This week we looked at my favorite book! I couldn’t very well start with anything else!
Spider Robinson’s novel The Free Lunch takes you on quite a journey given its short page count. While this book is clearly standing on a foundation of Science Fiction legacy, it manages to keep you engaged and guessing.
You found my new podcast! That’s great!
I’m so excited to look at all that fiction books have to offer.
This first episode I shared my excitement and asked you to submit your favorite books! We’re going to look at all fiction genres and a few movies as well, but this first season is mostly science fiction or fantasy.
Here’s how the show works:
Each week I’ll start by giving a quick summary and my spoiler-free opinion before diving into the good stuff. If you want to save the episode for after you read the book, just download the episode wherever you are listening and go find a copy of that book (check your library/library app first!).The segments at the end will evolve, but I know I want to highlight my favorite character and a few quotes. Lastly, I’ll ask a question about your reading habits and encourage you to share your favorite books with me.
I’d love to connect with you and hear what you’re reading, so find me on Goodreads or Instagram. You can also you the hashtag #MeaningInMediaPod.
Next week we’ll cover Spider Robinson’s The Free Lunch, on of my all-time faves!
Remember we can do anything.
I can’t believe I’m finally saying HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Y’all when I wrote my 2020 post and talked about how 2019 was my hardest year to date, I genuinely thought we’d be better off in 2020. Instead we got a dumpster fire right after a gauntlet. While I could ruminate on all the things that sucked instead I want to look at what he REDEEMED in 2020 and how God gave me ANOTHER re- word for 2021.
The Lemonade Stand
I think I can best describe my list of silver lining that came this year like a string of lemonade stands….you know you get handed lemons you do the best you can and make lemonade, or lemon tarts, or lemon cake, or all the above when a semi drops lemons on your house ha!
For example I occationally suffer from cold sores or fever blisters along my lip line. They are the worst and something I’ve had forever. In the time of Covid 19 and masks I have had more than usual, i.e. LEMONS….However the mandatory mask makes covering those outbreaks easy, i.e. LEMONADE.
So here are the things I made out of this lemon of a year:
There are more micro things, but those are some good lemon tarts.
Now as we sit on the edge of 2021 I want to encourage you to take it slow, don’t hold this year under the microscope, it won’t be “all better” on Day One. We have to find the good and do the next right thing.
Which brings me to my Word for the New Year…
On Christmas Eve, in the span of 30 minutes, I lost my wallet and my car went haywire. I had to drop off my car at my mom’s, borrow her truck, and head back to my last stop to get my wallet. I had all this Christmas Eve stuff to do and I was wasting time driving all over the tri-city area (no one else watching Phienase and Ferm endlessly…just me, cool).
Anyhow, as I was driving to get my wallet all mad and put out I got that nudge. I could feel God recalibrating my perspective. A-my car was ok enough to get me to my mom’s, and B-a nice human had found my wallet and me on Facebook to return it.
I was upset when really everything was just fine. I could hear God say, – just rest. Not only in the calm down way, but also in the rest in Him way. Now I was not on board in that moment. I knew He was right about the situation, but REST . . . for a whole year?! I can barely sit still in my own house without bouncing from task to task.
But, of course he had me set. Just then the local radio station announced their next song, “Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” – YEP! I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Whether you find a verse or word or habit to focus on this year I hope you lean into God’s direction for your heart.
Happy 2021 Friends!
Happy New Decade Gang!
Anyone else feel very old, and very energized at the same time? . . . Just me? That’s ok too!
The New Year used to be the only time I made plans or tried to hit new goals. But several things changed over the last half decade and I wanted to share them with you. (I’ll get to the whole redeemed story soon so don’t go anywhere!)
I look at my life in sections, like volumes in a collection. In 2014 I finished up the “running through life” part. I had experienced an intense space of numbness in my spirit and went out on a limb landing in the arms of some truly godly women. They were years into a group study/fellowship routine and about to do a Restreat, yes we made up our own word.
We also picked a word to center us for the upcoming year. You can read all about each word I’ve had from 2015-2019 here, but the point I’m slowly making is that 2015 began the next section of my life which was very clearly about waking up and actually doing something about stuff I wasn’t happy with.
I realized I was going through the motions of life with very little concern for how my mind, body, spirit, etc were doing. Was I happy? Did I want to get better at X? Had my husband and I grown closer? I was not considering any of these things unless there was a GIANT issue I couldn’t ignore.
So between my Bible study, personal development, parenting development, writing, creating, and recovery this section of life has been all about gathering tools. And let me tell you, these tools are not all created equal and some of them come with heavy discomfort price tags. But where in life did I get the idea that anything worth having would be easy to get?
Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story– those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
Psalm 107:2
Today I think I’m entering a new section. And while I think it will look different at the end, I’m using the working title, the expression section. I find that I apply things to my life that I talk about. Reading and learning new things is only part of the journey to using the information. We have an easier time practicing when we internalize the tools to the point that we can explain them to others.
I also feel so strongly that God is doing a good work in me that will soon bear it’s first fruit. I believe he will REDEEM the pains of previous seasons and create something better.
~ Now that I’ve gone the long route to the original intent of this post, let me tell you how God gave me another re- word this year. ~
In October our church hosts an all-girl youth event. Every year we tease next year’s theme and we are doing a big 10 year celebration with Ruth as the main story. So my friend sends me this image to show at the event and in giant letters it says “Redeemed” over this wheat field….Y’all I literally started crying! Since year two I have had at least one- “what if He doesn’t give me a re- word this year” panic moment. I always promise myself to be ok with whatever word he brings me. And every year it comes. I mean for the last FIVE years God has been faithful in this small way that shows me He sees me and KNOWS me.
