Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 August 2004 14:29:05
apparently. I am spending six months doing not very much (except trying to get my life in order) No sport, no leadership, no church services, no study (except for the two essays from last semester), no filling in my time. Most people think I'm a bit nuts. One wise person said it is a birthing time - that was a woman obviously. The other said that he had been through the same thing. !. I'm so excited. Other people have been there before me. He called it a sabbatical. Yay. I have a name for what I'm doing. 'A nothing time' doesn't really have the same ring as 'sabbatical'.
I want to lie in the grass and watch clouds go by. I want to be warmed by the sunshine and listen to the birds sing. I want to read a whole book, and follow up interesting ideas with more books and websites. I want to follow a thought to it's conclusion. I want to paint, and make a prayer garden with a winding path and mosaics. But (rising volume and speed typed with gritted teeth now) I can't 'cos I feel so guilty 'cos the house is a mess and the only way it can get done is if I stop avoiding it and get in there and do it. (very heavy full stop)
See my dilemma? The chaos is dragging me down. It's stopping me from doing what I want to do.
I need a plan. I need a to do list and some priorities and I need prayer and ... stuff.
I spent a bit of time last year looking for a person who had a housework anointing they could pass on to me. No one believes I'm messy. They think I'm way too organised and confident and bubbly or ... something. Who do these people think I am? Whom do I appear to be?
I have spent the last two months totally bored. I don't see boredom as something that needs to be alleviated. It's something to be experienced and thought about and worked through. (Who is it that has a great list on their blog of the top twenty ways to alleviate boredom?) People keep asking me if I'm alright? I had no idea I was such a bubbly, swinging from the ceiling kind of person, that a little boredom makes people so concerned about me. I obviously can't hide what I'm feeling. I must have the leg jiggling, fist clenching thing the curate suffers from happening on my face.
This blog thing is pretty cool. It helps me reflect on my day. Reflecting helps me appreciate that I have experienced great things each day. I meant in the beginning to document all the grand and wonderful plans I come up with to clean up the chaos and see if I could stick to them. Instead I think, wow, I did something cool today that is more important.
This week in my sabbatical I...
-Did some secret acts of kindness
-Ran underneath a kite, looking straight up. All my cares disappeared. (great Plassian sermon illustration there)
-Watched seeds fall out of a gumnut
-Gardened in the sunshine
-Pruned off dead branches
-Felt warm
-Planted pot plants and put little white pebbles on the top
-Painted on the pots
-Kicked a footy at the oval
-Shopped at my local vege shop
-Chatted to my local vege shop owners
-Stood at the top of the driveway to watched the rain fall in the light of the street light, but forgot to spin around arms raised.
-Imagined a troop of angels marching down my street loud praised rising to God
-Span around in the rain with my arms raised to the heavens
-Started Freedom of Simplicity from page 1.
-Got a thankyou kiss from a friend
-Got a hug
oh yeah...some more things I am pretty proud of. I...
-Cleaned the breakfast dishes off the table before lunch everyday
-Got everything off the bathroom floor immediately after I was dressed everyday
-Sorted out all the washing after everyload, except for today
-Did the dishes at least every second day
-Made the bed a few days