Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns
If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…
I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…
I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…
I lost 3 pounds this week. And I only went to the gym once.
Previous weeks found me visiting the gym twice or three times a week, spinning vigorously on a stationary bike, running laps on the track or making tracks on the cross-trainer.
This week found me lying on the couch, succumbing to a mucus invasion of historic proportions. The uncommon cold, as I’m calling it, has struck all four of us, but my husband and I have taken the worst beating. Between us, we’ve consumed almost three boxes of cold medicine, and our house is littered with tissue box carcasses, at least 10 that I know of.
So I was fully expecting, after my husband weighed in and had lost only a pound, to have made no progress or gained weight this week.
Three pounds lost was a pleasant surprise but not a reason for me to advocate a monstrous head cold as a weight-loss method.
What I did discover, though, was some principles that will help me on my journey to a new pair of jeans. (Five more pounds to lose and I can go spend the Kohl’s gift card I got for Christmas. Unless I decide to save it for a bigger goal.)
1. Sleep. A lot. Twice during this sickness, I went to bed earlier than normal. One night, I was in bed before my 3-year-old. A majority of the days, I’ve taken naps. Long ones. I’ve heard that sleep deprivation can make you gain weight. Now I see the converse. More sleep can lead to less weight.
2. Eat. A little. This wasn’t a stomach-flu kind of sickness so it’s not like I lost weight because my stomach wouldn’t keep food down. But, because my nose has been plugged, my taste buds aren’t functioning right, and therefore, nothing really tastes good. My husband and I love food, sometimes to excess, but he has much more self-control than I do. What I’ve learned this week is that I don’t have to eat a lot to get through the day. And, I can always eat it again tomorrow.
3. Skip. Seconds, that is. My gluttony with food starts with taste. When I go back for seconds, it’s usually because I like how something tastes, not because I’m hungry for more. I’m no anatomy expert but I know the nose and sense of smell are linked to taste buds somehow. Because I can’t smell much of anything, I’m not interested in seconds.
4. Drink. Water. Water and tea have become my staples during this sickness. This usually isn’t a problem for me, but once I stopped breast-feeding, I got a little lax on the water intake. More water in, more weight off.
5. Snack. But not at night. Earlier bed times have also meant less TV and less eating while watching TV. Late-night snacking is another of my food vices. I haven’t had a bowl of ice cream in 10 days. I still like ice cream, but maybe it’ll be more of a treat if I don’t eat it EVERY night while watching my favorite shows.
If I practice these tips AND exercise, maybe I won’t have to be secretly jealous of my husband’s weight loss.
Melt away, pounds! Melt away!
Last month, I started cleaning our house. This may not be a revelatory experience for any of you, but for me, active, purposeful cleaning is new. I’m more of a clean-up-after-messes-or-when-company’s-coming-over kind of gal. But I finally got to the point where I felt like our living space was contributing negatively to my mood. I’m not talking Feng Shui or furniture arrangement or anything like that, but everywhere I looked I saw clutter, and it made me feel sad.
I think it started with the Christmas decorations. Once those came down, I simplified the area on top of our entertainment center. What used to be a place for random clutter now, almost, looks like decoration.
Because I can only work in short bursts — like when the children are napping and I’m not, or when they’re otherwise happily occupied for the 2 minutes a day that seems to happen — the house cleaning/organizing/simplifying is a gigantic work in progress.
But it’s progress nonetheless. I’ve been able to tackle several major eyesores — like this one.
Before:
Yeah, there’s a bookcase in there somewhere.
After:
We let the kids take it over.
Here’s an after picture of my dresser. I forgot to take a before, but just imagine stuff piled high, cascading down the side of the dresser, no view of the top of it.
And we even rearranged the kids’ bedroom to make more usable space. (We rent and aren’t allowed to put any more holes in the walls.)
While I feel like I’ve accomplished something, I wish I could finish more of what I start. A few days ago, I started clearing the upper shelf of the kids’ closet, and I haven’t been back since. Last month I started cleaning the bathroom closet. I got back to it two days ago.
I leave my unfinished mess all over the house, but at least it reminds me that I’m on my way to something better.
I could use that reminder in my spiritual life. I’ve felt a little “off” lately. Like I’m not as close to God as I want to be, not as much like Christ as maybe I should be. Or could be.
And I thought about this:
“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
I’m not done yet. God’s not done yet.
The mess is evidence of the work in progress.