Friday Coffee Date and a Guest Post

Welcome to everyone that is visiting from my friend Amy Carroll's blog!

{If you are regular reader-friend, would you take a moment to visit my guest post at Amy's today. It's a topic that's familiar to our regular Pinkdaisy Life community.}

It's Friday, which is our regular coffee date, and I have been itching to sit down and share with you this week. It's a rainy, cold day here in Massachusetts- a perfect day to come in and have a hot cup of Tazo while we catch up.

I'm so honored and humbled that my friend Amy asked me to guest post today. I had such a difficult time getting that post done. I want to tell everything there is to know about Trades of Hope, so I ended up with pages and pages of "outtakes" in my Evernote. Most of what I wrote can be found in the previous Trades posts here and here and here.

I'm also nervous because I overused the pronoun "they" which made it sound like the guests at our parties were had the satisfaction of helping me, when I meant it was the artisans. {eek!!} That's one of the things I love about Trades of Hope - it's a true partnership between the artisans and the Compassion Entrepreneurs. I hope that I have the honor of meeting several of them this side of heaven and tell them how grateful I am for their artistry and their bravery, but I digress.

I'd also share what an encouragement my friend Sarah has been to me in this whole venture. I am her "coach," but that girl brings me so much encouragement. I am so blessed to work with such amazing women.

Who has been an encouragement to you this week?


I've also been going to the gym regularly {ugh}. My friends promise I'll stop hating it soon and will actually start to like it. I'm not convinced, but I need to be healthier. I want to be a mom that can still be active when her grandkids are around, and I know that means making changes in my diet and lifestyle now. Sigh. I'd much rather sit and read.... so of course I read on the treadmill or elliptical when I'm warming up and cooling down. {You aren't surprised are you?} I'd love for you to share your health/ fitness motivation if you have any. *big sigh*

It's been a week of car repairs and stuck in the house and, although I love all four seasons, I long for Spring. We had a teaser earlier this week. Everyone in Starbucks was in a short sleeved shirt and sunglasses. How many weeks 'til warm weather?

I am still enjoying the Bible study I am doing on the book of James Mercy Triumphs and several of you were kind enough to comment or email letting me know your tips and tricks, or just to say that you'd be joining me on my memorization venture. I'm "officially" starting to memorize the book of James this week, but go and get a head start if you'd like.

My lovely friend Leigh will be running a series in February of stories of how her friends met their spouses. She's decided to embrace Valentine's Day as a single and rejoice in the love in her life and the love around her. I'm guest posting about how I met David, which is making me giggle like the sixteen year old I was when I first met him. *grin* I can't wait to read the rest of the stories, so why wait? Tell me: How did you meet your other half?


Well, I've talked a lot about myself, and I wish this was a real coffee date, with real conversation.
Until we can meet over a cup of tea, I love hearing back from you, so, tell me:
So, what's on your mind? 

Pressing In Through James

I've been pondering the spiritual disciplines as I re-read Jan Winebrenner's book Intimate Faith.

I'm still chewing on Chapter 2- which deals with submission and humility. There's a popular quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, that says, "If you can't explain something simply, you don't really understand it." Therefore, I will not even try to write about what I am learning about these topics. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have wrapped my brain around the material enough to at least share my thoughts.  {Grin}

In my desire to have a more disciplined study time, I have started Beth Moore's Mercy Triumphs a study of the book of James. She's added a few new options to this study, including a chance to go deeper with some articles written by her daughter, Melissa, and a challenge to write out and memorize the book of James.

I'm doing it.

It's a seven week study, but Beth suggests that the memorization will take months, not weeks.

Can I be honest? I am so scared of failing. Remember, this is the ENFP talking. You know that ENFPs are notorious for their lack of follow through. I mean, that's most of the reason that I have FOCUS as my One Word. *sigh* But I am not going to let my fear keep me from having the book of James hidden in my heart.

No, God won't love me any more or less if I do or do not succeed at memorizing, but might it be possible that as I brood over His Word {more on that later this week}, I might fall in love with Him more?

