Greetings, Blogworld.
Happy Friday!
I’ve been tucked away in my little condo way too much lately. I’ve been inundated with work and personal study, both of which I thoroughly enjoy, but both of which tend to keep me indoors for long periods of time. And let’s be honest- who really wants to go outside right now? Dear inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, in case you didn’t know, that was a rhetorical question.
It has been insanely hot in Atlanta. I’ve sworn heretofore that Atlanta has been dubbed “Hotlanta” because it happens to be where a bunch of beautiful people live, but now, after enduring my third consecutive August in Atlanta, I’m pretty sure that was naïve or just plain wrong. Please take a sister’s word for it: Atlanta is called “Hotlanta” because, well, it is hot as heck-fire. I have a smile across my face right now because I’m thinking about my friend who recently moved to Kuwait. Yep, Kuwait. I just glanced at the weather report for Kuwait tomorrow and it looks like it is predicted to be a balmy 118. She would rebuke me for grumbling about a good ole classic 100 degrees but I would quickly retort: “It’s the humidity that makes it unendurable.” She wouldn’t be impressed though, and well, I don’t really blame her. So let’s put it this way: relatively speaking, the heat has been pretty nasty around here. I ran into my neighbor earlier today and she told me she has gained several pounds this month because she refuses to leave her house. We both shook our heads and carried on for a good while in mutual astonishment until finally there was nothing left to do but to prophesy about the glory days to come: autumn in Georgia. By the way, “autumn” sounds way more glamorous than “fall”, right? Autumn in Georgia covers a multitude of summer sins. Some folks get annoyed when people small talk about the weather, but I get a kick out of it. I like that the weather is something that everyone has something to say about, no matter how bashful the person may be or what season it is. The weather is just good neutral common ground, you know? Also, you can get really good and worked up over the weather and you won’t hurt anyone else’s feelings. It’s kinda fun.
But back to my recent case of condo fever. Several months ago I explained to my Mom that I think I am equal parts homebody and wanderlust. She laughed at me, not with me, and explained that I’m more like 99% wanderlust. “Your boots were made for walking, sweetheart.” That’s how she put it. She may be right. A perusing of a world atlas can be sacramental to me. When Colin and I were first dating he told me that he wanted to have an entire wall of his house dedicated to a huge world map. Although I was slightly horrified by the aesthetic ramifications of a big map mural, I had never loved him more.
I love to travel. To see a new place and to experience a new culture. But there is this little thing called adulthood. And responsibility. For some weird reason our landlord keeps demanding that we pay rent every month. Plus, there are events like weddings and family reunions that stack up and demand a big percentage of that small slice of vacation time each of us are allotted.
I’ve had the travel itch lately without the practical availability to travel. I’m like a bird in a cage. I know there is a fabulous destination out there with my name and respective 50-degree weather attached to it, but I just can’t make it happen right now. The very idea that there are people walking around places like Tuscany or Madrid, well, it makes me feel like I’m missing out on something that might have been. I mean, for crying out loud, somewhere over the rainbow, there are people mounted on the Alps eating Swiss fondue.
The most serious symptom of my condo fever has been chronic daydreaming. I can’t remember a time period of my life when I daydreamt this much since my fifth grade teacher taught us long division. Back then, I used to drift off and imagine Willowbrook Mall was my own personal closet. I would roam to and fro throughout this gigantic shopping mall, from Limited Too to Gadzooks, to pick out my new outfit for school. Don’t ask me how Limited Too and Gadzooks were able to coexist in my daydream because I’m not sure. But they were.
Some twenty years later my daydreaming hasn’t matured or progressed all that much. I won’t tarry long on this for sake of my own tender ego but I will say, I have eaten lots of freshly picked strawberries on the rolling green hills of the shire with a handful of delightful little hobbits. I also cried the other day when I heard the theme song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. You know, the song: “Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination”? Who wouldn’t want to drink from a waterfall flowing with milk chocolate? Or pick the fruit from a tree that renders elephantine gummy bears? And what about red and white polka dotted mushrooms the size of giant patio umbrellas, bulging with buttercream icing?
And you’re thinking, Oh Melissa, you need to get out more. But that is exactly what I’m trying to tell you, dear, I can’t leave the house right now. So in attempt to deal more constructively with reality, I’ve been trying to take note of the beauty around me during the particular season I’m in. I don’t think the drive in me to constantly see something new all the time is all that bad. Sure, it could be bad. But for the most part, if it’s harnessed properly, I think it’s okay. Not to mention, it is kind of part of being human. At least for a lot of us, I think. Having said that, I would like to learn how to discover beauty in a season of repetition. Not a season of suffering or hardship, but just a season that is filled with mostly repetitive tasks. A season when I’m feeling a little domesticated and maybe a little bit too familiar with my surroundings. The whole “wake up, eat, work, eat, go to bed” monotony can be disillusioning over time and sometimes someone needs to look at us and say, “Snap out of it! There is beauty to behold, even in your mundane little world!”