So when this word came sliding in months before I even had time to worry I just came undone. Because this year has been beyond difficult. We have had such uncertainty with work, which means finance uncertainty. And we lost two irreplaceable pillars in our family. I see God in this. I know He sees me. And I believe without question that He has big plans for my life and spirit in the year and years to come.
Thank you for listening, and leave your Word of the Year below!
Love,
Shari
Brene Brown has become my vulnerability big sister. I look to her and her wisdom to learn how to tackle this thing called relationship. Her no nonsense personality (#Texan) makes all of her wild ideas about vulnerability and shame sound totally rational.
I’ve made a printable with her 10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living. I have one up in my closet as part of my other vision board collection.
I also wanted to share some of her mantras that keep me centered.
The challenge for me is standing still and letting others see the real me. I tend to hide behind being useful or agreeable. Hope this helps you as much as it helps me.
-Shari
When I started this blog I was at the very edge of a large void that had been taking up my entire field of vision. I’m still, working through the many things God intended me to learn from that void.
But the changes that I am beginning to work on came from a, seemingly random event that led me to reach out to a friend. A friend that had been in the background of my life for years, a friend who God had only recently brought to the foreground.
The email I sent her was impulsive and rambling. I know I didn’t even begin to say everything I was feeling, or struggling to feel. But the beauty of his plan comes from my imperfect steps. The direction I received from my friend was the exact opposite of what I expected.
Continue reading “Where Does Direction Come From?”A goal is a dream with its work boots on. -Rachel Hollis
Ok, raise your hand if you have heard to phrase ‘self care’ about one thousands times too many. …Great, now keep your hand up if you have the same reaction to the phrase ‘personal development’.
I know I can’t really see you. You have one of those webcam covers right? One can never be too careful. Anyway I’m guessing a fair amount of the world is tired of both of these ideas. I’m putting the blame on how quickly self care became code for me time, which is great in reasonable doses, but actually doesn’t produce anything. Now if that break keeps you from screaming at your kids or chopping off all your hair then I am here for it!
The thing I want you to know is there is a time for keep-me-calm-or-it’s-on solo time, and then there is the I-have-to-make-progress solo time. I have to admit I didn’t always know the difference. I was living in a fog for years, just going about the business of feeding and entertaining myself (and sometimes Derek). Then all of a sudden I was on this journey. Those first few months I couldn’t even see where I was going. I just knew I didn’t want to look back another ten years down the road and see all the other paths I could have taken. Paths to a healthier body, paths to fuller life with God, paths to even one of the ten dreams I write down every day. There was some crazy combination of tough love and inspiration that converged on me at the right time, and after that moment I was all in.
Each of these is a work in progress, but that is exactly where I need to be.
What about you? Where do you want to grow? What can you do today to make things just that little bit better?
Gang, I do not recommend filming countless hours of content over a twelve month period and then waiting THREE YEARS to edit it into watchable vlogs! Just don’t be that girl! Every two or three months sort your raw content and make folders for EVERYTHING!
Ok, now that I’ve hooked you with sound, all-caps advice let me tell you a little story.
It was December 2015. I was at the tale end of my bachelor’s degree, living the dream when suddenly it got immensely better and crazy complicated! Enter stage left a beautiful tiny baby, no I didn’t suddenly (cough cough finally!) get pregnant. God brought a sweet baby into our life, one who needed a safe place to be loved while his future sat very uncertain.
Now if you want to here more about that story, go right ahead. We are gonna take a rabbit trail. I decided I wanted to film every week of 2016, with a baby at home I wanted to capture every moment, partially for me, but mostly because wherever this baby landed I wanted him to have all those firsts recorded and saved.
So I started talking to the camera. As I would film I would talk like I was a “real” YouTuber. I turned it into part diary part milestone keeper for our little. Weeks turned into months and eventually years. I never stopped filming. I mean, I slowed down a little from time to time, but I never quit filming. But the big problem was I NEVER edited anything!!! I would watch stuff back, try to make sense of it… I was no use. Y’all I promise nothing is more infuriating than listening to yourself say, for the 40th time, that your “not sure what you’ve filmed” or you “will definitely edit next week”!
I knew this footage would sit on my computer or a thumb drive for a while, but oh how i wish I had just edited it together, or even sorted it, or just watched it to know what the flip I did and didn’t say from month to month!!
Geez! Anyway this cautionary tales has a golden nugget at the end, so if you made it this far than you can go right over here and watch this old footage I am in the process of putting into usable content. Keep checking the link! I’ll add more videos to the playlist as I get through them!
-Shari
July is a good time to talk about my word for 2019, right?
For real though, I have been feeling the presence and weight of this word all year. It has come up again and again as I have walked into new things. It has been my shout to God as I give up another area of my life to him. I’m learning I can’t make everything look ok… ever. I try so hard to hold everything level, but some things need to be pushed off the balance beam so I don’t go down too.
This year I just knew my line of re- words was at an end. I mean I had four in a row and four is our family number. But lo and behold God had another plan. He surprised me with this one, and I am still unhappy about it. Releasing things is not in my basic makeup. Giving things to God feels like tug-of-war, but God never throws in the towel. He continues to let me have go back and forth, faithfully taking what I give over to him regardless of how recently I passed that exact thing his way before.
So we come to Release. If I’ve done things right there will be a series up very soon in our YouTube channel breaking down all the areas of my life I have been trying to manage through prayer and carefully mentor decisions. All year I have been feeling my way around working hard to reach out without jumping at every option like it’s gold. It is so hard to ascertain what God sends my way and what I will to be “from Him”. I fail all the time, but a framework has emerged and I’m giving it all I’ve got.
-Shari
