The Power of 15 Minutes

 family, real life  No Responses »
Jul 032012
 

How long is 15 minutes?  

No, really, how long?  How do you measure it?

Is it a short period of time as in “Only 15 more minutes on the computer” or an extrordinarily long period of time: “There’s a rest stop 15 minutes up the road.”  I guess it depends on how you look at it.

About 9 years ago, when my kids were smaller, 15 minutes was all I had.  A toddler, preschooler, and elementary school kid can fill every minute of the day with fun, mess, laughter, whining, food, dirty dishes, activity, exhaustion, and mountains of laundry.  

I really wanted to dig my way out from under the pile of stuff and the list of chores and just breathe.  When I saw someone who looked peaceful amidst the flurry, I’d ask for the secret.  One day, someone gave it to me: 15 minutes.  

She directed me to a woman called FlyLady whose motto was “You can do anything for 15 minutes!”  And it’s true.  

15 minutes

There are two sides to this:

1. You can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes if you focus.

Even if I couldn’t fold all the laundry, I could make a decent dent in 15 minutes, if I just stayed with it.  I discovered that I was flitting from pile to pile and not completing anything.  My to-do list was filled with half-finished tasks and overwhelming me before I even got started.  Which brings me to #2.

2. If you are dreading a task, just spend 15 minutes on it.

When faced with “cleaning the house” or “doing the taxes”, my inner princess would run screaming and I’d find every excuse in the world to not even start.  I can talk my princess down off the ledge now with the promise of spending ONLY 15 minutes on a dreaded task.  (She’s really easy to fool.)


I’ve discovered that most of the things I used to dread take less than 15 minutes: mopping, vacuuming, unloading the dishwasher, dusting, filing papers, paying bills.  The list goes on and on.

What can you accomplish in 15 minutes today?  Set your timer and find out!


For more on FlyLady and the power of 15 minutes, check out flylady.net

 Posted by at 17:18

I Confess

 God, real life, Teachable Moments  No Responses »
Jun 262012
 

I live in my own world.

I have my own priorities & preferences, tendencies & talents, interests & idiosyncrasies, habits & hangups.

I live deep inside the house of my own thoughts and forget to open the blinds to see what’s going on “out there.”  I depend on others to tap, knock or bang on the door reminding me to engage with the world outside.

I know there are people who throw open their doors each morning and stride out into the world to see how everyone is doing.  They look deep into your eyes when they talk to you and ask just the right, not-too-probing question to start the flow of conversation.

I’m not one of those people.  I wouldn’t mind being more like them, I really wouldn’t, it’s just that most of the time it doesn’t occur to me.

I was thinking about this recently, determining to be more outwardly focussed when I found myself in one of those situations tailor-made to test my new resolve.  I failed.  Miserably.

No, really. Miserably.

My ‘job’ was to make new people feel welcome.  I spotted one person I’d never seen before, marched up to her, introduced myself and then spent the next 10 minutes standing next to her in awkward silence trying to think of something to say.

Miserably.

That little voice inside said, “See? You’re not good at this.”  Humpf.

It wasn’t very long before I was reminded that things could be different.  I found myself passionately singing these words:

“You make me new,

You are making me new.”

Aha!  God doesn’t want to leave me the way I am.  In fits and starts, he is transforming me.

Next time you see me I may be totally wrapped up in my own thoughts, or I may say something totally awkward in an effort to initiate conversation.  Be patient with me, God’s making me new.

 Posted by at 23:03

Change Happens

 family, real life, Teachable Moments  No Responses »
Jun 232012
 

The past two weeks have been jam packed with activity for our family.  There have been many endings and beginnings and very little time to stop and reflect.  That means almost no time to write.

sepia-clock.jpg

Even when I did have time to write, I didn’t know where to start.  I feel like we’ve undergone some gigantic shift and what comes next is more momentous than what’s gone before.  We’re leaving elementary school behind, I have a 7th grader, Freshman and Senior now.

 

We are completly immersed in the world of hormones, Freshman Football, college visits, SATs, youth group outings, driver’s training, dating, eye rolls, part time jobs, acne, growth spurts, and more hormones.

The weighty topics we discuss are now somehow weightier.  

When we stand together, we feel like 5 people with at least one foot each in the adult world.  There’s no going back.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about what’s ahead.  I love seeing my kids step out into the unknown and carve their own paths without me holding their hands.  They are each entirely unique, yet so alike.  And it’s not just my kids who have a bright future: being able to have an uninterrupted conversation with my husband is beginning to sound like an attainable goal.  

As I step into uncharted territory I’m reminded that every day is new, whether we recognize it or not.  Here’s to exciting things ahead and all the moments that led to this point!

 Posted by at 13:05

Quick as a Bunny

 real life, Teachable Moments  No Responses »
Jun 092012
 

 

My dog and I surprised a wild rabbit this morning on our pre-dawn walk.  As we got close to a small flower bed, I saw a white cotton ball go bounding into the street

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rabbit tail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the bunny rocketed down the hill towards ‘safety’ the phrase “quick as a bunny” came to mind.  That creature sensed danger,

choose an escape angle and went for it with lightning speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I searched the morning grey for another glimpse of the white tail, I thought about the power of experience.  Before this morning, the phrase “Quick as a Bunny” had a vague, foggy place in my lexicon.  After this encounter, I have a vivid visual to tie to it.