All this typing has made me think of the paragraph from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy.
“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore. Heaven may encore the bird who laid an egg.” (See Part IV “The Ethics of Elfland” in Orthodoxy)
If you haven’t read Chesterton before, you need to immediately. Orthodoxy should be required for baptism. I’m kidding, I think. Chesterton was a man of extraordinary brilliance and imagination and even if you think he has lost his mind at times, his writing will make you think differently about the world we inhabit.
But I’m not done talking through my dilemma. I wonder if imagination itself is one key to enjoying and delighting in the mundane. What if, instead of dreaming about how bright the city lights are in Bangkok, or longing for a cool starry night out on a ranch out in Montana, I took notice of the way the sun dances on my old cracked hardwood floors from the hours of 6-8 pm, as if they were its vintage stage? What if, each time I saw a butterfly, I imagined God standing at an easel painting the delicate and intricate patterns displayed on its wings? Or, what if, instead of being annoyed by the boisterous giggling of two people in my local coffee shop, I thanked God for the gift of laughter and comic relief or imagined the kinds of things that may bring a smile to His face. I wonder what my life would be like if I used my overactive imagination, not to daydream about far away lands or fantasy peoples, but to make sense of and delight in my own little world and the people I encounter on a daily basis.
I’ll never forget when I first read an excerpt from one of Kyle Lake’s final sermons. For those of you who are not familiar, Kyle Lake was the pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, TX. He died, far too young, in October of 2005. I did not know Lake personally but I did attend his church on several occasions when I was a Baylor student and had the opportunity to hear him preach. Somewhere along the way I heard that they read the following excerpt from one of his final sermons at his funeral:
“Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own. If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”
Be PRESENT.
I like that.
I want to be present. In every season. Even the ordinary ones.
“Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.” James 1.17
Wow- I love this so much, Melissa! Thank you for the reminder to be all God wants us to be right where we are. I had a big time, “DUH!!!” moment the other day on this topic. I’m from Memphis, but I don’t consider myself a city girl- grew up fishing on the lake with my granddaddy, gardening, going to the farm etc. Anyway, I love wide open spaces, so needless to say when God plopped our family in the middle of Beirut, Lebanon- the biggest concrete jungle I’ve ever experienced (I can tell you about hot, too sister! It’s not as bad as Kuwait but it’s close- what I wouldn’t give for AC in my kitchen!!)- it was quite a shock to me. I spent several years in this love/hate relationship with this crazy city and just over the past 6 months or so I have truly grown to love it like nobody’s business. This new love and contentment with the place God has me, just happened to coincide perfectly with me getting my act together spiritually and being consistent with my time in the Word and prayer life– hmmm. Definitely not rocket science for sure, but I think God is pleased with our consistencies in the normalcy of life and He gives peace and contentment in the midst of the mundane.
Thanks for sharing your heart, and once again challenging us to a deep consideration of where we are.
Blessings today!
Kelli, Are you living in Beirut? Sounds amazing to me! But I can only imagine how hot your kitchen is! Blessings to you girl!
Yes, we live in Beirut.. If you ever get a chance to scratch that travel itch I highly recommend Lebanon! It’s one of the most beautiful and diverse places in the world– and probably one of the most misunderstood. The people are AMAZING, and we have a big team of SB’s here who would welcome you with open arms. (don’t come in August though- too stinkin hot)
Love that quote, Melissa–thanks for sharing it! (Oops, make that them–both Chesterton AND Lake.)
Been thinking about you as I anxiously await the arrival of my first Greek NT from Amazon and get ready to take Greek at Denver Seminary this fall. Been digging into my grammar and workbook in the weeks before class actually starts–just for the fun of it. Something that I’m guessing you get!
Joanne
P.S. Sounds like you need a staycation night–perhaps some Tuscan food on a picnic blanket in the living room. Bring a little of your imagination to life…
Joanne! It is wonderful to hear from you! It has been a while! I have thought of you many times and wondered where you are on your theological journey! Are y’all back in Denver or are you going to an extension? I cherish my first GNT, a little red brick UBS. All my best to you!
Yep, we are back in Denver. So good to be back home–with my parents just minutes away. Love that. And back to class in person–my all-time favorite.
Going to homeschool again and thought, Hmm…might as well teach my girls biblical Greek for their foreign language this year. Never too young to translate from the original language, right?!
Melissa, I loved this. I am a dreamer & a traveler as well. Nothing would be more pleasing than to go. But like you I must pay my bills. However I do have a long list of places, prioritized in order so when the funds are available, I am off. My husband of 33 years shares this passion & we have a ball! Thank you for taking us to faraway places and for helping is to see what is special right here, right now.
Could the verse you ended with be from your research? Looking forward!
Lawan
Lawan, I would love to see your list of places you want to go! We could compare over a cup of coffee or two!
Sounds great! My next top place is Switzerland. Last place I visited abroad was Israel. Got to experience Hannukah(sp?). It was so wonderful. My husband shares your passion for photography and got beautiful pictures. Maybe I’ll see you on the mountain someday & share some of that fondue!
