Why You're Never too Old for a Good Story

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I'm always looking for ways to reduce stress.  Maybe it's just me, but it's by far easier for me to collect stress than it is for me to get rid of it once I have it.

Some time ago, never mind how long precisely, I realized one thing that really raised my stress level and rush factor was how much time I spend in the car.  We're a one-car family, and on a regular basis that means I get to do extra driving to get things done.  

Since I wasn't actually interested in going out and buying a second car to solve this issue, I thought I had better come up with some other solution.  It's just not worth being stressed on a regular basis by one of my own responsible adult life decisions.

So I got out some story tapes.  Which actually are CDs, but I grew up on story tapes and even records, so that is still what I call them, no matter what the format.

I started listening to stories about my church's history--that box set took me several months' worth of errands to get through, and even a short summer road trip.  Then I got out some sermons and some other stories.

Gradually, I noticed my stress level going down.  I didn't mind an extra wait at the stop light.  Those fifteen minutes between my husband's work and my house flew by, even with morning school traffic.  I found myself encouraged and inspired instead of frantic.

It all started with the Pathways of our Pioneers CD Collection (which you can also download here for no charge).  I resonated with Mrs. Bates every time Joseph Bates left on another sea voyage--my husband was away on a commercial fishing boat at the time.  By the time Ellen White died, and I heard her say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day," I had to sit in the bank parking lot and wipe my eyes before I could go in to make my deposit.

I got through Great Stories volume 1 (although most are great, some of these do have sad endings...just to warn you!), and a few sermons.

By Christmas time, I had exhausted my story and sermon collection, and so as any self-respecting adult with no children in the house would do, I put more sets of stories on my Christmas list.  And maybe some Ellen White audio books.

I wasn't disappointed.  Christ's Object Lessons has been such a delight--I'm into my second listening already, and someday I may invest in another audio book or two from Remnant Publications.  Great Stories volume 2 awaits me, with all kinds of good stories about people like George Washington, Henry Ford, and more.

I don't dread errand days anymore.  I'm secretly glad I finally get a chance to pick up my stories and books where I left off.  

And really, that simple decision to listen to great stuff has taken away quite a bit of my unnecessary stress...so I guess you could say it has been life changing for me in a significant way.

Happy Pi Day

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I woke up this morning to a reminder from my brother-in-law that today is Pi Day.  There's nothing quite like waking up and realizing that instead of an ordinary day, you get a great holiday to celebrate instead.

During alumni weekend every year at Walla Walla University, the math department holds the Randy Yaw Pi Contest to see who can recite the most digits of Pi from memory.  First prize is $314.15, second prize is $31.41, third prize is $3.14, fourth prize is $.31, fifth prize is $.03, and sixth prize (perhaps the best of all) is approximately one sixth of a penny, specially designed and carved out by one of the math professors each year.

Then when the contest is over, everyone eats pie.

My freshman year of college, a friend of mine made it through 1212 digits before she faltered.  I'm not sure what the record is now, but I think she had the record then.

I didn't ever officially enter the contest, although I had memorized 50 or so digits for fun, and I had always wanted to work out a system to set Pi to music, even though I never seemed to get around to doing so.

Sometimes the best memories are made when you're not expecting them in the least, and that's precisely what happened once when I was walking across campus on the day of the Pi contest.

Seeing two friends, I greeted them and asked, "What are you guys up to?"

"We're practicing to go sing Pi at the Pi contest."

"Really?  I've always wanted to do that!"  I could hardly contain my excitement, and I'm pretty sure I barged in on their plans without so much as an invitation.  We practiced it in parts, two of us at the octave, and one in the middle at the fifth to imitate the style of perfect parallel organum.  Then we were off to make our debut, only minutes after deciding to stop our performance at a moment in Pi where an 8 followed a 5.  You know, for a good cadence.

We got a standing ovation, and we thoroughly enjoyed our pie.

Little did I know then that one of those Pi-singing  friends would become my brother-in-law, and that he would be sending Pi music videos to the whole family on Pi day.

A Faithful High Priest

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Not long ago my Bible study plan had me in Mark, studying the last scenes of Jesus' life, on the same day as I was studying Hebrews 4, and the significance of having a faithful high priest.

Honestly, it's something I have taken almost for granted.  Of course Jesus, as our high priest, would be faithful.

But what if you hadn't always taken faithfulness for granted?  What would that look like?  What if all you knew was the high priest in charge during Jesus' time on earth?