How important then is it to provide actual experiences for our children rather than simply ‘educating’ them?  A simple 30 second encounter this morning informed my understanding in a way that 30 minutes of talking about rabbits never could.  Even reading about them wouldn’t bring this level of comprehension. (Gasp!)   I admit it, the knowledge we get from the spoken or written word is qualitatively different from the knowledge we get from experience.  In a perfect world, the three tangle together creating a strong web of knowing.  

What new things will you experience this weekend?

 Posted by at 13:22

Shaking the Blues: Change One Thing

 adventure, art, family, preschool, real life  No Responses »
Jun 012012
 

As we get to the end of the school year, teachers get tired.  We do.  

The kids think they know it all.  Everything is predictable and “boring”.  The kids get excited because they can sense the end is near and the teachers are drained.

It’s a perfect time to “Change One Thing.”

Sometimes that’s all it takes to right the ship.

Add water to the sandbox.  Add glitter to the playdough.  Stick googly eyes on the easel painting paper.  Swap scrapbooking scissors for the regular ones.  Have circle time in the middle of the basketball court.  

They’re all simple ideas, but each bring their own brand of magic to the classroom.  

Sad EggHappy Egg

Now here’s the real trick: it works at home too!

Do homework outside.  Picnic in the living room.  Mop the kitchen floor with your feet in old socks.  Set the table with the good dishes.  Add bubbles to the bathtub.  Sleep backwards in your bed.  Buy fresh flowers for yourself.  

What one thing could you change today to shake things up?

 

 

 

 Posted by at 20:18

Disclaimer

 real life, Teachable Moments  No Responses »
May 232012
 

As Blaise Pascal  wrote, “I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter.” (More on him later!)

Sometimes I will post in haste.  

I will make mistakes.  

I will say things that are not exactly true.  

I will sound like your least favorite teacher.

I will sound like your mother.

Please know that it is not my intention.  

I may need to repeat this on a regular basis.

 Posted by at 07:03

Silence is Golden

 real life, Write  No Responses »
May 152012
 

It’s amazing how little time I spend in silence.silent trees

I know, it’s not really silent there are cars going by and an occasional bird chirping, but it’s close enough. Technically, the silence is also being disturbed by the scratching of my pencil on this paper.  The loudest sounds I can hear right now are inside my head.  My thoughts are hurling themselves around, trying to get out somehow.


I wonder what they would be doing if I’d remembered to charge my ipod?

Would the beat have distracted them or would the lyrics have sent them off on a tangent?  Would that have been worse than what’s happening now? Or better? Or just…different?

What I do know is that if I’m going to commit to this blogging thing, and I am,  I’m going to be spending a lot more time trying to capture those thoughts.  If silence sends them sliding out onto the paper – Bring It On!

Now, because I live in a two bedroom apartment with four other people and a dog, I may need to get creative so let’s admit up front that I wouldn’t be the first mom who locked herself in the bathroom for some peace and quiet.  

Creativity doesn’t scare me.  Wondering what happened to all those thoughts I didn’t pay attention to does.

 Posted by at 16:23

Condemnation

 family, God, real life, Teachable Moments  No Responses »
May 132012
 

*The following post was inspired by a sermon by Lisa Patriquin on John 8:1-11.  You can hear it here.

Condemn: (v) express complete disapproval of; sentence to punishment; denounce; doom; declare reprehensible, wrong or evil.

What an awful word.  Just reading those definitions, I feel my spirit shriveling.  

What a terrible feeling it is to be condemned.  If we’re honest, we’ve all deserved condemnation at one time or another: our actions, words, or thoughts were ‘reprehensible, wrong or evil.’  

Condemning fingerMany people’s concept of God includes a heavy dose of condemnation.  God is watching, waiting for them to screw up so he can zap them.  He is the great, cosmic judge who dooms people to hell.  

Where did this come from?   Somehow we twisted the message of “be holy because I (God) am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) into “be holy, or else”.  What was once an inspiration is now a threat.  

I see the same thing in parenting.  We’ve forgotten the power of leading by example and instead we threaten, yell, and berate.  

The concept of ‘sin nature’ has gotten tangled up in there somewhere as well. If all people are sinners, then we all need to be beaten into submission.  Wrong! This is where Jesus turned it all around for us.  

If all people are sinners, then we all need grace, forgiveness, and a savior who shows us a better way.  

How miserable we’d be if God was constantly reminding us that we could never measure up.  Instead Jesus says to us, just like he did to the woman charged with adultery in John 8, “Is there no one to condemn you?…Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”

There is NO CONDEMNATION.  

But Jesus doesn’t leave us there.  He expresses faith in a better future: “Go and sin no more.”  He doesn’t deny what we’ve done, but challenges us not to repeat it. He doesn’t give us what we deserve because he loves us.

I have a lot to learn here.  How do I deal with people’s mistakes?  Do I condemn?  Do I declare them reprehensible, wrong or evil?  Or do I recognize the mistakes and offer hope?  Am I able to see past the current situation into a better future?  Do I express that?  

And better yet, how do I deal with my own mistakes?  Do I feel doomed or hopeful? Do I label myself as a ‘screw up’ or determine to do better next time?

Today, I am thankful for a mom who did not condemn me for the mistakes I made.  She helped me recognize them and inspired me to move on.  I’m even more thankful for a God who does the same.
 

 Posted by at 18:13
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