Very well said. I love the reminder of being present. I am a stay at home mom and well…of course I take world travels often in my mind to escape the mundane and down right hard things that motherhood can bring. You did happen to break out an old memory for me…I haven’t seen the word Gadzooks in I don’t know when. I can’t seem to remember much at this moment…but when I do it will bring a pleasant refreshment just like the turning of the leaves. I live about 2 hours N of ATL…girl, it’s hot. “Take my breath away” is not just a song, is it??
Leanne, isn’t it hysterical to think about Gadzooks? I also liked 5-7-9. Did y’all have a 5-7-9 nearby? Try to stay cool!
Hahaha! I think we did at one time. Did you have to be a 5, 7 or a 9 to wear their clothes? I remember the Body Shop and my mom “allowed” me to buy my first 2 piece with much hesitation. Needless to say, after our trip to the beach..I never saw that bathing suit again, or the Body Shop. If the 90’s fashion makes a comeback like the 80’s..oh my.
5-7-9!!! Thank you for that!! I also remember hitting up a Fashion Bug a few times…. the name (at that time) did not quite reflect its contents!
Obviously, I’m too far out in the sticks to be at all sophisticated! I’ve never heard of any of these places!
Melissa,
All I can say is “thank you”
You have no idea what gift you gave me today!!
Janice
Thank you so much for that Melissa. Your words, so well written, have truly reached my soul. I have felt so overwhelmed with life lately. I needed that reminder! Be Blessed. Kristin
WOW, you took the words right out of my mouth. This was wonderful Melissa and something I desparately needed to hear today. Thank you!!! 🙂
I’m new to this blog, but have enjoyed your mom’s studies for years!
“Having said that, I would like to learn how to discover beauty in a season of repetition. Not a season of suffering or hardship, but just a season that is filled with mostly repetitive tasks. ”
For me, I would like to learn how to discover beauty and life and peace and joy in a long long ongoing season of suffering and hardship. I daydream also of better seasons to come (I hope). Reality is getting to me- this season has gone on long enough- oh for the joy of a nice refreshing season this side of Heaven- I wait and hope and pray!
Heather, I am so sorry to hear that you have been in long season of suffering and hardship. I do hope and pray that you get a season of refreshing soon. Thank you for your comment. My best, Melissa
Ok – you and I would seriously be friends! I can’t even stand it. The Orthodoxy made me want to cry and beam at the same time.
I so unbelivably know what you are talking about. And so thankful you brought it up. I have dreamt away days at work, feeling the itching to be somewhere else. But what a remarkable place to be in ‘the Present.’ And to do it well.
Even in that state of dreaming afar off…I ponder, have I let myself be as creative as GOD made me? Am I saving who I am for when I get to where, wherever is? I don’t know. But I have somethings to talk over with my PA!
BTW – That song from Charlie and Chocolate factory does me in every time – its special!
GREAT post!
Hi Melissa,
My daughter is visiting “Chocolate Lake’ in Nova Scotia. All I can think of is swimming in chocolate. Thank you for your thoughts today!
Rebecca
Melissa,
Your recommendation of G.K. Chesterton is the second I have seen in two days! C.S. Lewis listed him first in a list of good old books everyone should read. (He recommended The Everlasting Man) Lewis said, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never allow yourself another new one til you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old to every three new ones.” (The Joyful Christian, 103)His reasons are too lengthy to copy here but are intriguing and make total sense to me. I will defiantly be getting some Chesterton soon since both you and Lewis like him!!! Thanks,
Cara
Cara, Thanks for sharing the C.S. Lewish quote! And please, do let me know what you think of Chesterton when you’re done!
Oh Melissa,
I love this post – because I have recently experienced a physical situation that caused me to spend much of my vacation time – and a lot of my “extra” money, it will be a long while before I go on a real vacation. But that’s okay because I know just when I don’t expect it, and just when I need “it”, I will look up from my dining table and see a redbird or a butterfly or a hummingbird (all of which my Heavenly Father knows have a special meaning to me even though it might not mean a hill of beans to someone else) and I get a rush of gratefulness for the simple pleasures. Thank you for reminding me of these treasures which are priceless and a gift from God just for me!
I just love the posts on this blog site – you are all so very talented!
First I must say that you write beautifully…you have been given your mom’s gift, but with your own twist 🙂 I actually think the same thing about Amanda too as I love to read her posts.
I just wanted to let you know that not too long ago I was singing the Willy Wonka theme song. My 11 year old son was watching the Willy Wonka movie repeatedly. So for days I would swoon all over the house singing “Come with me, and you’ll be…” My 8 year old then requested repeatedly that I stop singing that song 🙂
Blessings and stay cool… I have been in the house (due to the heat) with 3 rambunctious boys all summer… Can’t wait for school to begin 🙂
So good, Melissa. I will appreciate everything today because of what you just wrote. And may I say … you are the very one who encouraged my husband and me to finally see Lord of the Rings (all of them!). I was not disappointed! You are close to Disney World … maybe Epcot … walk around the countries. Yea, it’s not the real thing, but awfully close! Imagination … that’s why I love Disney World so much with my girls. Love it!
