7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 20): good books, good music, and a little art to boot

— 1 —

I’m trying something new for the next couple of months; I’m shifting my Sabbath day from Saturdays to Fridays.  My schedule can be somewhat insane during the week, and by Friday night, I’m generally ready for a break – but I’ve found that if I push too hard on Fridays, trying to get all my work done, my Sabbath on Saturdays isn’t the deeper rest and play that it could be.  I sleep in on Saturdays because I can, but if I’m not awake until 9:00 or 10:00am, and I still have work left to do that night, it can be challenging to ignore the task list and really take the day off.  I find myself thinking on and off all afternoon about what needs to get done yet – and while I’m disciplined enough (most of the time) to check out and not actually do work for awhile, thinking about it takes energy I could be giving to other things.

Fridays are my lightest workdays, so I’m experimenting with just not working (at least not much) and devoting the day to reading, napping, writing, and playing.  So far today (day one) it’s gone really well.  I’m not stressed about work because I know that I still have all day tomorrow to get things done, and having the time and the margin to just read this morning was wonderful.  Hopefully I’ll still feel as positive at the end of my workday tomorrow.  🙂

If this goes well, I might actually stand a chance of completing my 7 Quick Takes on a weekly basis…  🙂

— 2 —

I’m reading two books this week that I am really enjoying: the first is Beth Moore’s Jesus, the One and Only.  The chapter I read this morning had some really good perspective about praying and waiting.  The chapter focused on Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how long they waited and prayed for a son – and how when God finally said yes, His answer was so much greater than they had imagined.  Suddenly years of waiting and praying ended as they became a part of The Story still told, hundreds and hundreds of years later.

There are a handful of things I’ve stopped praying for, because I can so easily take “not yet” (or silence) for “no.”  But unless God’s already said no, I probably shouldn’t stop praying.  I feel like a broken record some days; I get tired of praying about the same things, and forget that God doesn’t tire of hearing me – but praying some of my as-of-yet unanswered prayers again with new hope would be a wiser next step than quitting altogether.

— 3 —

I’ve also – finally!! – gotten well into Sarah Bessey’s Jesus Feminist.  I’m not going to say a ton about it right now; I’ll leave that for another post.  But suffice it to say that this book is like water to my thirsty soul; so much of it resonates with things I’ve been thinking.  I want to buy a copy of it for everyone I know and say, “Read this, and then let’s talk.  Let’s really talk about these things.”  I’ll be talking about some of the things here over the next few weeks.  Please feel free to join the conversation!

— 4 —

Have you ever had one of those accidental musical discoveries that unexpectedly rocks your world?  I was looking something up in CCLI’s database this week and the title of one of their featured songs caught my eye.  Hope Will Rise.  (I love that.)  It’s by a band call Warr Acres – and I’m not sure why I decided to look it up, but I did – and it is the perfect anthem for the too-many people I know who are going thru incredibly hard things.  I’m introducing it to our church in two weeks when I lead worship, and I can’t wait.  Check it out.

— 5 —

© Simple Felicity 2014

I know there are a lot of people who have  stories about the craziness caused in their lives by the cold snap that hit North America this week.  There were pictures of frost coming in through locks and electrical sockets and cars coated in ice and waves in Lake Michigan frozen in motion, and tales of boiling water and bubble experiments all over Facebook.

I have no story.  I got two extra days of vacation and there was very pretty frost on my windows.

— 6 —

Amanda-who-should-start-blogging-again sent me a link this week to a really cool graphic design website called Canva.  It’s very simple and intuitive.  Their “free” options are somewhat limited, but still nice, and if you’re looking for something inexpensive and DIY for your blog or your website, it might be a good resource.  I created a Facebook cover for Simple Felicity’s Facebook page.  Drop by and let me know what you think, and if you haven’t “liked” my page yet, please do, and invite your friends to like it to!  I am so floored, humbled and honored that only 10 days from the launch there are already people I don’t know who have started following Simple Felicity on Facebook.  (If you are one of them, thank you!)  One of the many things I wanted to be when I grew up was/is a writer.  I’m not sure I can (or want to) claim to have “grown up” yet – but I wrote my first book when I was in fourth grade (I still have it) and I still love writing.  Having someone read what I have to say, and in some small way being able to partner with God in speaking truth and life to His people, really is a dream come true.  So thanks for reading, and for spreading the word.  I can’t wait to see what God does with this.

— 7 —

Speaking of thanks – I would be completely remiss if I let you think that I’m at all responsible for how fantastic Simple Felicity is going to look when it’s finished.  I have a really great friend who’s doing a ton of work on it for me in his spare time, because he’s awesome, and knows it would take me about 10 times as long to figure out how to make the changes I want.  He’s also sending me notes on how he fixed things so I can figure it out on my own later if I need to.  One of these days I will get back to those courses at Codecademy.  But in the meantime – I am incredibly grateful.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!