I am a word girl. In fact, I'm not just a word girl, I am a Word girl. I love the Scripture. I love learning Greek roots and reading commentaries. {I do not like debate, though, I like nice, civilized discussions.} I love sharing my discoveries in Sunday school and Bible study and when I speak to women in groups.

The Sha'ma {Deut. 6:4-9} tells us to impress them upon our children, and to talk about them as we talk and walk and live our day. What a better way to have the Scriptures available to us than to have them hidden in your own heart?

Tell me: do you memorize Scripture? Why or why not?

Friday NIGHT Coffee Date

Pull up a chair and grab a cup. It's Coffee Date Time!

Only it is 14 degrees outside... so mine is hot chocolate.

It's Friday night and it's been a long, full week. I want nothing more than to sit across the table from you and gab. It's been a week of hubby-not-home and ministering and mothering and tonight I just want some girl time.

I would point out that the lettering on my doorpost is still not done, because although I have it planned, I have so little confidence in my ability to size and center. I'd ask your opinion on the font and the size, and I'd probably ask you to spot me while I climbed up to finish this week's project.

As I letter, I'd lament about how starved we all are for connection, for someone to say, "Yeah, me too," and how hard it is to cross that thresh hold into that level of freedom in our friendships. I'd praise God that I've had the opportunity to steward the lessons I learned in the valley, and I'd ask you to pray that I would have the wisdom and discernment to minister to my precious, hurting friend. I'd share with you how Carrie posted the perfect verse at the perfect time, and I'd show you the frame where I have placed it. Since you don't know my precious sister in Christ I'd show you the frame, which reminds me to intercede on her behalf, but I would not share the barest of details, because some wounds are just too precious. {Would you pray for her even now, even knowing no details? He knows. He sees all.}

Then I'd show you my mug from Brookish and we'd laugh over the fact that I watched two versions of Pride & Prejudice  and Emma Thompson's version of Sense & Sensibility (with and without the commentary playing overtop) and that I'm re-reading Mansfield Park because two of my Twitter buddies liked it so much more than I did and I want to know what I missed. I'd also giggle and show you this t-shirt and wonder out loud if I should buy it for my Hubby. 

copyright Brookish

We'd laugh about the silliness of trying to clean a house while the littles are awake and the exhaustion that prevents us from doing a good job when they are not, and we'd wonder why we are so concerned. And then we'd share the actual whys of why we are concerned: our OCD friends with perfect homes, our relatives with too-loud comparisons, and our own hang-ups on balancing real mothering with the June Cleaver standard. And then we'd wonder what the home of the actress who played Mrs. Cleaver's home really looked like, and while I refill our mugs you'd comment that you're glad my house isn't picture perfect, but that's it's probably cleaner than I think it is.

I'd ask you to pray for the messages I'm preparing, and then I'd give you the chance to pour out your heart, because I really am willing to listen, and I consider it a privilege to pray for you, even if you can give very few details. 

How about you?

Write Them on Your Doorframes

My very talented husband and I have noticed a pattern.

Although we have a large list of DIY projects to complete {Some of our past projects have ranged from "Could you hand this homemade magnetic Scrabble board?" to "Huh, I'd really like to turn this pass-through window into a breakfast bar."} it seems that they only get completed under pressure.

Case in point: The door of the front entrance to our home, which until recently we have never needed to use thanks to the {now missing} back steps, was changed out a few months after we moved here in April 2006. The trim was removed when the door was changed, but not replaced until one half-hour before the open house I had last November.

{No. This is not a post on procrastination, although it very well could be.}

My husband created a framing for the door.

Before adding the Ancient Words...

When I looked at it, thanks in large part to my obsession with Pinterest and the influence of my friend Sharon, I saw a blank canvas...

... and my heart stirred towards Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Last year my friend Suzzanah wrote about writing blessings on her doorframes. I loved the idea, and tucked it away in the "some day" piece of my brain.

The procrastinator in me wishes to wait until I have the perfect paint and the perfect font and the perfect verse and...