“Every perfect gift is from above” … I love that. Always have. Even the things that “we” deem bad are gifts, if we know Jesus. Like my dad always says, “We just need re-wiring!”
No swimming for the rest of the summer … Karalee broke her thumb and is sporting a pretty blue cast. Thanks to you, I’ll be looking at “being trapped indoors” a little differently. Thank you!
Hey Shelli, I’m sorry to hear about Karalee’s thumb! Hopefully the cast is big enough for people to sign- that is the only fun part about a cast! Love ya!
Hi, Melissa! It’s funny that you mentioned signing the cast … we’ve been all over trying to find a “white” sharpie marker that will show up on the blue cast so all our 4th grade Sunday school class can sign her cast! No luck on finding one. We’ll have to settle for black and maybe some pink fingernail polish!! Just between us … I think she is loving the extra attention!! Wink!!
Your resident craft nerd has a suggestion:
try a chalk pen. It looks like a pen but writes like chalk, only it doesn’t wipe off. I’d try Michaels, down the serious marker isle. Yes, one of my darlin’s had a blue cast once upon a time 🙂 Sorry Karalee.
Hi Melissa,
I always enjoy your insights – they leave me feeling smarter for having read them! I loved your comment on the hobbits and Willy Wonka. My favorite movie ever is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I can put that on at anytime and immediately transport myself to the world of whimsical wonderfulness! Who doesn’t love breaking out into song at any moment?! I appreciate the mundane. It reminds me to rest fully because “something” is looming around the corner. For His glory!
I have never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! I will check it out!
you must! a classic 🙂
Wow! Very well said Melissa……..thank you for sharing that!!
Well said, Melissa. I love G.K. Chesterton, and I really believe that the good majority of our lives are probably missed because they are lived in the ordinary (it’s part of the reason I started my blog). A while ago, my older brother mentioned that God still works miracles, but he believed that we often miss the greatest miracles because they seem like the regular workings of ordinary life.
If so, what a blessing.
Love this post!! Just what I needed to hear… It can be tempting to take for granted the day to day monotany of life and not enjoy it to the fullest, so this was a beautiful reminder to live in the moment and cherish it. Thanks!
I think you have great insight and I have found in the last year that when I look around and find I am thankful of things around me, my outlook is way better. Lisa Terkherst had a great teaching on how she changed her outlook from “I have to do the laundry, to praise God I am able to do the laundry”, etc. A different way of thinking can be the best medicine for the mundane.
Melissa,
This was just what I needed to read this afternoon. I am a stay-at-home mom of four little boys and my husband is a youth/college minister. I have recently been diagnosed with Thymoma.
In the last year, I have battled constantly with the tendancy to be disillusioned by my seemingly mundane calling. Your description of ‘wake/eat/work/eat/sleep’ seems so very familiar.
At the beginning of the summer, when I began to have pain in my chest, I thought that I would go in and be told that everything was okay. I was not expecting to be rushed in for a biopsy the next day. And, I was certainly not expecting to be ‘excited’ about being accepted as a patient at MD Anderson.
Now as the days are getting closer for two of our boys to start their school year, I have been spending more time enjoying the mundane activities that I have wasted so much time dreading.
When I wipe a nose, I stare into those big eyes.
When I tuck the boys in for the night, my prayer over those little men isn’t the same hurried, familiar prayer that I have mumbled nightly for the last seven years.
When I make dinner, I sit with my family and enjoy the meal WITH them, instead of getting a head start on the dishes.
When I walk down the hall, I don’t glance into the gameroom and appraise the amount of cleanup that will be required, I marvel at how I have been blessed with four little boys that will play together.
When I hear my husband pull up into the driveway in the evening, I greet him, instead of immediately enlisting him in my ‘mundane’ tasks.
When I spend my quiet time with the Lord, I’m not even quiet!
I am present. This is the day that He has made!
Thank you for sharing! It’s good to hear from you.
Colleen, Your comment should have been today’s post. It brought me to tears. I would say that I hope the Lord is tending to your heart during this time, but I can tell that He is just from reading your comment. I will pray for you. Thank you for sharing some of your story. Warmly, Melissa
Melissa, I just wanted to update you. In the various CT scans that I have had since June, the growth in my thymus HAS NOT GROWN! I have been put through all manner of tests, and been told that everything else looks “perfect”. With that info, the doctors at MD Anderson feel that I am safe enough to wait until February to have another CT scan. According to the doctors, this will give the thymus time to change and reveal the nature of what they are dealing with. If it grows, they will remove it (in a surgery that is much like open heart surgery – with opening the chest and cutting through the sternum). If it does not change at all, they will begin radiation treatments.
