First Day Musings: Finding Beauty

Whitetop Mountain

We live where it is beautiful all year round. Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Every season has something terrific to offer and dazzle the hungry eye and heart.

Creek apples we discovered on the far side of our creek. 

They make delicious applesauce.

Beauty surrounds us; however, isn't it so easy to overlook it? We see it every day. It grows familiar and, before we know it, we no longer see the beauty around us.

Coming home from Los Angeles, January 2,

after attending the Tournament of Roses Parade. 

It only takes leaving home, though, to bring that beauty fresh to our minds when we return to the place where we are loved. We are home.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -- Confucious

Look for beauty this week!

Slow Down

Brenda had a great post today about the importance of slowing down. While her post is in the context of health and well-being, it resonanted with me because I am not a slowed down kind of gal. Mother observes that I am "just like your Daddy -- at full speed from the moment you open your eyes in the morning." While she is not being nice in her comment, it drives her wild that Daddy and I do things quickly rather than lingering, I try to take it as a compliment. Daddy is a hard worker and has been extremely successful in his life. I hope to do nearly half as well.

That said, I am a rusher, hurrier, get-it-done-now kind of gal. When I don't get things done quickly, I am annoyed. Terribly so. This is one of the lessons God has wanted to teach me, but I have, uh-hum, ignored it until now.

I have come to realize that I must learn to slow down; I will not live more life by rushing. Rather, I am losing life by rushing because I don't enjoy all the processes that it takes to live -- dishes, mowing, cleaning, or even grading. Perhaps I am missing good things in life by not taking more time with these things. I should treasure the many things I have been blessed with, taking time to care for them and enjoy them more.

Dishes indicate the time and money spent to make a meal that will nourish my body for things I really love to do. Cleaning is a blessing because I, well, have stuff that needs cleaning like a toilet or bed sheets. Grading reminds me that I am blessed because I have a job and that students like me enough, even though I am tough, to spend two years with me.

So, this weekend, I am going to slow down and enjoy my long list of chores. And, I plan to take some time to sit on the porch and spin. I have this lovely angora that wants to grow into yarn. Wouldn't it be a shame not to do that for it?

Take some time and enjoy this lovely weekend. We are blessed.

First Day Musings

Slow down.

I recently read a lovely little book entitled "In Praise of Slowness" and learned that there is a whole underground movement toward slowing down -- food, work, life in general. This, coupled with the conversation I heard on Homeword this week about why we are so stressed as a nation, seems to suggest that we are standing at a crossroads. Do we hurry through that crossroads or do we slow down, look both ways, and then decide which way to go?

Dr. Paul Borthwick postulates that we are stressed because we have so many choices. He gives the example that in 1974 we had only two kinds of Lays Potato Chips -- plain and BBQ. Now, however, we have more than 60! Yeppers, 60! The theme of his book Simplify is that we need to reduce our choices and make the conscious decision to use and want less. This, he states, will lead to our having less stress and, thus, being more content.

It seems a predominate theme these days -- simplify life -- slow down -- enjoy more. But, I have to ponder, what are we doing that undermines this? For me it is taking on more than I 1) want to; 2) need to; and 3) have time to do. I have come to realize that this is selfish, to a degree, to think I have to be involved in everything going on around me at work, home, friends, or whatever. Actually, as I am learning, it is okay to say "no" and to let some things pass. It gives others a chance to step up and be successful. In short, life is not all about me.

One of the things we are learning in the Financial Peace University program is how all our choices have consequences. These can be financial, of course, but they are also emotional and psychological as well. Slowing down and considering how we are spending our money will help us acheive those short and long-term goals. We are taking the time to pack lunch every day, to eat at home every night, and to spend a little more time to find things we may have here that we need for a project rather than rushing out and buying duplicates. And, we are using up things we have intentionally or accidentally stockpiled.

Our grandparents knew the value of taking time, slowing down, and enjoying. Look at the photos of them. See the food on the table? The fishing poles? The picnic baskets? The handmade quilts? The group enjoying sweet ice tea as they sit under a tree visiting? The prodigious garden? They valued the process as much as the product. In short, they slowed down and took the time to do things step-by-step rather than wanting instant gratification.

My challenge this coming year is to selectively live my life so that I can become more in the moment, in short, slowing down. One of my most favorite poems is Tennyson's "Ulysses." He wrote: "I cannot rest from travel: I will drink / Life to the lees" (6-7). For me, this means to find joy in every day; to enjoy the process as well as the product; to treasure the moments as well as the hours. In short, slow down.

Sunday musings

After reading Brenda's blog here and her loss of a friend, I have started thinking about how we live our lives. I find that I often spend my time in "quiet desparation" as Thoreau wrote. The mundane seems to push me along rather than spending time doing those things I really love -- spending time with family, reading, knitting, spinning, weaving, or just day dreaming. In short, I am a Martha, caught up in the busyness of every day.

The past few weeks, several people we know, not close friends but acquaintances, have died or become seriously ill. All were in their 50s. This scares me to death (no pun intended!). I am not done with living. I am not done doing all the things I want to do! There are books to read, stories to tell, and projects of love that I want to complete. Why, then, do I (and I suspect most of us) spend time doing those things we don't like or want to do??

Last night, I took my blue enamel bucket, half-filled with water, and walked the farm and road with the dogs, collecting wild flowers. I spent a happy hour with the dogs and another half hour arranging flowers in various containers. When I was done, I placed each in a special place where I would see them -- the living room, bedroom, kitchen, dining table. It made me nearly giddy to see the little flower heads bobbing in the gentle breeze of the ceiling fan. And, this morning when I woke, there they were to greet me and say "Good morning." Love it!

All this is to say that today I have declared a cease work day. We are going to play in this house. I am not sure how or what, but we are going to do something we have a passion for and not do busywork. For me this could mean weaving off the scarf on the table loom or organizing my menus or writing in my journal or milling soap or organizing school work. For Don it could mean working in his studio or "watching" TV (through closed eyelids -- I don't understand this mystery). I will make bread and a picnic lunch. We have 30 acres so surely there is a lovely place to picnic -- even the porch will do. And we will take time to dream.

Have a peaceful Sunday, won't you?