Category: emo/ thought provoking/ too much green tea

I am a words person through and through.

One of my great friends, who is my mentor, a fellow author and all round brilliant person, drove down to our shack today and we spent the day with tea, a storm and a two year old.

The sun may have been hiding behind the clouds, but one thing we were not short on was words.

Simple story telling words.

Deep wisdom filled words.

Funny tale type of words.

Dreaming kind of words.

Encouragement into our future kind of words.

We spoke for hours on end and I promise you there was not one word spoken about another in comparison. There was not one word spoken that pulled other writers down or other creatives compared too.

We spoke words of life.

These are my favourite days.

There is nothing more discouraging for me to walk away from a conversation full of gossip, talking about others and tearing people apart.

I honestly abhor it.

It leaves me feeling dirty.

I am no saint.

I need to count the cost of my words often.

But I want to be thrifty with my words, knowing that they build both life and death.

I want to live a life of encouragement, truth and beauty.

I have been thinking about these words of late and the way that I handle my relationships.

Truthful; honest… not filling my conversation with over the top untruthful flattery. Being real, being authentic, being truthful. Not saying things that I don’t mean, just to make the person like me. Careful Truthfulness. I am over flattery.

Gentle; more vulnerable…As a leader I want to be gentler with those around me and also mostly myself.

Fearless; Stepping away from people pleasing…I want to be a person who is Brave in my conversations, fearless of people and okay with who I am. Reminding myself that I am enough. I am sick of trying to impress others with my words. I want to be truly authentic.

What are your words for this season?

Let us be a people that choose our words carefully.

Speak tomorrow

Yesterday one of my face book friends wrote this status update;

‘I have finally got to 1,000 friends here on face book, but in real life I think I have about four.’

I also made a quote design from a status update from a group of creatives I love here in my city…

I am still in the aftermath of watching ‘The Fault with Our Stars’ at the movies yesterday and it has got me thinking how our society rates success by ‘how well we are known, rather than how well we have lived.’

The Mac Donald’s effect has taken over our culture as a definition of success. If we mass produce something and make it accessible to everyone, that is now brilliance.

What about the quality?

What about living a quiet and authentic existence, creating beauty in our moments with those we love dearly?

A quote from John Green that arrested me yesterday was this…

Why do we think being loved widely, makes us a success?

Why do we believe that our quick rise to fame in culture is a great attribute for our resume?

Why do we believe that large numbers following or attending something means that it is truthful, excellent and successful?

Some of the most inspirational people I know, aren’t even on social media.

Some of the most creative people I have ever met, are loved deeply and produce out of that place of security and possibility.

Some of the most astounding feats have happened and have never been captured or reproduced anywhere except the moment when they were created.

I heard someone once say,

‘We are living our lives trying to impress people we will never meet, buying the lifestyle with money we don’t even have, to please people we don’t even like.’

Big is not always better.

Fashionable is not always cool.

Brilliance is not often found in a highly marketed package.

Happiness is rarely found in large moments of success.

Why do we think so many celebrities struggle with their daily lives outside of the spotlight?

I want to be loved deeply, by a core of people, who know me and who trust me.

I want to live true to who I am, who I was designed to be, who I am purposed to be.

I want to be happy.

Happiness is not found in large moments of consumerism.

It is found internally when we make peace with who we truly are.

Be gentle.

How often do we hear that phrase?

Hardly ever…

Our culture implores us to be bold, to be brave, to be successful, to be brilliant, to be excellent…

What about gentle?

Mostly, what about being gentle with ourselves.

I am now 33 weeks pregnant and I often find internal dialogue with myself, anything but gentle.

Yesterday, I was tired from a speaking engagement the night before and a radio interview in the morning. I had a two year old running around my feet, I had someone coming to be mentored, a pile of washing to boot and in the back of my mind ‘What possibly could I make for dinner that is inspired?’.

As I walked the washing out to the line, (rephrase: waddled the washing out to the line) I found myself tired, overwhelmed and so not wanting to hang out this heavy load.

I wasn’t gentle with myself, I was heavy worded, I was disheartened, I was tired.

As I stood at the line, hanging out three loads of washing, I reminded myself. ‘You are in your third trimester, you are doing your best, you are enough.’.

That change in inner dialogue, changed my whole perspective of that very moment.

Someone who is so used to getting twenty five things done in a day, was proud of getting the washing hung.

Somedays, just hanging the washing out and making a great environment in your home, is enough.

We need to be gentle with ourselves.

I love Philipians 4:5

It says this;

‘Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.’

To All.

That means everyone.

That means you.

Be gentle with yourself.

Especially in the days that follow a really big moment in your life. A big project finished, a task completed that has taken months, a conversation that was really intense.

Be kind and nurture that precious heart of yours.

Be gentle, tomorrow is another day.

How often do we think that our best days have past us?

We dwell in nostalgia, forgetting all the struggle and strife in those days, yet truly the best place for us to dwell is in this very moment.

We reminisce.

Those skinny years on the beach, those carefree moments in university without a mortgage and early morning wake ups. That job we loved and lost, those late nights at cafes with friends with no responsibilities and the list goes on.

Today I have woken with a very sneaky hunch. I baked banana bread for my favourites and smiled at the days to come and thought…

‘The best is yet to come.’

It is resounding in me like a song that plagues.

‘The best is yet to come.’

I kinda have a feeling that this promise is not just for me and mine, but you and yours as well.

‘The best is yet to come.’

The reason I believe this, is every new day has potential to be something magnificent that we have never experienced before.

To be captured.

To be revelled in.

To be lived.

The lessons we have learnt from those failures, have the capacity to gird us with strength for the new journey’s.

The people we have loved and lost, have taught us faithful lessons of patience, peace and what we are really worth in relationship.

Lately my little Maximus, has started noticing rainbows. Everywhere we go, he notices them, even when I don’t. The power of a rainbow, is it was created as a promise for tomorrow. Every time we see it, we know that God see’s and knows the struggles of today and he delights in the potential of tomorrow.

Every new day has a promise like no other and all it takes for us to step into it, is guarding our heart from the hurts of the past and stepping up to the promises of tomorrow.

What do you have to loose?

Step into new days, new moments and new possibilities.

Throw off the weights that hinder, they hold you back and do something brilliant towards your new day.

I’m inspired about tomorrow.

How about you?