I am praying that the goofy thing is GONE when they repeat the tests! In the meantime, I am determined to remain ‘present’!
Thank you for your encouraging words and for all of the prayers that I know were lifted up on my behalf.
this was profound and beautiful, Colleen. It moved me to tears and to pray for you and your sweet family. What a gift you’ve blessed me with today with your words. thank you.
Thank you Colleen,
Your post was beautiful. As a mother of two little girls I was reminded, by both you and Melissa, of how wonderful the mundane can be. We expect God to do a brand new thing all the time, all the while He is doing amazing work in our life through faithful repetition.
Precious little hands and feet, gentle kisses and squeeze hugs, butterflies and daisies are the things we will want to remember for eternity.
I will keep you in my prayers, please keep us posted.
Much love and peace.
Thanks for re-emphasizing it is OK to be who God wants us to be. We get so caught up in the world, we forget who has planned our destiny and how we should take in every moment whether mundane or wildly out of control.
Those four little boys will turn into some fine men some day because you took the time to be a mommy first. Mundane or not, motherhood is a very special “career” in life. It is 24/7….it takes energy….it takes commitment….it takes time….AND it requires LOVE. It sounds like you have done a spectacular job. Hang in there…for tomorrow these four little boys will be four young men. Take in every moment you can!!
Thanks for sharing!
CJ
Colleen,
I just wanted you to know that your post was so inspiring to me! I have felt like a crazy woman running around with four kids…nursiing school….autism issues with our son and all that goes with taking care of a family! Wow…I told Melissa in a reply post to her that I had to say to myself today at about 2:30 just to stop, pause and breathe! All the while I was feeling guilty knowing that my time had been taken from my kids today by so many other demands…It was just an amazing moment for me to read your words so beautifully written! I admire you for your outlook and I want you to know that I have stopped this very second and have prayed for you! Thank you so much for sharing! Life is flying by right before my eyes and I want to stop and take time to enjoy what God has blessed me with!
Love,
Lori Anderson
Thanks, Colleen, I needed to read this today. Blessings on you, sweet sister…
Collen- I have walked the road you are currently on. I know the journey is difficult but the LORD will never waste your suffering. He will carry you!! Truly it is the ordinary that is extraordinary 🙂 Praying for you this morning! Is. 43
Thanks Melissa for a beautiful post!! We just moved back to Georgia yesterday. I hope is starting to feel like home for you. Enjoy your day!
What an awesome comment Colleen… That was touching!
Melissa,
You are too funny!
I’m an Atlanta native, now living in its suburbs and understand all too well what havoc this heat causes! The frappucinos, smoothies, and ice cream bring some relief, but come this “fall” when time to put on last year’s jeans, could be a disaster…
Seriously, thank you for the thoughts to live in the present — mundane and all –, for we are not promised tomorrow. Every moment truly is a gift from the Father.
I am going to try this in the days ahead when our new neighbors’ three dogs begin to bark in the wee hours of the morning. I can think of how the Lord made these special creatures to communicate like nothing else can. Perhaps this will stifle my extreme frustration?
Blessings to you.
Thank you, Melissa, for reminding us to take pleasure in the everyday, many times overlooked, little things in life. I LOVE to travel also, but have not been able to travel much in the past few years (small children, tight budget, etc.), so I sympathize with you! I also loved the sermon excerpt you posted!
Have a great week-end!
Melissa, I live just 1 hour south of you. Some day during the lazy days of ‘autumn’ come for a visit to our quaint little town of Peachtree City. It’s close and could be a nice diversion from cabin fever. We do have 2 Starbucks, so we’re not that far from civilization, and our main mode of transporation throughout our fair city is golf carts. I’d love to show you around & do coffee some afternoon and you could be back home in a jiffy. (Your mom actually stopped in here 1 book signing day in Feb.) Since you can’t use your passport anytime soon, you could consider some of the off the beaten path sites in GA. (Jonesboro=Gone With the Wind Museum, Helen, GA = Octoberfest, Chattahoochee Rafting Rides, etc.) all close to you. Just some thoughts to Keep GA on Your Mind….:)
You are one talented writer! And the content is great too!
I had a roommate in college who had a gigantic map in a very heavy wooden frame that we hung on our bedroom wall. (Side note: It also made very large holes in the wall that caused us not to get our security deposit back.) Every night we would choose a new place to visit “in our dreams.” It was such a fun thing that we still talk about 10 years later!
There are many places people may call home
It may be a nice house built on a hillside,
Or it could be near a lake in a log cabin
There are many places we could call home.
There are places where we feel loved
Places we go during the hoiday time
And there are lots of joy in all we see
These places where we feel a sense of security.
But, people pass and no longer are near
Especially loved ones we hold so dear,
Houses are always in need of repair
And things break or life is sometimes unfair.
So, I call Heaven my Home
Where I will spend eternity
with Jesus and loved ones gone on before
For Jesus has prepared a home that is not built
by man alone
A safe Haven called Heaven will always be
my Home with Lord, I woe everything to thee.
