{"id":9551,"date":"2012-05-10T21:12:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T02:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=9551"},"modified":"2012-05-10T21:12:31","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T02:12:31","slug":"thankful-thursday-unforced-rhythms-and-hymns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2012\/20120510-9551.htm","title":{"rendered":"Thankful Thursday: Unforced rhythms and hymns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thankful<\/a><\/p>\n

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
\n~Matthew 11, from Eugene Petersen’s The Message<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/p>\n

This week, I’m thankful…<\/strong><\/p>\n

…for a pillow and blanket in the car<\/b> and for wisdom to know when to use them<\/i>
\nI had a long day<\/strike> night at work last Thursday. I drove home as the sun rose. I napped in Clarks. By the grace of God, I arrived home intact.<\/p>\n

…for a flexible boss<\/b>
\nCan I just say that I really appreciate my boss? <\/p>\n

…for the ability to work from home<\/b> and for the wisdom to know when (and when not) to use it<\/i>
\nIt was good for me to check my e-mail on Friday, to do the two minutes of work to put my dietary manager on a better footing. It was also good for me to choose not to do any other work on Friday. It was good to get all my “prep work” done on Saturday from home so I could only spend a couple\/three hours in the facility on Sunday. I don’t have a lot of internal balance when it comes to work–but I trust God is helping me learn some.<\/p>\n

…for trying a Pinterest tip while watching a YouTube video<\/b>
\nI haven’t done anything around the house for what seems like forever–so, while attempting to clean a bread pan with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide doesn’t seem like much, it went a long way towards making my life feel less unbalanced.<\/p>\n

…for my little sister coming to stay<\/b>
\nI took advantage of my weird weekend to move the loft from upstairs down into the spare bedroom, soon to be my little sister’s room. She’s staying with us for the summer and working at, er, a company which shall remain nameless but which I also happen to work at (wink, nod). Since I have three buildings and am only in that one two days a week and since Grace is a CNA and I’m a dietitian, I don’t imagine we’ll really see each other much at work–but it’ll be lovely to have her staying with us.<\/p>\n

…for Scripture, Scripture, and more Scripture<\/b>
\nI need it. I need to be steeped in it. I need for others to pour it over me, even beat me over the head with it. Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of life. So thankful for all those who point my eyes back to Christ and fill my ears with the words of Scripture.<\/p>\n

…for running(?!?) with the girls<\/b>
\nI signed up for a 5K, Color Me Rad<\/a> in Council Bluffs. I don’t have any time to train, wasn’t (amn’t) sure that I *will* train. I might have to end up walking it. Which is fine. But Anna encouraged me to go running\/walking with the girls who are planning on running the same race–and I found the mindlessness of it all (waiting for someone to signal that it was time for a running interval or a walking interval) to be rather soothing.<\/p>\n

…for sleep<\/b>
\nI got eight hours of sleep one night this week. I know. Amazing. Overwhelmingly so. <\/p>\n

…for wonderful fellowship with my peeps<\/b>
\nI’ve so missed the Bible study gals. Sitting around the fire with them (and Jon) last night was so very refreshing–even if I (yet again) stayed too late and robbed myself of sleep.<\/p>\n

…for a scale by the copy machine<\/b>
\nI don’t weigh myself often, but I stepped on the scale while waiting for the copy machine to warm up (yes, I have a weird life.) The numbers on the scale weren’t that<\/i> unusual, but they did cause me to realize that I’m not taking care of my body as I should. I’ve known that for awhile, but I haven’t had the energy or will to do anything about it (how can I, I thought, as busy as I am right now?) That little bit was somehow enough to focus my mind and make me brainstorm for little changes to make to take care of this body I’ve been given (maybe like, eating breakfast and going to sleep at night?)<\/p>\n

…for peacocks<\/b>, a peahen<\/b> and hymns<\/b>
\nIt was not a good day at work today. I was gearing up for a major headache on my drive home, jaw clenched with the stress of the day, frustrated and running my frustrations over and over inside–when a flash of bright blue off the side of the road made me think I was hallucinating. I looked again and found two peacocks, strutting along in the ditch, along with one peahen. Of course, I grabbed my notebook to record the incident as something to be thankful for–which reminded me that, even in days like these, I can give God praise–which prompted me to open the hymnal that I just happened to have in the car, to turn off the music that was playing, and to sing hymns for the duration of my drive home.<\/p>\n

“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
\nLet this blest assurance control,
\nThat Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
\nAnd hath shed His own blood for my soul.<\/p>\n

It is well
\nwith my soul
\nIt is well, it is well
\nwith my soul”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on … Read more Thankful Thursday: Unforced rhythms and hymns<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9551"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}