The Sylvr Pen

Just for today, just this:

A simple collage, and few words. 

Because today is my Sabbath, precious gift of time, time to spend on pursuits like the one pictured here.

soothe  3 : to bring comfort, solace, reassurance to; to bring peace, composure, quietude*.

sabbath  2 : a time of rest*

May you too enjoy the soothing gift of rest and peace and quietude today.

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*Definitions from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.

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For a set of links to all the other posts in this “Meandering Forward” series, go to this page, which will be updated daily as new posts appear in the blog content.

The Write 28 Day Challenge I’m taking part in  gives word prompts for each day we participants want to use one. But today I’m using an old November Five Minute Friday prompt I interpreted as this collage instead of a free write: “One”!

Yesterday’s post (in essence) answered the question, “How do you begin a journey? Or a project? Or a high and holy endeavor? In what sort of condition? What kind of shape should get yourself in to start?”

The answer that wove between the lines of that post: The shape or state you are in right now! In your pajamas and robe, in your splattered paint clothes or your muddy barn boots; with your crutches stuck under your arms or that bandage still wrapped ’round your head; with your broken heart writhing or your overstrained brain throbbing. As you are. That’s how to start.

Today’s post addresses the query, What should you do–first, or primarily; or at all?

Answer:

Start with… One.

You’ve probably heard the saying “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao Tsu). That’s a no-brainer, really. If you don’t take that first step, wobbly and uncertain, timid and tentative though it may be, of course you won’t get anywhere.

But I’m thinking of more than that right now. I’m reflecting on how effective it can be to focus on almost any one step instead of a hundred, or even ten—to get any endeavor going, moving forward, chug, chug, chug, maybe building up energy and speed, maybe eventually even sprouting wings and flying to heights you never imagined.

The thing is, you may be starting with a burgeoning to-do list–or near zero energy, or both! Ill health or physical limitations, external hindrances and roadblocks, uncertainty and lack of confidence, discouragement  and even downright depression can make it hard even to put that one foot one inch forward.

But that small step is do-able. So you do just that. Maybe that whole big pile of dishes in the sink really is overwhelming. But you can wash. one. dish. Or you can rinse. one. dish. and stick it in the dishwasher. Then you can walk away from the sink if you want.

Maybe that Mt Everest of papers making your desk hard to close is daunting. But you can file, (or toss) one. paper. And then walk away from the desk.

Only I don’t think you’re likely to walk away, from sink or desk. Not after just. one. That was so ridiculously easy, you’re likely to see one more plate, or one more paper as easy to handle, too.

Besides, success breeds success. It really does. When you keep your goals low on the shelf and easy to reach, then attain them, it gives you confidence to go on and stretch a bit more.

Yet one of the most ground-breaking things I’ve learned to do in this area of “one thing” has been to ask God, in a time of quiet coming aside from the busy and tense, “What one thing would You have me do today?” Especially when I have a long list of to-do’s and have been rushing thither and yon to get them all done, I am often surprised at the answer He leads me to. 

I won’t tell you my answers, the ones He nudged before individual me. I’ll just invite you to do the same thing, after quieting your soul, drawing near to Him, stilling yourself and tuning in the ears of your own heart.

Now with the summing up of this post, I’ve done my “one thing” for today. I’ve taken that one step. I wonder what He would have me do next, or not bother doing. 

How about you? What one thing do you think He would have you do today?

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For a set of links to all the other posts in this “Meandering Forward” series, go to this page, which will be updated daily as new posts appear in the blog content.

I accepted the challenge.

And so it begins: a new journey, new venture—one that the twinges inside me hint may also be a new adventure.

I have committed to publishing a new blog post each day of this bright new February.

I’m dressed in my work clothes, all ready to proceed. Which consist of…

1 flannel night gown

1 denim-ish “popover” with neck that can zip all the way to my chin if I like, “popped over” nightgown (as has been all night, this night, for it’s arctic-ly cold around here right now)

1 large, snuggly fake-fur robe, full-length, flowing to the floor to warm my legs, even my ankles,

although for this arctic season I have also pulled on…

1 pair extra long knee socks

1 pair hand-spun, hand-knit [both by my own hands] thick socks of 100% wool [shorn from our sheep when we had sheep a-grazing on the Funny Farm meadows], also naturally hand-dyed three colors

1 pair packable slippers, stretchy enough to fit over the other two layers. And…

1 pair heavy denim, relaxed-fit black jeans (because those thin leggings and skinny jeans just don’t keep you warm, people!)

Also today, an unusual adornment: 1 soft, light knit cap, fashioned for outdoor wear, but needful right now indoors, over my short-haired head.