You know the one.  He and his other chief priests and scribes and elders would rather spend the Sabbath hours plotting to kill a man than see someone liberated from debilitating sickness.  

He would hire someone to deliver a man to death with money from the temple treasury.  Then, when the guilty betrayer brought the same money back?  He'd get creative, trying to find a new place to keep that money, because the temple treasury couldn't accept blood money, all the while neglecting his solemn duty to bring a sinner to the mercy seat.

{I don't know if Judas was past the point of no returns just then, but what if he wasn't?  What if the high priest could have labored for his soul instead of heartlessly turning him out in the cold, saying, "See thou to that!"}

The same high priest would try for hours and hours in the middle of the night to find a false witness to testify in court, even though he should have been the one to uphold the standard of justice at all costs.  He'd make a pretense of following the rules--needing two witnesses to agree, even if falsely--before giving a verdict.

I don't know of anyone who would want to be judged in that court.  

As I considered Jesus as a faithful high priest, particularly in contrast with the unfaithful high priest who judged Jesus and begged Pilate to crucify Him, I began to realize in a new way how beautiful it is that the Bible assures us over and over that

• Our high priest is faithful.
• Our high priest judges righteously.
• Our high priest makes war righteously.
• Our high priest came to seek and to save that which was lost.
• Our high priest offers the fountain of the waters of life freely.
• Our high priest was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
• Our high priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
• Our high priest would rather die than see us in court without a hope.

Many of the plants and trees where I live are covered with intimidating thorns.  Every time I see them and try to respectfully avoid their painful spikes, I have a fresh reminder of what Jesus suffered for my sake, what it took for Him to become my faithful high priest who could judge both righteously and mercifully.  And I love how all these things--His faithfulness and His willingness to suffer for my sake--culminate in the reminder to have confidence when I come to Him.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."  Hebrews 4:16

What to do with Bad Thoughts

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Sometimes my thoughts can be like clouds, when I'd rather them be like sunbeams.

I've encountered many helpful ideas to remind me what to do about the cloudy thoughts, but recently something new jumped out at me from Proverbs.

"Commit thy woks unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."  Proverbs 16:3.

I love how this is part promise and part test question.  On the one hand, it's a relief to know that God cares about and promises to establish my thoughts.  It's a battle I can't and don't have to fight alone.  

On the other hand, my job is to make sure I'm fully committed to Jesus.  Have I taken back the reigns of my heart?  Am I trying to do things my way, or make my plans without seeking Him first?  As soon as I can surrender all the things that trouble and cloud my mind, and commit everything I do to the Lord afresh, I can rest assured that He will bring sunbeam thoughts to my mind to dispel the cloudy ones.

My Five Steps to a Clean Kitchen

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I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, and maybe that's why I'm always thinking about what I can do to make the fun parts (trying a new recipe, anyone?) more fun and the bad parts (another sink full of dishes) take way less time.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I am indeed writing this blog post instead of cleaning my kitchen, but it doesn't worry me, because the system I've been thinking about and working on for months will get me out of the mess I'm in pretty quickly.  Even if I take a few minutes to stop in at this all-too-dormant blog.  :)

So here's the logic behind the system:  I figure I might not have time to do the whole project at once, and I needed a way to prioritize the tasks.  Which things absolutely need to happen?  Which things will wait around for me to come back later without causing further trouble?

These five steps prove to be a consistent success for me, and even if I only have time for one or two steps, I still feel like I've made a dent.  The order is indeed important, and the foundation of the process.  I think through them every time I clean my kitchen, and they help me stay focused.

1.  Put away the food

I hate throwing away perfectly good food, and we all know food doesn't last as long if we don't get it back into the refrigerator.  Putting all the food--even non-perishables--back where it belongs not only preserves it, but also clears a lot of visual space in the kitchen.

2.  Get rid of trash and compost

I'm not always great at cleaning as I go (my mother-in-law is amazing at this), so I often have an empty can, tofu box, wrapper....you get the idea....left out after the meal is prepared.  Plus scraps for the compost bin.  Once the food is taken care of, getting the trash and compost out of the kitchen clears that space and removes the gross factor for later.

3.  Put away clean dishes

My mom tells me I should empty the dishwasher before I make the next meal, and she's absolutely right.  But I don't always do it.  I do find, though, that if I put away all the clean dishes before I start rinsing the dirty ones, I then have a place to put the dirty dishes when they're rinsed for the dishwasher or hand washed.

4.  Rinse and wash the dirty dishes

This goes pretty quickly once all the other clutter has been dealt with.  Even if I have to come back to it later, it's not as overwhelming when the dishwasher and drying areas are cleared out.

