Hi there! I’m posting the links to each day on this post to make it easy for folks to find them. Please scroll down to read the #31 days series introduction!
Day 2: The Strength in Our Frailty (And the Guy at the Bank)
Day 4: On Dragons, Angels and Jesus
Day 5: You Got Spirit, Let’s Hear It
Day 6: The Declaration of Un-independence
Day 8: Holy Stooping and Drama Llamas
Day 12: Life’s Beautiful Brevity
Day 16: Work Worth Waiting For
Day 21: On Entering Negative Space
Day 24: Because You Know What They Say
Day 25: For When You Can’t Keep Going, But You Must
Day 27: Love in the Small Stuff OR Lessons from Baby Clothes
Day 28: Overlooking the Junk for the Love
Day 29: That Super-hard L-Word
Day 31: Reflections on His Goodness
I guess this story really starts about five years ago, when The Nester wrote about the same topic for 31 days. She has a fantastic blog about, well, nesting naturally, but about 3,700 other great topics fit inside of that realm, too. And five years ago, she wrote, I loved it, and I thought, “Ooh! I want to do that!” The next year, she invited eight friends to join in, and I, from far away in South Africa, read along and thought, “Ooh, I still want to do that!” and the next year, she sort of “opened it to the general public” and 746 people jumped in. I thought, “Ooh, I still want to do that!” but I think I was moving countries and had some small children or something.
Then, last year, 31 Days arrived again and I thought, “Oooooh! I still want to do that!” But I was very pregnant and certain the little one would arrive early and I was unwilling to sacrifice sleep and I had other small children and… wow, here I am making excuses again.
So, this year, I decided to bring this little challenge before the Lord and let Him make the excuses for me, because then I would feel better about having an excuse not to do something that I think would be quite good for me. I was standing in front of the washing machine, which thankfully has a window behind it which allows me to look out toward the river while I ponder how much time I actually spend on laundry each week, and wonder what the bottom of my laundry basket looks like, if it does, in fact, exist.
The conversation went like this:
“Lord, I constantly get the sense that You want me to write more, and I feel like I need to get over some internal hump and just jump brave in, and I think writing for 31 days would be a really good way to actually show myself that these books You have stirring in my heart could actually turn into something on paper if I’d be disciplined enough to do it.”
Okay, do over, I think the conversation went more like this. Although all of the above was in my head and heart at the time, so the Lord ‘got it’ without me ‘splainin.
“Lord, I feel like I should do that 31 Days thing. But I don’t know what to write about. So. If You want me to do it, will You please give me a topic?”
[Complete silence, both external and internal.]
I walk away thinking I might be off the hook.
But then. This weekend, the smalls and I travelled along with HH to a wedding a wee ways west of Winston-Salem… I don’t know if it could be classified as the mountainous section of North Carolina, but it was at least foothilly enough to be inspirational for me.
We needed the Belle to have a little morning nap in the hotel room, so HH took the boys out to play and I was there with a sleeping baby, no laundry to fold, and … silence.
So I started reading, which, for me, kind of naturally turns into writing, and then, plain as day, the Lord simply whispered a little theme to my heart, which I am pretty sure if I looked back would be a recurring theme, a bright pink thread, right straight through, from the early days when this blog still had Smiling, Avocado and Bacon in the title. And if you can remember those days, well then, leave a comment because you’re one of eleven.
To test and see if this was actually a 31-dayable topic, I quickly flipped to a clean page, jotted down the numbers 1 – 31, and promptly came up with 22 post ideas in less than 22 minutes. Perhaps even ten. Minutes that is.
And then, my friends, I was cornered. In His glorious goodness, He kept His end of the bargain… so I have to keep mine.
And for the next 31 days, heaven help me, I’ll be writing about exactly that: His glorious goodness.
As I proceed toward the end of a year that might, for all intents and purposes seem not good, (considering the unexpected loss of my Dad this March) and as I work through a soul-challenging season where my plate seems uber-full — and not of bacon or avocado or even a slice of home-baked bread — I am somehow confident that putting this new thing on my plate, where I am actively looking in unexpected places to find ways to say He is so good, there is the significant possibility that everything else will suddenly look a heckuvalot better, or perhaps go strangely dim, which will help me to recognize how small it all is in comparison.
Part of the challenge for me will be not simply saying “He’s good because there’s Jesus and forgiveness and stuff” but actually searching for redemption in the hard, the broken, and even in the just plain ordinary. The other part of the challenge will be the discipline of getting up and writing each morning for the next 31 days.
So, quick question for you. Will you join me in a conversation about His Glorious Goodness over the next 31 days? If you are along for the ride, it will make it so much more meaningful for me. I write because when I do, you write back and tell me how much it has meant to you — and I can’t say thank you enough to you amazing people, far and wide, who have taken the time to say Thank you or That meant something to me.
I’ve had the privilege of hearing many of your stories, and sometimes even meeting some of you, and it has been such a joy, SUCH a gift. You dear readers and social media-sharers and encouraging commenters and (I’m usually blessed and embarrassed at the same time) dear folks who put quote marks around something I’ve said, attach my name to it and pass it on… I write for you, and it is totally His glorious goodness, that He gives good gifts, and then we get to be gifts to each other, because of Him. But maybe that’s a topic for Day 17 or something?
That was a lengthy rabbit trail. Back to the subject, my apologies:
Will you join me on the #31Days adventure? You can follow along by subscribing to my blog or liking With Love, From Here’s page on Facebook or, obviously, just coming right back every day this month.
I hope so. I think it’s for me, but I’m secretly (well I guess it’s not a secret now) pretty sure this is for you, too.
Isn’t that glorious?
xCC
{You can also follow other #31days participants by searching that hashtag at Twitter or visiting the Nester’s Link-Up Page. — I will link to it once it goes live later this evening!}
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I can’t like you on facebook because I’m not on there, but I like you in real life, does that count? I’ll be keeping you in my prayers through this journey and am looking forward to reading your posts which will no doubt be inspirational. Love ya!
Natasha — that counts twice, friend! Absolutely! Thank you for being such an encourager! Getting *real* comments right here is even better than FB! I hope you are inspired!!
Love your sweet place here. Thankful I found you through 31 days. Blessings for the journey ahead.
I’m so excited to be following along with you friend!!
I’m a new follower and I found you from the 31 day challenge. Can’t wait to read more!! btw your kids are sooooo cute 🙂
Thanks so much, Heather! Your site is adorable and I love the heart behind it — thank you for commenting, I’m glad we’ve connected!!
Caroline, I am usually silent follower of yours and I absolutely love your writing. I always gain something from the words you type on your page. I am excited that I will be able to follow you daily through this series as I have missed seeing you so often in my blog feed. 🙂 I am a little late catching up on your series, so I am starting from the beginning. As I read through this post, my thoughts continued to travel back to the ladies bible study that I am going through with my church – Priscilla Shirer’s “Gideon”. She is helping us to see each blessing from God through everything we do each day – even the mundane things like letting the dog out to pee, or getting our children up and ready for the day. God was able to find the best in Gideon and He can find the best in us as well as show us all of His blessings throughout our day. I am excited to continue with you on this series!
Jennifer, thank you so much for “de-lurking” to leave such a sweet comment!!! I’m so encouraged, and I definitely love the concept of looking for blessings in the mundane… hard but so life-changing good!! Thank you for following along with this blog and this series — I hope it continues to be a blessing to you!