Day 15: Learning New Stuff

As my friends and regular readers know, our family experienced two cross-country moves (one is actually cross-continent!) in 15 months. That's a whole lot of change right there. Add in some job changes and challenges, a couple of new computers, and new cell phones, and a new exercise program (Jazzercise, which is a huge challenge to someone as uncoordinated as I am) and my brain is just about full!

Is it any wonder that we feel stressed out in our 21st century culture? New technologies, new gadgets, new jobs, news in general.

That's why some of my last 100 days goals had to do with taking moments to reflect (write 5 things I'm thankful for at the end of each day; journaling a page a day/this blog), moments to relax (reading what I enjoy and finishing books that taunt me with their bookmarks halfway through), and moments to spiritually recharge (still reading through the Bible, and still seem stuck in Ezekiel, quite probably one of the saddest books in the Scriptures).

Today will be another busy day, but I hope to live in the grace of today and enjoy each moment--even when I get frustrated with all the new stuff I have to learn and do.

31 Days: Day 1

Last night after I logged off my computer, I figured I'd have plenty to write about this morning (no scheduling posts early for me this month, oh no; if the point is to write something every day, by golly, it will be written every day!). Now as I sit here with the blank window, my mind also is blank.

I have many things in my head and on my heart, and while I am probably nicer than most and more diplomatic than others might be, I do have pretty strong opinions on a plethora of topics. Perhaps now I should explore those things. And keep a list of ideas alongside my computer for the blank-mind mornings.

I don't remember if I ever published my "2011 theme" post [note: It was a draft, never published, but it's published now!], and if I did, it's been too long since I read it. I wrote it in the beginning of January and posted it, then have had a crazy year since! When I felt the Lord giving me the grace theme, I had no idea how it would manifest in "real life." Would He grant me grace? (yes) Would I be granting grace to others? (yes) And would I be teaching my girls to do the same? (yes)

I knew when I received that theme for the year, that I would be moving. We figured if our oldest made it into her ballet intensive program again, that we would have an unusual moving experience. But in January, we didn't know where we were going, or if she would make it. In time, we learned about our move to Alaska, and that once a dancer is in the program, she's always invited back. So as we made our crazy plans, we knew it'd be a stressful time. And it was, but it could have been so much worse if I hadn't always had "grace" on my mind and heart.

As the year begins to wind down, and I am once again in the classroom, I find myself talking about grace a lot with my students. I extend a lot of grace. But there comes a point where the assignments are due, and that's the end. So I have a couple who are "borderline" if they will pass or not.

**There are a great many of us 31-Dayers. You can find more that may interest you here.**

31 Days

To see all of the 31 Day-ers, click here.

I've seen a LOT of 31 Days of Change posts lately, but wasn't sure if I wanted to step on the bandwagon or just run fast, and run far. Particularly since I have not really blogged a lot lately and have pretty much lost whatever following I used to have.

But the idea of 31 Days of SOMETHING intrigues me.

I made a few personal goals for the last 100 days of 2011. One of my goals is to write something every day. Another is to find good writing prompts for my composition classes (I've gone back into the teaching profession and rather quickly too; not as much time to prepare as I would have liked to have).

So here, on the Fresh-Brewed Writer Blog, I think I'll do

31 Days of Writing (you can click on that link for all my 31 days of writing posts)

I know, I know, not original at all. But necessary for me where I am right now.

Other 31 Days:

Teri Lynne's 31 Days of Joy

Dana's 31 Days of Simply Living

Stacey's 31 Days of Being Still

Stephanie's 31 Days of Reading to her Adorable Children (ok, I sort of changed that description a bit... ;))

Maria's 31 Days of Contentment

31 Days of Reading

31 Days of Parenting Teens and Tweens

Grace

For the past several years, I've been blessed to be a part of an online community of Christian women who seek the Lord and community with each other. I was first intrigued by the idea of an "annual theme" by some of them, who seek God's leading and guidance each year through a singular idea. More often than not, the theme is not chosen by the woman herself, but by God. The methods through which He chooses to reveal said theme are as varied as the women themselves, as one might imagine the Creator of the Universe to be creative Himself. It's exciting, not only at the precipice of a new year to see what each woman's theme is, but fascinating to see how God works through that theme in each friend's life.

I used to envy these women their themes. How wonderful that God gave them something to guide their years. So one year I asked the Lord to give me a theme, too. I thought it would be easy and maybe even fun. Well, God works as He wants to, and the theme He gave me for 2009 was "Brave." Last year, 2010, my year's theme was "Focus." Neither of those were easy, and only maybe a little bit fun sometimes (just goes to show you that envy gets you nowhere!).

New Year's Day 2011 came and went, and I began to think that God was letting me off the hook this year. However, the word that keeps coming to mind each and every time I read my friends' themes and reflect upon my past two is: Grace.

I am not entirely sure what this means. Brave, I knew. I knew God was asking me to step out of my comfort zone, sticking up for myself, my husband, and my children, and trying new things. Focus, I knew. I failed at focusing more often than I succeeded, but I did learn in the process what my writing focus needs to be, and that I need to focus on God and His Word and my family, before I focus on too many other distracting things.

Grace? Really? Let's just wait and see.