5.  Wipe all the counters and clean the sink

I used to clean my sink once per week.  As a single person, that kind of worked, but it really didn't work well when I got married.  Marriage meant that I was cooking a lot more often, and you know what that means for the sink.  Eventually I figured out that cleaning the sink--actually scrubbing it out--every day made a huge difference in how I felt about working in my kitchen.  Cleaning the counters after each meal puts that finishing touch on a the kitchen, so that the next time I come in I feel inspired to cook delicious food once again.

If I've kept up on it through the day, this routine takes me ten to fifteen minutes, which feels efficient to me.

Do you have any tips for keeping up on the kitchen work?  I'd love to hear!

Summer Success Story: Exercise

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You guys, I am praising the Lord big time this morning.  Maybe it's not something that would seem like a big deal to other people, but it is huge to me.  But before I tell you why, I have to back up in the story a little bit.

For the last several years, I've been in a battle against some health problems.  Now, most people wouldn't know it to look at me, because we have this idea in our society that if you are thin, you are automatically healthy.  And unless you know the subtle physical signs of Graves' Disease, you wouldn't realize what a mess is going on inside the endocrine system.

Over the past two or so years, I've been blessed with a diagnosis--yes, KNOWING what is wrong is a blessing, because then you can figure out how to fix it!--as well as good medical care.  

The thing was, even though my thyroid levels finally returned to normal, and I felt mostly better, I developed some new symptoms that, while each successive doctor and specialist told me were benign, were in actuality disrupting my quality of life on a regular basis.

So last fall the decision came down to two options:  I could go to another specialist, who my cardiologist said might be able to help me (but in all honesty, he told me he wasn't sure if there was anything they could do).  

Or I could take a different direction and see a lifestyle medicine specialist/nutritionist who would take a broad look at a lot of blood work, and fix whatever was obvious.

I chose the broad look at a lot of blood work.

How much blood work that would mean didn't really sink in until I fainted in the lab when they were drawing about the twentieth vial of blood.  I had never fainted before, but it really wasn't that bad.  They took great care of me, and most importantly, got all that blood work done, which showed all kinds of interesting things about how I could improve my health, naturally.

So last winter the fainting thing was a first for me, but so also was being able to go for a run, and run for thirty minutes without stopping.  Oh, how I worked to reach that goal!  Already the lifestyle medicine approach was working.  My symptoms weren't completely gone, but they were improving.

Well, fast forward to the beginning of summer, and I faced two big hurdles.  They were named HEAT, and FISHING SEASON.

Heat is miserable on multiple levels, but specifically for me, it was a hurdle because I knew I needed to keep up on my exercise program in order to keep experiencing the health benefits I was beginning to enjoy more abundantly.  

I knew the night time temperatures would not drop much if at all below 80 for several months, and I knew it would be difficult to get exercise without putting myself in danger for heat exhaustion.  I figured I could walk outside for a few minutes after breakfasts and suppers, but I didn't know what I would do after lunch or for the vigorous exercise my lifestyle medicine specialist recommended.  

And then fishing season.  My husband's family have been commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay (see me standing in Bristol Bay in the sidewalk map above?) for several generations, and this summer, that meant my husband would be away for about six weeks.  I had to find a way to combat the loneliness I would face spending that much time by myself.

As it turned out, finding a solution for exercise also turned out to be one of the key things that helped me get through fishing season on my own.

My mother-in-law, who is a great runner and who with my husband is just the greatest exercise cheerleader on the planet (actually, so is my father-in-law...I'm really blessed to have them in my life), kept encouraging me to explore a gym membership.  And being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't want a gym membership.

But after she mentioned it again and again, I decided to ask Google if there were any free exercise videos I could use at home from my computer.  Then I clicked the first link, and started looking through what the site had to offer.

More than 60 free exercise videos, at all fitness levels.
Some videos using equipment, but many without.
A Christian health and wellness perspective.
Appropriately dressed women.
Free access to the videos by just supplying your e-mail address.
Options to download the videos to your phone or computer, and use them offline if you wanted.

Because the woman in charge viewed this as her ministry.

Well.  Sign me up.

I started right away.  I put on a video whenever a thunderstorm or the intense heat and humidity kept me from walking outside after a meal, or going for a run.  Which, let's be honest, was at least once every day, and sometimes more!  I explored a few beginner body weight workout videos.  And, oh, yes, the beginner videos were enough for me!

