Monthly Archives: September 2011

September 12, 2011 · 5:00 am

Worry Warts

I am a total worry wart. I tend to stress–a lot.

Even though I know better, I worry about a lot of things, even when I know I can’t do anything about them.

I worry about money. I worry about getting sick. I worry about dying and leaving my small children without a mother. I worry about something happening to someone I love. And for a person who usually has a pretty high level of self-confidence, I tend to worry about what other people think of me.

I know that worrying is stupid. I know what the Bible says about worrying and how worrying is useless. I know. I know. I know!

But that doesn’t stop me from occasionally falling into a worry-fit.

Lately I’ve been worrying a lot about numbers and what numbers have to do with my writing.

I’ve been watching my Twitter & blog numbers, worried that I’m not doing enough. I’ve been counting words in my manuscripts. I’ve been counting minutes and hours between hearing from important people who are helping my writing career. I’m worrying about what kind of impression I make as a writer, how to effectively use social media, and the slow in-between days when I’m waiting for things to happen.

I’m worried about time–how much I can manage and how much I have to do what I want to do each day, dividing it between home, family, writing, and all my various other responsibilities and activities.

And I’ve been worrying about what other people think of me, based on these numbers.

The other day I picked up my son’s kindergarten newsletter–the one his teacher sends home weekly to let us know what they are working on in class, and God used it to get my attention about the business of worrying.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Col 3:23

My son’s verse of the week immediately convicted me.

Worrying (like a wart) is ugly. Worrying is most often self-centered.

All the worrying I have been doing has been because I’m focusing on myself–on the recognition I expect to get as a writer. On the impact I want to have. On what I want to do and how I want things to go and in the time frame in which I would like to manage things.

Those sorts of worries mean that I’ve been working for men.

I need to refocus my heart–off myself and onto Him–and give up those worries. They are useless because no matter what I’m doing, if I’m working for the Lord within His will, then I have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Share with Me: Who are you working for? Do you find yourself worrying unnecessarily sometimes? How do you overcome it?

4 Comments

Filed under The Christian Walk

Tagged as God, worry

September 9, 2011 · 5:00 am

Her Hand in Marriage

Our ideas of what is romantic have certainly changed over the past few decades.

Our ideas about relationships and marriage have changed, too. Yet somehow, even as our world morphs into a place where fewer and fewer couples choose to marry and those who do are facing increased rates of divorce, when it comes to marriage, our culture clings to some things that are tradition.

The man asks the woman.

The white dress.

The bachelor party.

The down-on-one-knee proposal.

And Daddy’s permission.

I was watching an episode of a TV show not too long ago where one of the characters proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes, but when she realized he had not yet asked her father for permission for her hand in marriage, she told him that she could not give him an “official” yes until he did so.

Returning home, the man asked his brother, “Did you know people still did that? The whole, ‘ask the dad thing’?”

The brother replied: “Of course. What society have you been living in?”

And what society do we live in? Most of the time it appears that we, as a society, have moved past the things of tradition to a more contemporary mix of “whatever works.”

For the most part, anything is acceptable. We might call different “eclectic,” but in our P.C. world, who’s to judge, right?

But as I watched the show, I found it odd that a man who had an openly sexual relationship with an independent woman (as expected by the other characters), was suddenly being chastised for not following the “rules” by speaking to the woman’s father about marrying his daughter.

Is that a mix of the modern and the traditional? Can that mix survive in today’s world?

For decades women have fought long and hard to been seen as equal, independent, and fully capable of making their own decisions.

So, does Daddy even have his daughter’s hand to give in marriage? Or is her hand now her own, according to the feminists?

Our society seems to be sending mixed signals– woman is fiercely independent, able to survive without a man, yet still wants love of her life to confer with father over future of her life.

The whole thing left me scratching my head.

Share with Me: What do you think about this? Is Daddy’s permission still required for marriage? Should it be? Is it possible to mix the traditional and the modern and have it work?

10 Comments

Filed under Romance

Tagged as proposal, romance, wedding

September 7, 2011 · 5:00 am

Vacation from Reality

I love a good book.

What a ridiculous statement, right? Of course I love a good book.

But I mean it. There is nothing I love more than getting sucked into a great story; one that I can’t put down. One that I must finish or die trying. One that I wish would go on and on beyond the final page…

We went to the beach this past weekend, which was a wonderful treat for our family. We had about a 7 hour drive (one way) in the car, so I took advantage of it, loaded my Kindle with tons of choices, and ran by the bookstore before we left to get an actual paperback that had just released.

I am very thankful that God blessed me with the super power of lightning-fast reading. I read one novel on our way to Florida, another on our way home, and started a third.

My husband thinks I’m a freak.

But when I have uninterrupted reading time, I take advantage of it.

And because I had this uninterrupted time, I was able to dive right into the stories, uninhibited, focused, ready to be completely drawn into the story and swept away.

And I was. And THAT was my vacation.

And for all the time that I sit around thinking about my own stories, or plotting, writing, editing, fretting, proof reading, etc…

I remember that I love writing because I love reading.

Nothing inspires me as a writer more than a well-written novel.

I can remember the first novel that ever really drew me in–the one I read and re-read over and over because the story sucked me in like no other.

Call me crazy, but it was a Sweet Valley Twins novel that I read when I was about 9 years old. I loved it. Although I can’t remember the title (I could probably go dig it out of a box in my parent’s attic), I remember that the story was one where the twins, Jessica and Elizabeth, were pulled into some sort of fairy-tale dream world that they had to battle their way out of. It turned out that it was all a figment of one of the twins’ imagination (cliched ending, I know, but to a 9 year old, it was awesome).

I have been an avid reader since I was really young. Sweet Valley Twins, The Babysitters Club, the Christy Miller Series…

Detached from reality, I would lay on my bed and read and chew Bubble Tape until I went through an entire roll, sometimes before I finished the book. I did that with all the books I read.

And my passion for reading continues. But my snack choices have changed. I’m now into anything chocolate. M&Ms are a great choice.

When I read something good–something great, I want to create a story of my own that is equally as captivating, equally as challenging, romantic, historic, contemporary, equally as epic, funny, relateable, instructive, dynamic, nuanced, obvious, whatever…

The next time you need some inspiration or just an escape, pick up a good book. For suggestions, check out the “Reading” page above, where I’ve posted short reviews of the books I’ve read recently.

Share with Me: Do you remember the first book you ever read that really sucked you in; a book that you didn’t want to end? What’s your favorite snack to eat while reading?