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Make beautiful things

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The last two nights my husband has been on nightshift so I have had plenty of time to myself.

A bit of crochet, a bit of reading, a bit of Downton Abbey, okay a lot of Downton Abbey!

One of my dear friends is about to give birth to a little baby girl, so I made some little bits for her.

The funny thing about creativity is it is so satisfying. I know its a gift for someone else, but I feel like I’m the one that has been given the gift. As the little precious things begin to appear out of a ball of wool, my heart sighs.

Crochet may not be your thing.

In fact I would pretty much guarentee it.

But what is your thing?

What is it that you were designed to make?

I believe everyone feels the most satisfied when they are producing what they were designed to make.

You all have a make button.

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Some days we just need to find that button and then keep practising and get better at it.

Do you like to draw?

Then draw.

Get great at it.

Do you like to cook?

Then bake.

Get brilliant at hospitality.

Do you like to write?

Then write and keep on writing.

Find your make button.

We all have one.

#inspire14

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even though it tarries

Do you feel frustrated at your journey?

Are you over waiting?

Are you sick of the in between place?

the journey

Well you are not alone.

Today one of my bestie’s and I snuck away to the movies quietly in the middle of the day whilst I was in between conducting interviews and she was on the way to work to go live on radio.

We had previously sneakily made a plan, because there was a movie we both wanted to watch that no one else in our sphere wanted too.

We were so excited about our plan that we thought we might make a secret movie club on the last friday of each month in the middle of the day as it feels so naughty.

Back to the movie.

It was ‘The Hobbit’.

I have heard such mixed reviews about this movie, but I was savouring the epic-ness of the journey in this film. As I was recently surrounded by hype in New Zealand when it premiered, I have been surprised to hear people bag it here in Australia.

Most of the comments have been ‘It’s just too long.’, ‘They just walk and walk and don’t seem to get anywhere.’, ‘Like how long can you watch a group of people go on a journey!’ or ‘Boring!’.

Today as I watched the film, I was spell bound. Like literally on the edge of my seat, my friend Sara, shouting out loudly in parts, enthralled.

We loved the journey.

We loved its epic genre.

I think some of the feedback shows the age we have been born into. The age of fast, quick, consumerism, over night reality stars made famous culture.

We want stories and journeys to move quickly and at our fast pace, as we munch popcorn and check our phone five (or fifty) times throughout the movie.

We are the ones who have become boring. We are bored so easily and I think the discipline of a slow, unfolding, all encompassing journey is to be savoured.

I think this is why we get bored with our own stories.

I believe we become frustrated when our dreams are slow to tally.

I think we are tricked into believing times of hiddenness or slow development mean that God is missing in action.

I believe God savours the slow moments. I believe he delights in the hidden seasons, because they are times of growth and development.

If you feel frustrated because the dream tarries, then take time to count the growth and the opportunities that avail. If you haven’t done my reflection pages, then maybe this might help you gain perspective.

I love this quote from Saint Teresa of Avila

journey 1(#inspire14 : I am doing a visual diary entry for every day of 2014, if you want to choose to do something everyday this year and join me, use the hastag #inspire14)

The feeling remains dear friend that God is on the journey with you.

Even if you don’t feel or know that he is present.

He is.

Trust me.

Or don’t, that’s cool, look for him in the small details.

I think you will find his smile.

He shines in the hidden place.

Love 2014

Amanda

 

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the smell of summer

summer rideDay two: #inspire14

(Each day of 2014 I have committed to drawing in my visual diary and posting it online in my social pages and here.)

This morning I woke knowing my husband was home from work and so any excuse I could come up with to negate my morning walk would be void.

I just don’t know why it takes me so long to get out of the door.

Exercise, what is it?

We all have a demon habit that refuses to submit to our yearly resolutions will. Prayer, chocolate, coffee, smoking, drinking too much, eating carbs…You know the vice as soon as you read these sentences, it screams out pridefully ‘That’s me!, that’s me!’.

Anyway, back to my morning walk. We live 20 metres from the beach and you’d think I’d skip out of our front door every morning and frolic in the ocean with the penguins and dolphins, but honestly it is a major effort to get my body moving.

This year, after doing my new year reflection pages rather than setting New Years resolutions I decided I would set a daily routine rather than set goals.

See my goals have been quite similar for the last few years and I just don’t get around to making them a part of my everyday life.

Goals to:

Exercise more

Eat Healthier

Pray more

Read more

 

summer

So I made myself up a routine daily that helps me achieve these goals.