But only at first.  After a while, I noticed I could try out harder ones.  I also noticed that if I was feeling lonely and just ready to cry knowing my husband wouldn't be home for several more weeks, and then decided to do even just a ten-minute workout video, I would immediately notice a peace and calm in my emotions that hadn't been there before the exercise.  

As they say, you're only one workout away from a good mood!

That was fourteen weeks ago.  I know that because Michelle, the founder of faithfulworkouts.com, sends me an e-mail each week, encouraging me to keep at it.  Yesterday's e-mail said it was week 14 for me.  And while I haven't been completely faithful, I've certainly been making improvements.

Of course I had other strategies too, but those workout videos were a HUGE part of getting myself through the six weeks of fishing season while my husband was working hard in Bristol Bay.  I can't explain to you all the physiology and science behind it, but I can tell you from my own experience that emotional well being and exercise walk hand in hand.

This morning, though, I didn't work out with Michelle.  The morning temperature was down to 69.  Below 70.  For the first time in MONTHS.  {Imagine it if you can.  I dare you.}  So I went for a run for the first time in at least two months, just to see how I would do, and to see if exercising with Michelle all summer long had preserved any of my ability to run.

I felt great at five minutes.  And just fine at ten minutes.  And breathed harder at fifteen minutes.  And stopped at twenty minutes.

Which is longer than I was able to run without stopping before the summer heat hit.  Which means exercising with Michelle all summer long was a great idea on so many levels.

Now, I wouldn't want anyone to think that they have to follow the same exercise plan that I do.  We each have to find out what works best for us.  But I would love to encourage each of you to make an exercise plan, and to stick with it, and find ways to get exercise even when life and summer heat and whatever else don't seem like they're cooperating with your goals.

The exercise is worth it, not just on a physical level, but on the emotional level, too.  

And if you're interested in more natural ways to improve emotional health, I highly recommend this lecture (click over to the blog for the link if you're reading this in e-mail).  I've listened to it three times in the last week or so, because it's just that inspiring and fascinating.

Two Years

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{Celosia going to seed}

Two years ago today we drove into town, our little car weary and worn from more than one 2500 mile drive over the summer.

We didn't know where the car repair shop was.
We didn't know where the grocery store was.
We didn't know where we were going to live.
We didn't even know where we could stay the night.

We didn't know anyone who could help us find any of the things we needed, except maybe a new coworker or two from my husband's new school.

Although we were excited about the possibilities, we were entirely unprepared for the culture shock brought on by the climate, attending church in a language we didn't speak well, and the way people drive in this flood plain they call the Rio Grande Valley.

Yet somehow we found a little hotel room with a kitchenette that became our center of operations while we waited for the car repair, searched for a place to live, and began our new life in South Texas.

That first week, friends of a friend welcomed us into their home for Sabbath dinner.  We found a house to rent that turned out to be only a block or so away from a wonderful Adventist couple our age who have become good friends.  

We responded to a Craigslist ad for free lemons, bought a citrus juicer (all our stuff was still in storage in another state), and made lemon juice.  Because that's what you do when life gives you lemons.  (Couldn't resist.)

My mom sent word that not only was she coming to visit, but she was also sending us a piano that would arrive on the same day as she would, which turned out to be the same day our moving truck arrived.  

We camped out in an empty house for three weeks--what I went through to find an air mattress without a hole in it!--waiting for my mom, the piano, and the moving truck, just thrilled to have our own space and be out of hotels.  We bought 40 pounds of limes for $4 at the flea market, some jars, and a pot, and I spent days making and canning our own lime juice.

Because that's what you do in a new place, right?  Buy produce in large quantities and set right to work preserving?

And of course you plant your seeds for the fall garden.  We were a bit late--September 11 that year--but since South Texas really doesn't have winter to speak of, it worked out fine.  We had carried our little box of seeds everywhere we went that summer like regular Johnny Appleseeds, to good purpose.

This morning I looked at my kitchen sink full of dishes that I didn't get to last night, and thought through the day ahead.  Costco run.  Groceries.  Bank.  Gas for the car.  Teaching lessons.  Keeping house.  Saving seeds from the stunning celosia flowers that bloomed and attracted the butterflies all summer long.  Watching for the next rain, when I will plant some new fall crops.

A busy day ahead, for sure, but a day of blessings.  Dirty dishes are blessing dishes, evidence of good meals, a settled home.  Errands to run, without looking at Google maps, are blessing errands, especially when you know just which stores offer the best prices.

And teaching lessons?

Oh, my, that itself is blessing unbounded, and full of surprises and delights at every turn.