But the Heatherly that desires to press in close knows that there is no time like now. Do I need verses on my doorframe to press in? Of course not. Do I need to tie them to my hands and my forehead? No.

But as I study the holy habits, as I lean into the piece of my faith that has been lacking lately,  I long for the very thing that is happening in these verses: a lifestyle of having the Ancient Words engraved on my heart so that everything I do is flavored by their truth. I don't believe that happens by miracle {although I would not put it past Him}, but by the slow, methodically courtship of practice and presence.

The Words on my doorframe are an outward sign of my desire, that I will truly love the Lord my God with all of my heart and soul and strength {and mind}.

Over these next weeks I will be studying the disciplines of Submission and Humility, Study, Simplicity and Sacrifice, Fasting and Chastity, Secrecy, Solitude and Silence, Prayer and Meditation, Service, Fellowship and Confession, and Worship and Celebration.

I'll be sharing the questions that are included in Intimate Faith as well as my discoveries. But I'm curious, I'd like to know:

Which of these disciplines are a part of your walk presently? Which ones are lacking? Which disciplines on the list took you by surprise? Leave your response below!

Pressing In

My heart yearns for intimacy with God.

Sometimes that yearning wears many disguises, but at the core that empty place is always a craving for His whisper in my heart, a strengthening of my faith, a new insight into His character.

I want to press in close, to follow hard.

I remember the first time I ever really thought about that aspect of my faith walk. I was sitting at a campfire at a campground in NH with my friends Mike and Holly and many, many other friends {but it was Mike that made the biggest impact in this memory}. The lyrics to a popular worship song of the time came over the CD player,

"To know and follow hard after you 

To grow as your dicsiple in your truth

This world is empty, pale, and poor 

Compared to knowing you, my Lord 

Lead me on and I will run after you."

I had heard the words, sung them, many times, but in that moment Mike said, "That's what I want. I want to follow hard."

And in my heart, my soul, my spirit, my mind, with every ounce of who I was, I thought, "Me too. That's what I want, too."

So much gets in the way of  I let so much get in the way of that pressing in, that following hard: to do lists, frustration, drama, boredom, frivolous distractions, but it is my heart's longing. 

My prayer is that in this year of #focus, in this year of learning and attempting to live in Spiritual discipline, that   my heart's longing will become my first instinct, that I will not default to self, but to His heart.

How are you learning to press in?

Coffee Date!

Iced Caramel Macchiato {with an extra pump of vanilla}

I've been taking a break from Five-Minute-Friday-ing with everyone's favorite Gypsy Mama. I plan to return, sooner than later, but, as I am DESPERATE for community {always.}, I've wanted to really work on creating a conversation here at PDL.

But there's that follow through issue. {grimace}

My friend MK has a Wednesday Bible study... and I considered something like that here...

But what I really really really truly desire is plain old connection.

I love that I get to chat with so many of you on Twitter and Facebook and in the comments here{please remember that "blogger" comments don't show up bcs I use disqus, but if you do comment from your phone I always try to transfer it over...}.

But I want an opportunity for MORE. So, inspired by Alissa at Rags to Stitches, we are going to have a Friday coffee date for awhile, because if I could, I'd have you each over for a Mason jar of cold-brewed iced coffee or a mug of Tazo tea, and just share life with you.

This week I started really working on FOCUS. *sigh* It's hard work letting Abba get into this very extensive, very difficult place and work. I've started re-reading Intimate Faith, which details some of the most common disciplines. It's kicking my rear. In a good way.

We had our first "real" snow this week. Poor Bunky has been thinking it would snow every day since it was officially Winter. He was a very happy boy, even if it was mostly melted before lunch.

Bean always wants to "hep yoooou." 

I love my kids even more now that I'm with them all the time. It's so fun getting to see them in the day to day and the mundane. Even on the days when I kind of want to poke my eyes out. 

But that's what tea dates and friends are for.

