I sat musing in this very unfinished space and snapped a picture of my clock, hanging once again in this new place.  An online friend, who has gifted me with years of conversation over literal life and death matters, as well as lighthearted, day to day commentary, had carved out a little time in her travel to visit in person, here, this morning.  The glow pouring in over my rag-tag, thrifted everything mirrored the warm feeling I had after her visit and reminded me of the soft, grainy images a past me used to enjoy in old Victoria magazines.  

Much in the present is still in the process of being shaken up and coming together again.  Some parts are a little worse for wear for that. It's not all magazine polished. Like my friend and I were saying, this happens at this stage of life, whether you move or not. Living is a messy business. I thought back to a Joyce Meyer book I read the other day.  She said,

"Our joy does not have to be based on our circumstances."

The author went to explain that we can enjoy our life while God works on our problems. We sometimes need that permission. I can confuse being worried with being responsible and put off these little opportunities because I or my house or my kids or my circumstances are "not there yet."

I decided it is not irresponsible to share moments of joy even when other parts of life are still works in progress.   We do not have to wait for a "future perfect" to appreciate a little bit of pure light shining in on us.  All the parts will never be perfect at the same time anyway.  Ever.  It would be such a shame to stop noticing the parts which are.  

It’s a known fact I have an aversion to retail anything whereas I will happily sift through flea market and junk shop bins and shelves for hours just for a few treasures. Fortunately a few of my kids have inherited this thrill of the hunt and are happy to hang out with me on these foraging missions.  I’ve been eyeing up some new sources for rusty iron gate and garden salvage pieces.  Thought you might enjoy a peek at the market. Bonus picture of most unique pets included:

A leggy, blush pink geranium sits soaking up the sun in its crock near the kitchen window.  When it came time to pull the annuals last fall our dear, disabled friend protested loudly.  He lobbied hard for this one and I didn’t have the heart to uproot it.  We kept watering and he checked on it all winter whenever he visited.  My reward has been these blooms gracing our kitchen long before the new spring flowers reach the nursery.  Very often, sentiment beats out practicality around here. I never regret that.  

 This particular passage never fails to convict me.  It is easy to overestimate the strength of our self-command until we are irritated, contradicted, or spoken to (or about) unkindly. They say the true test of what is inside of us is what spills out when we are upset. If so, there is still room to improve over here.  

As so often happens the spiritual and the practical overlap in our lives, applying layers of meaning to both. This lent coincides with some tremendous home improvement and spring cleaning. 

Tremendous. 

Cleaning and sorting our physical space provides a visual for the sort of work lent invites us to do. Likewise, spiritual discipline encourages me to look around my space and see where it could benefit from similar purging and reworking.  Short answer: lots of places.

Our tired little kitchen pantry has gotten some attention.  It had not been painted with the kitchen years ago and the shelving was peeling. The baseboards were still dark wood and didn’t match the rest of the kitchen.  and This was a low budget effort to be sure. Leftover paint and contact shelf paper brightened things up.  

For the record this is not the sum total of all the dry goods I keep on hand. We also have bulk bins of brown rice and oats nearby and a ridiculous number of spices and cake making items sorted in dish tubs in a cabinet. I’m finding less is more by way of storing food however.  We hit a critical mass point when we can’t easily see what we have.  That leads to wasted food and purchasing doubles.  For this reason I don’t plan to fill this space up too much more. 

This overlap is fleshed out in this essay. 

I don’t have many stories about my paternal grandmother, but one of them made a big impression on my mother.  When she was newly married she spent the day with her mother in-law.  After my grandfather left for work, grandma jumped into dinner preparation.

 That’s right. Dinner. 

She set the table, arranged the centerpiece, and began dusting. She finished everything the way it needed to be when the day was over and her husband would return.  She sprayed a bit of Pledge into the air with a flourish for good measure. Then she was free to do any fun things the day presented her with. 

As a very young woman who had not yet run a home, my mother suspected this was “cheating” in some way.  For that reason perhaps, I viewed this routine with some skepticism myself at first. Now, with many late dinners and messy evenings under my belt I look upon my grandmother’s morning chores with new appreciation. 

My house is still full all day, so I can’t always set my table first thing. This happens after lunch when we can.  I can still use that inspiration to start with the end in mind, always.  Later today  I am taking some older folks to a meeting.  After breakfast, I laid out my clothes and printed directions to each of the addresses. (I have no sense of direction and tend to get turned around last minute) A call to the venue confirmed the meeting room name and directions to it. We will clean out the van, pack the meeting items, and have some time to do other things before we go.  

I was not born organized. I’m still not there. At 51 there is no pretending things are going to fall into place without glitches.  Looking ahead to minimize those is a huge stress reducer. 

What does the end of your day look like?  What can you do early on to make sure it’s stress free?  Can you:

Defrost something

Set out materials or pajamas or bedtime books

Check the car for gas

Confirm directions or reservations 

If it’s the morning that starts off with a flurry of activity then all this can happen the night before.