Now if I only had a nose mitten, I’d be totally set. But that’s okay. At my right hand sits a mug of steaming coffee, brewed a bit strong—accidentally because my cupboard’s only ground beans were too fine for my French press; there’s probably lots of sediment at the bottom of that mug. (“More to wake you up with, girl”). I lift said mug to my face and the steam warms my cold little nose.

Apart from the extra layers, this is my usual work garb.

The “work”? Writing. (Although when you love what you’re doing, is it work?)

Anyhow, I’m ready to go!

And it’s time!

My time.

Wee small hour. Three AM

Mine.

Mine because it’s still, and no one disturbs my efforts.

Still because night owls have by now tumbled into deep sleep, and early birds are yet to lift their wings and morning voices to the silvering dawn.

Still. Ah, how lovely and still!

So, in place:

Main character – quirky writer. Check!

Usual but agumented costumes. Check!

Setting? Small alcove in a living room. Wobbly antique folding table manufactured for turn-of-the-century seamstresses— (nineteenth century into the twentieth, that is). Antique Hitchcock-type chair pulled up before said table because it happens to be comfortable for long stints of word flow. On table: (quite an achronism!) computer laptop, open and alight in anticipation of writer’s keyboard tickling.

Lighting: All the lights in the room, this morning anyhow. Sometimes I sit here in a little spotlit circle of rays from a single lamp. But this morning I rebelliously turned up the power to tell myself sternly, “It may still be night to other folk, lady, but this is day to you: So wake up, and charge forward into the journey you’ve committed to. No turning back, no matter what weird turns the path ahead may take (and I have a feeling it just might bend into “weird” new territory)!

One correction about the lighting, however: Not quite all the lights are turned on. On this antique table sits another achronism: my Ott light, stationed on duty, ready to illumine whatever I might prop open on my wrought-iron bookstand, fashioned from an antique heat vent grate.

All systems: go? Check!

And at this point I reach my first day’s word limit of six hundred words.

So, tomorrow, I’ll post what my fingers will tattoo out between now and then:: a response to an old, unpublished prompt word… “One.”

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For a set of links to all the other posts in this “Meandering Forward” series, go to this page, which will be updated daily as new posts appear in the blog content.

Dipping my toe back into the ocean of blogging this morning by responding to Five Minute Friday‘s new prompt word…

Better:

There’s a better way.

I’ve been jumping jittery from one to-do to another, making one insecure dive after another into things that I (and other people around me?) could think were productive and a good use of time. But all that tack has produced in me has been further jittery jumping into yet another busy-ness.

Then I stopped.

Then I came aside: to turn to God, to quiet my heart, to rest with Him and rest in Him. To ask Him what I should be doing, just what one thing. And even before that to ask Him more generally for guidance, for his viewpoint, His wisdom and thoughts on my life and my day, to show me how He was seeing it. I also took time to thank Him, for blessings in general, for blessings of the past day, for blessings of the morning. To show me where I’d gone wrong in the last twenty-four. Then I asked Him, what one thing did He want me to do in this day. And the answer came in this thought: Rest in Me.

And yes, I know: everything else will flow out of that, far better than from my jittery attempts at productivity.

[Stop.]

This post flowed out that way. So may my future blogging follow His navigation. And we shall see what we shall see…

October’s “Write 31 Days” is over, yet it’s not over. With so many seeds left scattered, it’s hard not to pick one up and plant it. Here’s the one that’s been tugging at my mind–this John Greenleaf Whittier quote from the collection pictured in the last blog post:

The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.”

It reminds me so much of this collage and hand lettering exercise I did sometime during this past year and don’t think I’ve shared.

Which prompts me to share my surprising great enjoyment of faux calligraphy. 

It’s “faux” because although it looks like actual calligraphy, it’s not. It’s much easier. And less stress! (And cheaper, to boot!)

I took it on as a challenge, I suppose as a means of improving my collages. But what I got was a path to relaxing, to soothing within. I don’t know why it had such a calming effect on me, but it did. I guess it’s a form of “mindfulness” exercise. You have to focus, to pay attention to the right-here and right-now, and you do need to slow down to do it. In a world where we try to do everything fast and faster, this is a gift and a boon to the inner state. I recommend trying it.

This is not the instruction video I watched. (I can’t seem to find that.) But it gives you the simple how-to in a clear way. There are other similar videos on YouTube. You might like to try it this weekend or some evening when you want to do something quiet, slow, and calming. I hope you do, and then  let me know how you like it.

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Meanwhile, in another sense, October’s “Write 31 Days” is over but it’s not over. Above, at the top of this post, and every blog page, is a master page linkwith links to all the posts that appeared in October. So if you want to revisit any, it’s even easier than faux calligraphy. Just click on the appropriate link!

Enjoy!