I had two impromptu blessings in a tea date and a phone call this week. We are designed to be in community, and sometimes you just need to get out of your house and go "calling." Give me ten minutes warning and I am all yours. No. Seriously. {The ten minute warning AND the all yours.}

I'm knitting. My beautiful niece showed me this fun pattern to make a twirly scarf that even I can make.  I'm also enjoying the camaraderie of being an amateur knitter with my blog/ twitter friend Mandie. 

This week included National Human Trafficking Day. I am so blessed and proud to work with Trades of Hope to help one victim at a time, both here in the U.S. and internationally. {This is my affiliate link. I will get a small commission for each purchase made through this link.}

If you've hung out for any length of time, you know that I love books. {understatement of the year, methinks} Jane Austen is one of my favorites, and each winter I end up cycling through her novels, fan fiction and other Jane-centric writings and viewings {Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? #yespleasethankyouverymuch} This year I have the pleasure of sharing my musings with two other Janeites: Sonja and Anne {Is it any doubt that with the blog moniker "Modern Mrs. Darcy" Anne with an E and I would become bloggity friends?} 


I'm enjoying A Jane Austen Education. But I just started it, so don't take it as a recommendation. Yet.


Once Upon a Time and Downton Abbey have been filling my mind with happy thoughts {even with the dark Rumplestilzkin back story *shudder* and even though I watched this season of Downton while it was airing in Britain. I love the internet}.


So what about you?

If we had the chance, what would you share with us over a cuppa?

Have a blessed weekend!'
Make memories and choose joy.

Love, Het

Dabbler or Disciple?

Years ago I bought a book, apparently in 2003 according to the code on the Borders sticker on the back cover. {Wait. I need a minute. *tear* Okay. I'm good. No. Really.}

Now, it is not surprising to anyone that I bought a book. I am a READER, a BIBLIOPHILE, a lover of books. I read quickly and retain well. I enjoy the feel of the pages and the surprises found in the library books that are always scattered throughout my home. There are ebooks and classics and childrens' books and magazines. There are journals and friends' Works in Progress {WIP} and Bibles and studies.

{...and being an ENFP, I now want to stop writing and go read the new Jane Austen fan fiction that I got off hold at the library yesterday. Yet ANOTHER reason why my word for 2012 is FOCUS. Sigh.}

The problem with mt relationship with this particular book is that... well... it hurts.

I picked up Jan Winebrenner's Intimate Faith: a Woman's Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines because even then I knew that I needed focus.

I am a passionate person.

I love my friends, my kids, my hobbies, my hubby passionately. I can't NOT be passionate. I've tried.

But passion does NOT mean focused, and even in my pre-hubby, pre-children self I recognized, whether I wanted to admit it to the blogosphere- or even my closest friends, that I needed to be more disciplined in my faith walk.


I have to laugh at the fact that my notes and underlined portions in the first chapter are exactly what I need to hear now, as I begin a year of FOCUS. The necessity of discipline, the dangers of incorrect purpose with the disciplines...

In the past 18 months, I've had to had my brain retrained after receiving and believing some bad teaching on what legalism and grace-based living are and what they look like. That's another discussion for another day.

But I am sure, that having holy habits- a daily pressing in closer to God- is a necessary.

But, as Winebrenner writes:

"... if all we are doing as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ, is practicing a few habits in order to look like a Christian (whatever that looks like), or to satisfy a denominational standard for behavior, we are doing little more than dabbling with the idea of discipleship. And instead of reveling in the abundant life Jesus promised us, instead of experiencing increasing intimacy with him and an ever-growing confidence in his goodness, we can expect discouragement, disillusionment, and frequent failure."

Um.

Amen?

Have you been there? I have.

Because I didn't understand that reading the Ancient Words was not a item on my checklist, it is a pressing in to the heart of my Creator- a Creator that, despite the bad publicity we so often give Him, is loving and just.

And I don't want to be a mere dabbler- a faker, a poser, a fraud.

I want to be so pressed in to my Jesus that you can't help but see Him in me. I want to ooze grace like it's my job and I want to be a safe place for all in my life.

Unrealistic? Maybe. But maybe not as unrealistic as I've let myself believe.

How about you? Are you a dabbler or a disciple?