~joyce~
I love to travel and meet different people,being military most of my life has allowed me to do alot of the travelling. Now, most of my trips are missionary trips with our church or travelling nearby states. I have been on both sides of the world; people need the Lord everywhere we travel. There are fun things to see, but I love the things God makes the best. Germany is beautiful and I loved the Alps. Okinawa was fun to shop for komonio’s, eat good Japanese food and make friends. There is always somewhere in U.S. to visit and enjoy.
It is hot in Kansas too. The plans for the evening are dinner and the rodeo. I am a city girl so this was a stretch for me at best of times but the unbearable heat has made me want to be as citified tonight as I can possibly be. All I have been able to think about today is the nasty aromas that would be assaulting my senses this evening. I had actually turned quite grouchy about my husbands unwillingness to change our plans to an air conditioned home watching football. So,as I read your post my prayer turned to ….OH GOD…as much as I do not want to be present at the smelly rodeo tonight please help me to enjoy something new. To really see the wonder of the rodeo….and God help me with my attitude so that those I am with will be glad I am present.
I really enjoyed your post girl, I would read anything you wrote.
Getting dinner in food court before LPL. Hundreds of women here, I’m sure 99% to see Beth. The energy of this many Christian women in 1 place is amazing!!!
So wish I were there, Laura!
Melissa, It was a pleasure to read this blog and everyone’s comments! Just think somewhere out there a young lady may be day dreaming of visiting Atlanta! 😉 Thank you for being open and sharing your gift of words! Love it.
I can certainly identify with the travel itch! My husband and I are just dying to get away. Our 25th anniversary is next month and while we had originally thought we were heading to the Canadian Rockies, Banff National Park to be specific, it just isn’t working out this year.
I love your comment about BE PRESENT. My own thoughts lately have been BE INTENTIONAL. Life goes too fast without being both present and intentional.
Thanks
Melisaa,
I am so glad you are stuck in that condo for a while because had you not, you would not have written this post and this post just woke me up big time!
I have been taking so many things for granted lately, wishing and wanting things to be different, and missing, completely missing, all that God has given me and has for me to experience. He loves me so very much, wanting me not to throw away today because I’m to busy doing the woe is me thing.
Im getting up right now, and grabbing my kiddos and I’m going to play with them. And then when my husband gets home I am going to hug him and love him 🙂 It will be one big hugging loving feast.
May God bless you greatly today! God sure did use you for me today. And I am so thankfuly for it.
Thank you, Thank you.
Love,
Geri
http://www.theeyesofmyheart.com
I have been feeling this exact way! Thank you for this post! 🙂
Melissa,
I’ve never commented on here before, but I always love your posts. The way you reference great, classical writers and bring new relevance to their words with passion and femininity is inspiring. As a SAHM of two toddlers, I have to remind myself about every 30 minutes to stay mentally engaged in the present moment or I quickly find myself escaping via Facebook, the internet, magazines, daydreams about far off places and freedoms, etc. So, thanks for the reminder that there is great satisfaction in acknowledging God’s presence right here in the gift of the ordinary. Blessings!
Your words brought a tear to my eye. I am sooo full of mundane in my life, it has brought me to tears. I thank you for your quote, I do not know this fellow and his work, and thank you for the verse. I will take some quiet time and reflect on it. You have done well with bringing your life into mine, and a lesson I needed to hear.
Thank you Melissa for your time and talent.
THANK YOU, MELISSA!
Bravo… Bravo!! “Be Still (PRESENT) and Know He is God…” (Inspired by Willow Creek’s recent Leadership Summit!)
There was a wonderful scene from the mini-series about John Adams.
In a final scene, John Adams is walking along a cornfield at dusk with his son, Thomas. His wife has died, all of his peers but Thomas Jefferson have passed away and this is what he has to stay:
Still, still I am not weary of life. Strangely. I have hope. You take away hope and what remains? What pleasures? I have seen a queen of France with eighteen million levers of diamonds on her persons, but I declare that all the charms of her face and figure, added to all the glitter of her jewels, did not impress me as much as that little shrub. (pointing with his walking stick to a small white flower in the field.)
Now my mother always said that I never delighted enough in the mundane, but now I find that if I look at even the smallest thing…my imagination begins to roam the Milky Way. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice Evermore! …REJOICE! EVERMORE! I wish that had always been in my heart and on my tongue. I am filled with an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees right here in admiration….If only my knees would bend like they used to. “
Jill, I totally remember this exact scene in John Adams! Thanks for bringing it back to memory! So great!
Melissa,
I enjoyed this post very much. I can’t tell you how many times my mother was told by my teachers through the years that I was a wonderful student, but I daydreamed too much. I think daydreaming is an outlet for creativity (since you mentioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I must point out there was some kind of daydreaming happening there). It is funny that you mentioned being part homebody and part wanderlust. Every time I hear or see an airplane passing overhead, I always feel an inexplicable envy. I think to myself, “there is a plane full of people going somewhere and I’m not.” Must be the wanderlust. Of course, my turn comes quite frequently, but when I’m not going somewhere, I want to be.
