Do the Next Thing

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. Frank had spent a lot of time preparing for my homecoming, having the place cleaner than I left it, with the Christmas tree down. (I had not been ready to take it down...it was so beautiful...but I'm thankful to have it done)

The washer is humming, Boomer and I are here on the couch, and I am contemplating what to do first and how to tackle the day. There are days where the to-do list appears unending, and overwhelmed is the best description...today's one of those. But, in the words of my early mentor, Elisabeth Elliott, just "do the next thing." Those are great words of advice. Perhaps it is a hormonal thing for a woman...some days the list seems longer, even though in reality it isn't.

Where to begin the blog is another dilemma. I have so many words to share.

What did I come home with? Renewed determination to make some changes. Inputs to this thought cycle include a few books I leisurely browsed through at Saratoga Springs Borders, (waking to 3 pm Sunday were close to perfection...more on that later), a lot of thoughts from eat pray love, the impact of the funeral and the reality of the death of a 51 year old wife and mother, thinking about the gift of good health, and wondering why I am so easily distracted and prone to do stupid things like stay up late watching "24" rather than sleeping. (!!) (certainly lack of sleep contributes to overwhelmed!) A great old hymn includes the words, "prone to wander, Lord I feel it..." Indeed!

And so, I will make a to do list, on the computer, with long term, mid term and daily goals, and see if getting it all off my mind at least helps! And it will, because that's how I'm wired. And the biggest help, as always, will be to dive in and do something! 1. Unpack my suitcase. 2. Begin to put away the heap of ornaments currently on the dining room table...

I'll close with a quote from eat pray love, a book which is shooting quickly to the top of my list, and a book that could fuel a month of blogging...

God dwells within you, as you.
If there is one holy truth of the Yoga, that line encapsulates it. God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are. God isn't interested in watching you enact some performance of personality in order to comply with some crackpot notion you have about how a spiritual person looks or behaves. We all seem to get this idea that, in order to be sacred, we have to make some massive, dramatic change of character, that we have to renounce our individuality....To know God, you need only to renounce one thing - your sense of division from God. Otherwise, just stay as you were made, within your natural character....The reality is it's a little sad for me to admit that I will never be ...these wraith-like, delicate souls. Always wanted to be the quiet girl. Probably precisely because I'm not. It's the same reason I think that thick, dark hair is so beautiful -- precisely because I don't have it, because I can't have it. But at some point you have to make peace with what you were given and if God wanted me to be a shy girl with thick, dark hair, He would have made me that way, but He didn't. Useful then, might be to accept how I was made and embody myself fully therein. (emphasis mine) (pages 191-192)

Inner struggles. This fascinating book is about one woman's passionate quest to quiet some of her internal struggles. Some far out theology as she seeks God in India, but actually I'm surprised at how many of her conclusions line up with Evangelical Christianity. The human condition is the human condition. We long to know God, and we long to make peace with ourselves and the life we've been given. Elizabeth Gilbert put her quest into words to which this fine-haired blonde not quiet person can relate . I'm savoring this book. I'm processing the funeral. I'm looking at my life and realizing that there are a few struggles that I need to give up, a few positive changes that I have to force myself to make, and so many blessings to count.

Stay tuned!