7am- wake up (not with my phone and check online forums)

7.30am- play worship music in the house, not tv etc

8am- go for a walk/ exercise

9am- online time

12pm- lunch

1pm- Phone goes offline and no carbs after lunchtime

6pm- dinner

9pm- prayer and reading to go to sleep (online blackout)

I have realised, that radical bans from the foods and the habits, don’t work for me, but a routine with balance around it everyday, not just on special days, changes my personal culture and allows the resolutions that I have to become a reality.

As I walked the beach this morning, I smelt the smells of summer. I saw families, getting ready to ride the ferry, I smelt fish cooking, I saw colours and life, the wind exposed my fears and my heart refilled again ready for a new day of resolve.

Are you struggling already with the New Year commitments you have made?

Maybe you need to change your daily routine to make change not negotiable for this new year.

All my summer love

Amanda

 

 

 

 

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day one: martha

20131120-083322.jpgAll those New Years celebrations I spent wistfully in the corner imaging what life with my own little family would be like, were far from the reality of my hours spent seeing 2014 in last night.

It started off so perfectly, best friends gathering, BBQ’s and yummy food awaiting.

Great conversation.

Sublime Music.

A windy, sultry, night at our beach shack with the ones we love.

My little man Maximus, went to bed quietly after sneaking a couple of chocolates that are usually off limits.

The sake bottle was opened, Double Brie cheese started to disappear, the night was settling in to be great.

Then the wheels started to fall off. A little yelp from a bedroom down the back of our shack and I went to check on my little man. He wasn’t feeling great, a high temperature, very unsettled and then I started feeling unwell also.

Our friends continued to party and as I held my little man, a massive explosion of vomit went everywhere, I mean everywhere, in my hair, in my bed, all over my New Years outfit, pillows, rugs and I’d sure you can imagine the rest.

Oh 2014, I heard my friends wishing each other Happy New Year, the bell tolled the turning of another year and I was cleaning up a massive mess.

Honestly I am laughing out loud. I dreamed so often of having a family and a husband and doing life simply with them.

I think we have these high romantic notions of what our future dreams are going to be like, but the reality is, living the life of our dreams is actually really hard work.

We can dream, explore and come up with all our notions of goals and set great expectations for the year to come, but are you willing to get dirty to make these dreams reality.

St-Martha

To pour salt into my already vulnerable wounds (smile), my mum gallantly arrived this morning with her annual shoe box full of patron saints. Each year we choose a saint for the New Year and my mum loves this tradition dearly.

Guess who my saint for 2014 is?

Saint Martha.

(each day of 2014 I have committed to doing a visual journal, this is my entry from day one.)

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Martha. Yes the one that the saying ‘Don’t be a Martha’ comes from!

She is well known to be a woman of hard work and substance.

Today four loads of washing later, the aftermath of our little dinner party and the usual breakfast shenanigans of a nearly two year old my heart is happy.

I am smiling as I lean into this year knowing for me to achieve the things I desire of this year, it is going to take hard work, discipline and sheer determination.

Oh Martha, the patron saint of ‘Housewives’, please help me.

So funny.

Here we go 2014.

Here comes the hard work.

Ha!

Ps- I have been so overwhelmed at all the images coming in from all over the world of people doing their reflection pages, if you would like to join us: There are two opportunities.

1) Choose to do one small thing every day for 2014 this is called #inspire14

2) Do these reflection pages and lean into this new year with gratitude.

Happy New Year!

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change 2014?

change

Do you struggle to set resolutions at the change of a year?

Do you struggle to keep them?

Do you wish change, rather than see change happen?

One of the main reasons I find that people fail in their commitments to bring change from one year to the next, is that their resolutions are

1) unattainable or

2) based in negative experiences or pain.

Each year for the last decade I have asked myself the following questions before I even attempt to set goals, resolutions or change for the new year. These questions have helped me significantly in the tone and tenure of goals I attempt.

Reflection, hope and contemplation is an amazing gift that this season offers us.

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’

Alfred Tennyson

I have put together a downloadable document, that you can print out and go through the questions I ponder at this time of the year. They have changed and evolved as the years have gone on from my reflection, but they have been so helpful in orientating my thoughts towards the future. (here are a small selection of the questions; click on the link to download all the questions and print out to write in the guided reflection journey).

Download the questions here: change reflection pages

Hope this helps.

I will be making myself a cup of tea and buying a almond croissant and reflecting with you.

Happy Days

Here’s to a brilliant 2014.

Amanda

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