When I am home, I must have all the blinds open so I can see outside and let the light stream into the house. We have two large windows overlooking our side yard and my office desk sits in front of these windows. From these windows I can watch the birds and other wildlife and I’ve even seen a hawk swoop through and nab a dove right off the feeder (the beauty and adventure of home).
My husband serves as the missions director at our church so we have many missionary friends around the world. We wanted to put up a map in our office with pictures beside it of our friends. A number of years ago I found a set of old classroom maps, you know, the kind that are on rollers (one of my favorite rummage sale finds). I grabbed them up and afterwards discovered that several were printed in the 1940’s. The Africa map is my favorite because we have been to several East Africa countries, we have great friends there, and Africa has changed so much since then. Most of the countries on the map have their European names.
Thanks again for cracking the door to your imagination and homebody/wanderlust cravings and reminding us to be content to find beauty and adventure in our present season.
Melissa, I think you and I might be peas in a pod on this one…I sometimes get the travel itch so badly, I can’t think straight…or at least not without daydreaming of sunshine, warmth, friends, and preferably an ocean…all that sounds perfect!
Being from the Seattle area, I had to laugh at your first paragraph. Because I am currently working on my Master’s degree while working full time, I have spent the last two years indoors. I was musing the other day that I need to step outside even if to get burnt just so I don’t become opaque.
Thanks for the reminder to be where God wants us!
Melissa,
Oh girl living just an hour and a half south of you I feel your heat pain!
We have been inside most of July and all of August.
It is way too HOT to be outside that even the pool is no relief!
So today as my 2 sick boys snuggled next to me we played games and enjoyed the fleeting moments of childhood/life together
And honestly it was BLISS! I just so happened to sing the Willy Wonka song to them today so it made me laugh when you mentioned it. There is just something about that song that makes me smile and feel like I am 10 all over again 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend sweet sister!
Hey Melissa!
Always a pleasure to read from you (any of you three for that matter). Your post is like a refreshing drink on this hot August day in Houston. I am certain, too, that H-town does not stand for Houston but of Hot-town. I have even tried being nocturnal and doing more things in the evening but even that isn’t helpful. The other night I came home at 10:30 p.m and the temp was 90 degrees in parts of the city! The heat is even more irritable after just returning from a visit to my sister in San Diego last week where their HIGH was in the low 70’s (Houston’s LOW temps have been in the 80’s)!
I so needed the reminder to BE PRESENT! I am a bona fide wanderlust. Even from childhood I got in so much trouble because I would disappear from home and go about visiting friends for hours. No amount of spanking could cure me. World Geography was one of my favorite subjects in school. I have always been very facinated by different cultures/places. I hope to visit all the continents by the end of my life on earth (have done 4 so far). One of my dream jobs is to be one of those Globe Trekker reporters (the travel show on PBS). Today, I travel an average of 3-4 times a year (with at least one international trip). Most of my trips are connected with family or friends or missions and rarely just for sight-seeing. It helps that I live in an international city and have made lots of international friends who invite me to visit them and their families. I also have family living in different parts of the U.S and the world. Having a free tour guide, free lodging, and food makes it a little more convenient for me to travel. I have standing invitations to travel to France, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, Haiti, and Kazakhstan to name a few. I have visited only a dozen countries or so. My work schedule gives me a little more flexibility than most jobs, but even so I am an adult with bills and some dependents to think of. I also have to be mindful that I am only a steward of the resources God has given me and it is not mine to use prodigally. This means I don’t have the liberty to go wherever I am invited or fancy (thankfully so). I am so grateful though for the privilege I have been afforded so far- the Lord has been so gracious to indulge my craving for travel.
Thanks again for the reminder to BE PRESENT and ENJOY the here and now. TODAY has so much for me to marvel at if I only pay attention.
Melissa-
Well now, it was good to hear from you…it sounds to me you have spring fever, but it isn’t spring…so I guess your term condo fever matches up pretty well.
I’m in the Nashville TN area and it is HOT, HOT, HOT! here too, our heat index has reached 106-109 that was the last count I heard, but we are at 100 degree temps. By the by we call Atlanta ‘Hotlanta’ too.
I gotta ask, it there any difference in the heat in TX and the heat in Atlanta? I figured heat was heat..so tell me how is the heat in Houston TX different than where you are now? I’m orig. from KY and honey the heat is the same there as it is here.
Just think in a few months we may be saying, it is so cold I could just scream.
Hang in there sweetie, that’s about all we can do….with the AC and glass of southern Ice-tea, of course.
As always I enjoyed your post.
