul. I have been articulating my thoughts and feelings with words for some time. Adding to them that I would love to be a writer someday. The 4500 (explanation here: http://minimooremusings.blogspot.com/2015/03/last-week-i-got-rejection-letter.html)  have taught me that to live a dream first you have to claim it.  Acknowledge the dream in words. Develop the idea that encompasses your goal.  Then, you have to believe that it can and will happen.  Believing that your dream can and will happen gives you motivation to do what is necessary to make it happen. It gives you strength to keep going when time and money and life get in the way. Belief gives you hope and hope gives courage.  Finally, you have to do it. Want to be a writer? Then write. Want to be a dancer? Then dance.   Want to be an engineer?  Then study and do engineering type things. Work at what you want.   
This is an important step for me. I am claiming my dream by claiming my blog. While I'm still not even quite sure what that means - I know it is a step. And rather than just publish the link that the handy-dandy help page instructed me to do, I am writing a post as well. Writing because that is what "real" writers do - they write. Thank you to all of my friends who faithfully read my musings. Your likes and comments have given me this dream. Thank you to those who have encouraged me to keep writing because you have been touched by something I have written. It gives me purpose and belief. Thank you to #the4500 for giving me the courage to put this out there and enjoy the ride. Thank you for the words that you write that not only start my brain spinning but push me to use my words more effectively.  Thank you for the prayers, and the kind words, and the knowledge that several of you would come and kick me in my behind if I don't get busy! Thank you to those of you reading. A writer can write volumes of words - but the dream is realized when people read them.  Now go do something that gets you closer to your dream!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Friendships Need Follow Through

What I am Learning from #the4500
Part One of Like a Billion

     Lesson One:  Friendships need follow through.  Yesterday, I got happy mail!  I received an actual envelope with my name handwritten and inside, a sweet card and a gift.  Not my birthday, not an anniversary, just because.  I smiled, I giggled, and I was greatly encouraged. This friend had thought of me, prayed for me, and then followed through on an idea.  It made a huge difference in my life.  It also reminded me of the truth that friendships need follow through.  Follow through can mean a lot of different things.  The essential part is action, doing something.  This is the hard part for me.  If you want to text – I’m in.  If you need prayer – I am on it – often.  Actually showing up for dinner, making a phone call, mailing the letter I wrote – that is hard for me.  I don’t know all the reasons why, I just know I struggle to follow through.  But I am learning that the benefits of action added to thought are abundant and plentiful.  They are more than worth stepping out of my comfort zone.  To my friends who have been patiently waiting for me to figure this out – thank you for loving on me and living this out as an example.  Thank you for your patience and your repeated attempts to engage me – even when I don’t respond.  To my new friends in #the4500 thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone.  Thank you for concrete examples of what friendship looks like.  To my dear new friend who made my day yesterday – you have no idea how much you have blessed me, and pushed me.  I am so glad to call you friend.  To my precious friend with whom I have been giving my best effort to follow through with lately – that is just how special you are – no, really – you are that special.  To any woman who is reading this – let’s do this friendship thing better.  Let’s act more than we talk.  Let’s give more than we get – or at least try.  Let’s do dinner, and phone calls, and happy mail.  Let’s invest in each other – and reap the benefits.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Sunday is here! You made it! There is joy in today. That joy will translate into eternal joy. But the truth is however, sometimes we make it until Sunday and it is not at all what we were expecting or wanting. There is disappointment, anger, sadness, and emptiness. If you are there right now, you are not alone. Julie Presley wrote about just this feeling today. Her post touched me in a mighty way. Its truths resonated with me and I feel compelled to share it. Go to her author page:https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJuliePresley?fref=ts – and click on the Great Expectations: Mary and the Empty Tomb post. Then come back and share your thoughts with me.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Come quickly Sunday

Sunday is coming.  This is truth.  A beautiful, life giving, hope sustaining truth.  Friday and Saturday are long, though.  So very long and hard.  The time between that which breaks your heart and leaves you undone and when healing touches you is almost unbearable.  When I think of Jesus saying, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”, I know that He gets it.  No pain could be more raw, more desperate than the Son of God being ripped apart from His Father.  He knows and understand loneliness, disappointment, poverty, and betrayal.  He wants to walk with you through yours.  He wants to love you, and guide you, and comfort you.  That’s why He was willing to suffer in the first place.  He is not shaming you because you aren’t over it yet.  Saturday teaches us that it takes time.  He is not blaming you for your contribution to your pain – He ushered the convicted thief into paradise.  He does not abandon you because you doubt.  His own disciple doubted and He willingly showed Thomas the wounds in His hands.  He just wants to love on you.  He quite literally knows the way out of Hell.  He wants you to make until Sunday.  Sunday, come quickly!