Time to Reflect

     As my family knows, I can be a fussy person, prone to anxiety and worry, and easily agitated. As a doctor once described my mother "always like a racehorse at the starting gate", so am I. It takes a great deal of peace and sanctuary to counterbalance the stress I perceive in life. Even preparing for the enjoyment of travel will kick me into compulsive mode, as I am now. Knowing this about myself has made me realize one of the reasons I have been so taken with rug hooking. (Knitting or crochet or other such hand crafts would work equally as well, I think.) The reason being, I expend an exorbitant amount of energy into hooking that rug. While I am hooking, my mind is free to wander and think and pray, and work stuff out. It's a beautiful thing. An hour will go by without my even realizing it and during that time I've accomplished multiple things... mostly in my head of course. There is the added outcome of a pretty hooked rug to show for it as well. : )
     This weekend, I hooked a lot. I also sewed, mowed, laundered, ironed, cooked, gardened, and vacuumed. I told Tess that I destroyed a lot. (This, in noticing that a lot had to be destroyed in order for something to be created. I'll think more on this another time) ... and I did a lot of thinking. The shocking terror attack in Orlando left everyone speechless...for a minute anyway. After that, everyone had something to say and the sheer volume of opinion overwhelmed me and I felt compelled to switch to radio silence on the subject. I needed time and space to have my own thoughts form. When I resurfaced, I read an article our pastor shared. I appreciate his gentle shepherding and I admire his heart. Here are two beautiful and very true quotes to ponder:

"Let’s make sure that God’s kindness is tasted not only on the pages of Scripture, but through our lives and through our loving. Because the more we are into Jesus, the more conservative we are in our belief that every single word of the Bible is right and good and true, the more liberal we will be in the ways that we love."  -Scott Sauls

"As Dostoevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, love in practice is a dreadful thing compared to the love in dreams. But the real and messy love—the kind that leads us to maintain conviction while communicating love and compassion and empathy to those who might not agree with our convictions—is better than the love in dreams, which is a sentimental love that has no roots. The real and messy love, not the love in dreams, is the love that Jesus entered into. And we must follow."
     

Thinking it out.