Inspirations and Illuminations

 Good morning!  A little disclaimer:  I have to get my things together to go to work in just 25 minutes, so that's my time limit to write this little musing.  So I may not do much editing this time.  Let's just see how it goes (24 minutes left . . .) I try to do a little Bible reading every day.  Depending on how I sleep the night before, snoozing a couple more times may be a better way to prepare myself for the day (complete honesty here), so sometimes it's in the evening, and some days I just don't get to it.  I read a little devotional and then take the passage of scripture and read it several times, in several versions, to help the message sink in.  When I did yesterday's reading, it stuck out to me as an idea that would be good for anyone to espouse, not only those of us who try to follow the teachings of the Bible.  It's from the first letter of the apostle Peter:  "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve ot...

I'm becoming somewhat obsessed with the idea of decluttering.  I've subscribed to a few email lists about simplicity, living simply, minimalism, and decluttering, and enjoy gleaning the ideas in an effort to simplify my own life, to declutter.  I like to read books about things like Swedish Death Cleaning (that's really a thing, and if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it), making life simpler, and time-saving hacks.  I think when most people hear the word "minimalism," they think of getting rid of all one's possessions, and sleeping on the floor.  Talk about living simply, and the mental picture is of the Amish or a "hippie" commune.  It's usually about stuff.  Physical stuff.  Eliminating the stuff you already have and reducing the stuff you acquire.   I also think a lot about the word "enough."  I made a bracelet at a women's retreat last year, and after agonizing over designing the perfect bracelet decided it sh...

For the last several years, instead of "New Year's Resolutions," I've chosen a "Word of the Year."  Rather than set myself up for failure with a grandiose To-Do List , I try to set the tone for the year with a word I want to focus on, and then throughout the year, keep my eyes open for how that word and the concept behind it show up in my life and in the world around me.  What's really amazing about this exercise to me is how easy it is to find what I'm looking for.  If my word of the year is "light," everything I read seems to have something to do with light.  Conversations I have in person and online tend to lead to discussions about the darkness in the world and effects of light on the darkness.  Sermons and TED Talks and Webinars I encounter through my year of light inevitably connect, sometimes directly and sometimes obliquely, but it's always there.  It's like when you buy your first Toyota, and then suddenly it seems that eve...