Oh ladies, I have a “bucket list” a mile long and I’d say that three quarters of that mile are places that I’d love to visit, see, taste, and experience! Italy is number 2 on the list with Israel, or maybe Russia, being number 1…or maybe Ireland could be tied with Russia for 2nd. 🙂
As a homeschooling mother of four, I completely understand the monotony of doing the same thing every day. You’d think that things would be perpetually unique between having four between the ages of 16 and 7 and the schoolwork. However, the tasks themselves are always the same and could sometimes make me feel…restless. I would by lying to say that I have not, and occasionally still do, gone through seasons of daydreaming and I could probably even say, dissatisfaction.
The eye-opener for me came when my husband became very sick and money became very tight. Suddenly, I was thrust into a very real life change. One that, potentially, could have meant that I would no longer be able to do something that we truly feel is what we’re supposed to be doing. God, in His infinite kindness, allowed us to go through that season with every bill paid, and every mouth fed, and me still able to run my tiny little real estate company from home, as well as educate my children, which is my primary focus.
Since that time, I, too, notice the sunlight bouncing off our hardwood floors and cherish the littlest things. We are currently studying animal classification in science, and I’m pretty sure even 3 years ago I would have snatched someone bald headed because it’s so much. Today, I’m mostly just thankful that I CAN.
Blessings to you, Melissa. I’m so glad that you’re a daydreamer AND a goal-oriented person. You seem like quite the character and I’m blessed to have one of my very own in my eldest daughter, India. She is a constant source of inspiration, exasperation and complete delight. She is one of my five most favorite people in all the world. (my hubby is included in there… ;))
By the way, we’re in SC, and girlfriend, it’s so stinkin’ hot the pool feels like the bathtub! We’re heading to DC next week and I pray it’s even the slightest bit cooler!
Kristi
Agree – agree – agree —– 🙂
Ahhh…thank you for saying everything I have felt these last few months. So nice to know I’m not the only one who wonders
“travely” things like whose eating their lunch right now in the little park behind Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris where I ate my lunch only four years earlier.
Dear Melissa!
Despite the many obvious differences between us (not that you know what they are, not knowing me, but from what I’ve observed of you through your writing), it always makes me smile when I feel like you were reading over my shoulder as I was writing in my journal. 🙂 I just blogged about this very thing (with far less eloquence) this afternoon. Lessons God is teaching…praise His Name.
I will pray for you as I pray regarding my own restlessness. I would say that I am 100% homebody and 100% adventurer. It depends on the day and the circumstance.
Thank you for sharing, Friend Of Some Day.
And, I *loved* the Chesterton and Lake quotes! Some of the exact same thoughts from this afternoon…I love when God does that!
It reminds me of a favorite of Jim Elliott: “Wherever you are, be all there.”
Melissa,
I’m your mom’s age so I have a longer perspective on this yet was really just wrestling it out a couple of years ago. My conclusions about the mundane: it is the greatest part of our life here and for good reason; God tells us how much He esteems perseverance and its purposes. We learn it and possess it through steady service and love within the mundane. Think how much we value these qualities in others–loyalty, trustworthiness, consistency. By definition those things are made plain in repetition. So, how do we gain hearts of contentment in the average? Through gratitude. This year I began a list of thanks that I add to weekly, sometimes more often, and it consists of the little everyday things. Praise changes how we view the mundane because it changes us. Thanks for sharing your heart on such a needed topic.
Hi Melissa,
Oh, I can SO relate to this post! I’m getting to spread my wings a bit 2 weeks from tomorrow, but it’s been a looooonnnng time coming.
Since moving into my condo nearly 3 years ago after an unwanted divorce, I have not spent one night away from my condo and my 2 precious kitty cats. I had the money to go, but I didn’t have paid vacation until just recently, and I thought I’d have trouble finding a cat sitter.
A few months ago, I started the process of buying a condo, but backed out after God’s clear direction to stop. I thought, ok, now what can I do? What can I find to look forward to? Something to get me excited, to get me away from here for a while?
Now, my beloved former husband is an amazing cook, and for a while I thought my interest in food was just a way of holding on to the memories. Maybe it’s still that, in a way, but I suddenly realized that I like to cook because I liked to cook. ME! It wasn’t about anyone else! I had my OWN talent, my OWN interest, and I wanted to explore that!
I was led to a week-long Basic Training Boot Camp at the CIA. The Culinary Institute of America! I just KNEW it was the right thing to do. I signed up, made my hotel reservations, found someone to care for my cats (Oh, thank you Jesus!!), and for the past few months, I’ve had the joy of anticipating this trip. I’m excited, and my friends are excited for me. A few people said I should teach some cooking lessons when I get back, as a ministry/outreach to some women at church. ME, can you imagine!! I believe this trip will change my life!
So Melissa, I know this time is hard, the time where you yearn to break free and explore this wonderful world, and that time will come! May you have precious times of anticpating the future as you rejoice the present. Enjoy having the man you love with you. Enjoy having the man you love, loving you in return!
Melissa,
I am 1 1/2 hrs. north of you in Greenville, SC – it’s hot as heck-fire here too!! :/
Thank you for the reminder of the life in life…..and for the Chesterton quote. Good stuff.
Pam