Finding Anchors when Life gets Life-y
Issue #54/Good and Beautiful Things
As I drove away from the doctor’s office earlier this week I missed one of my turns. Google Maps quickly rerouted me and instead of heading back toward the interstate I found myself on back roads with canopies of green trees stretching over me. Grinning at the surprise of the scenery I slowed the car down long enough to put the top down. Wind danced through my hair and the warm sun settled across my nose and cheeks. Remembering a tip from a friend, I pulled out my little tube of sunscreen and spread it across my face and arms. The familiar scent of coconut drifted toward my nose and I felt my body loosen, lulled by the early memories of beach life. Only one thing was missing so I put on some happy music as I drove along the spring hills of Nashville, thankful for the short reprieve from the rest of life.
///
It’s been fifteen days since I’ve written to you. In the midst of those few weeks challenges have been coming at our family from all different directions. You could say life has been: life-y. It’s been easy to feel adrift, tossed about by each new wave. These haven’t been Tsunami-sized waves, mind you, they’ve been smaller but persistent.
Without some kind of rhythm to my days, I’ve been reaching for other anchors.
The “Power Hour”
When I find myself with even a small amount of open time it’s been hard to know what to do with myself so I’m grateful that my art teacher introduced our class to the idea of “the power hour”. She took the idea from something her grandkids do: an hour daily that consists of twenty minutes of piano practice, twenty minutes of string instrument practice and twenty minutes of a virtual reality game.
Her suggestion for our “power hour” was to divide sixty minutes between reading, writing, and drawing. It didn’t take me long to try out the idea, pulled toward the framework of these short, specific goals. The first time I tried a “power hour”, I only had thirty minutes, so I did increments of ten minutes instead of twenty.
Here’s an example of a Power Hour.
Reading: Needing a little inspiration for my writing life, I chose Little Stories of Your Life by Laura Pashby.
Drawing: Then I pulled out a library book and copied some of Ben Shahn’s work into my sketchbook. Copying his work felt like a grace with his large loose lines, it was a good warm up before sketching from old photos in a civil war book.
Writing: Then I spent twenty minutes journaling.
I love and don’t love the name “power hour”. Part of me wants a softer name with more of an invitation, the other part of me feels like the time did indeed power me through and shoot me out the other side with more energy and focus on the other end.
Several times over the last few weeks I’ve appreciated the gift of the Power Hour.
What about you? What would you insert into your Power Hour? Pulling weeds? Exercise? Wordle?
The Little Moments
Like the unexpected delight of the drive I described at the beginning of this post, it’s often the little moments that make the harder ones more endurable. Yesterday I sat with a friend who I’ve known for twenty-five years. That means we’ve know each from the early days of our marriages to sending several of our kids out into the adult world. As we caught up over a giant Panera cookie, she said many times throughout our conversation how hard and also how beautiful life is. And she’s right.
What about you? What were the little moments for you in recent weeks?
Two Words
Over the last eight months I met weekly with two other women to go through our church’s discipleship curriculum. A few weeks ago we finished the last assignment and took some time to reflect and write down what we’d learned along the way. Our final project was to decorate a rock with some words or an image from the year.
As much as I love making art, my hands and brain tend to freeze up when other people are around. I sheepishly wrote out two short words with a white paint pen (after messing up one rock and throwing it away) and presented my “work of art”.
What God reminded me throughout the year was that anything I need to do in life (or that He might ask of me) I don’t have to do alone. And the outcome is never dependent on how good or perfect I can be.
If I had worked through the same curriculum at other points in my life, I would have come out of the year with a heap of shame and pressure. I need to be doing more for God. I need to be telling more people about God. I can’t believe I still deal with these idols, why haven’t I conquered them yet?
Thankfully God directed my eyes away from myself and toward Him and His presence and His help. Even though I wasn’t impressed by my handiwork on the little rock with the two small words, the simple image has come back to me again and again over the past few weeks.
How am I going to face a challenging family situation that might ask too much of me? I don’t know yet but I’m going to do it with God.
How am I going to watch one more of our sweet little animals suffer? It’s going to be hard but I’m going to do it with God.
Shouldn’t I be a master of parenting after twenty-three years? If only it were so but thankfully I’m not doing it alone, I’m doing it with God.
Two small, simple words on a rock that have followed me around for weeks.
What about you? In what areas of your life would it help to add those two words: with God.
One Question
After listening to my updates on life a friend offered me a question to think about.
In any of the current situations in my life: What is mine?
She offered the question after I told her about a pattern I’d noticed in myself. If an animal or a person is suffering around me I feel like it’s my job to be able to make the suffering stop. It’s a familiar feeling from when my Dad was sick for a long time and despite exhausting efforts from myself and my husband, his suffering continued for a long time. During those years and for years after, I blamed myself for not being able to solve his pain and make it stop.
As we watched one of our beloved animals suffer this week I carried the blame for his pain. The reality was that we were doing everything we could for him, really over and beyond what many pet owners would do and at some point I had to realize that the existence of pain didn’t mean I was doing something wrong. It’s similar with a family member that I can’t rescue right now.
Maybe what’s yours is just to be a presence in their life right now, my friend suggested.
Have you noticed how nicely “With God” pairs with “What’s Mine?”. Both of them extend grace and mercy, transferring the ultimate responsibility from my shoulders back to God’s.
What about you? “What’s yours” in the situation you’re facing this week?
///
My spiritual director offered me this quote from C.S. Lewis:
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.”
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm
Note: I’m headed out on an adventure next week, one I hope to tell you about when I get back, but due to a week of traveling I won’t be sending out a newsletter next week.
Continue the Journey
READING
If you’re teetering on the edge of change, whether it's birth or a move or something else entirely, check out this post: Got go frew it! by fellow writer, Annelise Roberts.
“But I wasn’t ready one second sooner than the moment she was in my arms, because it turns out that sometimes grace shows up not when you think you need it, but when you actually do.”
-Annelise Roberts
Check out this four part series of living out a Rule of Life by Shannon Truss. Intro Post, Part 1: A Simple Life, Part 2: Living a Faithful Life, Part 3: A Generous Life, and Part 4: An Ecologically Just Life.
LISTENING
For something completely different, listen to 89-year-old Dame Judi Dench recite Shakespeare from memory and share stories of how she became who she is today.
WATCHING
Every week I look forward to watching the latest season of Survivor and The Amazing Race with my husband and two of our kids. Plenty of drama and stress but completely unrelated to my own life in any way!
On my own I started watching the documentary of Steve Martin’s life. Did you know he went to college for Philosophy? Did you know that he struggled for a long time before becoming a star? I’m halfway through part 1 and loving it. It’s on Apple TV.
Blessings from the Guest Nest,
-Aimee
P.S.—Thanks so much for reading, sharing, and contributing to the conversation. You can support my art and writing by donating to my art supply fund and by sharing this newsletter with friends who might enjoy it.
So lovely to catch up on what’s happening in your world. I love seeing your sketches as always and I’ve the bright flowers painting and the self portrait.
Whenever I think of power hour, it reminds me of coaching hour that you pay a coach to help you with something. But I guess it can also work as “art date” for an hour.
I’m so curious to watch the doco about Steve Martin , I’ve heard so many good things about it. Thanks for sharing 💛
Love your drawings and how you named each subsection of your essay. Each part points to simple but profound gems I’m motivated to dig for more frequently throughout the day. Thank you for writing this!