"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." — ~Neale Donald Walsch

I borrowed this quote from a friend's blog. It is fitting for the time of year, a beginning of new year and a chance to look back, look ahead, but  most of all, live fully in each moment. 


I can apply this quote to my multiple comfort zones...mental, physical, social, spiritual. Some zones I am more acquainted with, I know exactly where my area of comfort is and what it feels like to step closer and closer to the edge, and then jump over the edge and see what comes next. In some areas of my life I have yet to really challenge myself and discover where my edge is.  It's funny how the parameters of a comfort zone can change...expand and retract at different times in my life. 


I want to get to know my comfort zones in the different areas of my life, examine what keeps me from venturing out of them, and finally to brave the unknown.


So much is going on in my life. Changes abound...some that I created or initiated, some that I did not.


 I am moving soon. Sad to leave my lil cottage in the country, but excited to see what new experiences await in a new space. It will be good to shed unnecessary belongings and create a new place for myself. The same is true for inner space as well. A new year and a new beginning, not for resolving to fix or change myself, because I am perfect just the way I am, but for a new start to living simply and simply living, taking each day for the gift that it is!


A change that I am initiating is the cutting of my hair. I am excited for a new look and the chance to donate my hair to Hairloss for Children. I am going to ask the stylist, once she sections it off in ponytails, if I can make the cuts.  I would like to keep a small gathered strand and then give some hair to the birds for their nests. The thought of my part of me being up in a tree holding delicate eggs makes me smile. 

to start this new year...

a poem. Hafiz is one of my favorite poets. This poem sums up what I reach for in this coming year...enjoy!

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And Giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence

Lie beside an equator

In your heart.

Greet Yourself

In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back Home.

All the hemispheres in heaven 

Are sitting around a fire

Chatting

While stitching themselves together

Into the Great Circle inside of

You.

~Hafiz

scripture to share...

There are so many places in the Bible that speak to my heart and strengthen me. Here are but a few:


Life by the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

A Prayer for the Ephesians (and us) - Ephesians 3: 16-21
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever, Amen!

Instructions on Christian living - Ephesians 4:26-27
In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. And do not give the devil a foothold.

do not put off for tomorrow...

what can be done today.

Simply stated yet this one is so hard for me to follow. I have always been a procrastinator and at times want so badly to break myself of this habit. It does not serve me yet why do I keep finding myself waiting until the last  minute to do something or get something done.

I wouldn't be writing about this except that it is becoming a constant with me right now, I'm rushing to finish assignments by their deadline, hoping I don't get a ticket for my car inspection being expired, and all the while kicking myself for knowing better.

I know that this won't help matters, but as much as I try, I fall into the habit of procrastination. There was a nagging thought in the back of my mind that this has something to do with my state of mind and mood. It doesn't help that in the middle of writing this I darted over and did a search of procrastination help and up pops a website about depression and procrastination. Jeez...not what I wanted to read about, but instead of constantly kicking myself for putting things off, perhaps I should try to figure out WHY I am putting them off or waiting until the last minute to do things. And I know it's not because I work well under pressure. That was my story in undergrad. but now I know for certain it is not the reason I procrastinate.

My mission in the next few days is to recognize and keep track of times when I do not procrastinate, or in other words, when I don't put something off to do later. Starting...NOW!

A View of God's Heart

This photo was taken from my church, Olivet Presbyterian, in Ivy Virginia, last year. The glory of God's beauty was not only seen in the sunset, but also in the spirit of the middle school youth group that met that night.
Fast forward to a year later...the youth group has started up again, the kick-off party was last night. I am one of the leaders that will guide the youth on their walk to knowing the Lord in their hearts. This is a challenge because I am still getting to know Him in my life. But this helps me relate to their questions and struggles even more. I believe I have been called by our Father to help the youth of my church open their eyes and hearts to the Lord and understand what we can do to serve him as a group.
I am in prayer for the Holy Spirit to be with us throughout the year as we grow in fellowship and God's love.

In the Lord...

I take refuge. (Pslam 11:1)

Tomorrow is my dad's 62nd birthday. I wrote him a booklet of 62 sayings called "Words to Remember". Half of the sayings were 'famous' quotes or passages from Scripture that speak to me. The other half were my own words to my dad. I cherish that I can share Our Father with my father. For Father's Day last year, I got my dad a Bible. He told me it was the first one he'd had of his own since he was a child. My dad is on his own walk with the Lord. And for this I am so happy!

When I am not, I am strong in the Lord. In those times where I doubt, hurt, question, worry, wonder, and fear, I must remember Him. My comforter, my rock, my Father.
I am learning to give those things (and more) to God, and to not take them back once I've let them go to Him.
He is teaching me so much through my struggles and challenges. And also through joys and blessings.
Life is a beautiful gift He has given me, my plan is written, and it is up to me to see the joy in each day I am afforded.

New Spaces...Inside and Out

I am in my new house for now...I'm sharing a beautiful cottage with a sweet young woman. The house used to be an old school house and was moved and added on to and it is simply wonderful. It is just where I need to be- out in the country in a quiet space where I can relax and focus on myself.
There are two windows in my room, which is located in the "old" part of the house. The floor boards make noise underfoot and I love it! I am more aware of myself out here. There is even a bird nest outside one of my windows on the porch.
There is light and space...in the house and in me.
Welcome Home!