Wildflower Writes

Photograph by Sean Woods I came home from work, tired and hungry. I dropped my stuff by the door and noticed an orange plastic egg on my TV stand. I was pretty sure I hadn’t left that there, but I had left my son watching videos on the couch when I left for work that morning. Turns out he had hidden 13 eggs for me to discover. Suddenly, I was laughing as an attempt to turn on a lamp dislodged another plastic egg. A game I had dismissed as being too juvenile for my teenage family members was now making my Monday. I forget how important it is to play and have fun. When I was visiting some friends the other day, they asked me what I do when I’m not working. I struggled to think of something I do just because I enjoy it. When I do take the time to do something fun and relaxing, I have better energy and motivation to do the important stuff. Maybe the fun stuff is just as important. 

Photo by  Michael Henry  on  Unsplash The microwave beeped. The lights went out. All was silent. Another power outage. I resigned myself to getting ready for work in the dark. A single flashlight provided just enough light to make sure my clothes matched and my hair was tamed. At some point I wandered to the window in another room to observe the darkened neighborhood, eerie in the predawn gloom. I realized I could see the furniture in the room, which should have been impossible with no electricity and no lights. The tiny flashlight from two rooms away was emitting enough light for me to see where I was going. Sometimes we think our light isn’t very bright, that the good we do is unnoticed or inconsequential. In a dark world, every light is important; every light is seen. Keep shining.

Photo by  Wonderlane  on  Unsplash I like it when everything is in its place and messes are mitigated. This weekend, though, was busy. The time I usually spend catching up on cleaning and chores was spent doing important things with important people. Now it’s Sunday night, and tomorrow morning the workweek begins, and I’m already feeling behind. The fact that messiness is acceptable seems to be a theme today. We sang a song in church- “Maybe it’s okay if I’m not okay, ‘cause the One who holds the world is holding onto me.” I heard a story about how Jacob, the Hebrew patriarch, had a really messy life. Life is never how we plan it. Sometimes that means wonderful surprises. Sometimes it means terrible disappointments. Somehow, understanding that perfection is not meant to be attainable in this world makes dealing with and cleaning up messes more palatable.

It's great to have goals and to be able to work steadily toward them.  In my experience, however, only the most die-hard determined people can make a plan and stick to it without fail.  Often, these people are so driven their health and relationships suffer.  Moving forward is important.  Yet, as we know, life happens.  People get sick; people lose their jobs; people make poor decisions.  When life happens, it's tempting to get frustrated and give up.  "Apparently, it wasn't meant to be." So, maybe it isn't going to be as easy as you thought.  Maybe it's going to take longer.  Maybe after some long, hard thought, it's not really what you wanted after all.  That's okay.  Just don't give up.  Adjust, be flexible, arrange your time and money around your values.  Think about how your family and health figure into your goals. Along with being flexible, you have to be resilient .  You can't let little t...

So, it's technically not a word, or it wasn't until 2000, but getting from where you are to where you want to go takes more than a simple strategy.  It takes some serious strategery.  Strategery is about working backward in time from your goal to your present situation.  The important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter where you are now.  What matters is you are fully aware of where you are and are prepared to move in a planned direction.  No more treading water, no more procrastinating, no more wishing and hoping, no more fuming and bitterness, no more regret.  The past is the past, and it's unchangeable.  Where you are is unchangeable.  Where you are going is up to you. It's not enough to have a goal or want it really bad.  You have to strategerize a plan.  Do you want to get a novel published?  Have you started writing it yet?  When do you want to have it completed by?  How many words a day would tha...

Okay, acknowledgement is not really a value.  It's more of an action, but it has everything to do with the way you view the world and your relationship with other people.  My pastor used an illustration in his sermon today... you wouldn't walk into a dinner at the White House (assuming you were invited) and not acknowledge the President.  He would be the reason you were at the White House, and the person who happens to live there.  Even though the people we come into contact on a daily basis may not have as much clout as the President of the United States, they still matter.  I work in a nursing home.  I am deeply aware that just taking the time to nod or smile or say hello to residents I pass in the hallway is vitally important.  Many of these people already feel discarded by their families, hopeless about their health, and live day to day going from medications to therapy to meals, and not much else.  If you want to make a difference in ...

Some people are thinkers, and some are feelers.  The ways people process the world and make decisions  generally fall into one of these two categories. I am an analytical feeler.  I am very tuned into how I feel, but I want my decisions to be logical as well.  I know something is not right in my world when it doesn't "feel" right.  I struggle to find that balance, that sense of peace that I am doing all the things I should be doing and am capable of doing, and am doing it efficiently without sacrificing any of the fun or wonder that makes life worth living.  It comes down to values.  In order to feel peace with the way I live my life, I have to decide what is important to me.  My faith is important to me.  My family is important to me.  Integrity and responsibility are important to me.  Humor and fun are also important.  I value creativity and knowledge as well.  That is why I am pursuing a career that allows me to sha...

Usually, when I leave the movie theatre with my kids, I ask them if they liked the movie, and what their favorite parts were. Tonight, I was compelled to ask a different question. “What did you learn from the movie?” I asked my children. “What did we learn?” my daughter asked, her face contorted into that “what are you talking about” look. “Yeah. What did the main character do right?” I asked. “He kept his promises,” she replied, her voice ending high as if it were a question rather than an answer. Then we digressed into a discussion of whether her brother broke his promises. After we settled that matter, I asked my son what he learned. “That a house is just a house,” was his response. I had forgotten the “people over things” theme. I could have come up with a dozen more. Carpe Diem , or seize the day. Life is an adventure. People (and animals) enter your life for a reason. My husband and I had splurged on an evening at the movies because we have so few nights together a...

The following is a guest blog by my dad, Dallas Johnston: I’m no expert. I never read Parents Magazines. And my nature is to be short on patience and, at times, a fairly quick temper. But, I’ve always felt that most of parenting is “Common Sense”, which in general, is my forte. More important, I’ve felt from day one of becoming a Dad, that being a good parent is probably the most important thing I’ll do in my lifetime. Everyone is limited to the amount of impact they can have on the world, but your kids and their kids for generations to come can have a huge impact to make the world a better place. Become a working partner with Mom .. I learned this one from my parents. When one of you has “had it up to here”, the other needs to become stronger. When one of you loses their temper, the other needs to be the one to soften things up. There should be times when you can casually talk to each other about your kids. Take advantage of the opportunity to work as a team. Enjoy all the phases of ...

She spins and she sways To whatever song plays Without a care in the world And I'm sitting here wearing The weight of the world on my shoulders It's been a long day And there's still work to do She's pulling at me Saying "Dad, I need you There's a ball at the castle And I've been invited And I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?" So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone... Steven Curtis Chapman’s song, Cinderella , is a beautiful portrayal of what a good dad looks like. I’ve seen some bad dads lately: dads who are apathetic, abusive, or absent. It breaks my heart, because dads have such an important role to play in their children’s lives. Even though moms are reputed to be the primary nurturers and caregivers, dads...

At one point in my life, I believed there was no fundamental difference between males and females, with the obvious physical exceptions. I was a 10-year-old feminist. I believed I could play football, excel in math, run fast, become president, and win a fist fight as well as any boy I knew. I rebelled against the idea that my passions and talents might be limited by people who made up arbitrary rules about which sports, activities or classes I could participate in. I still feel the hairs on the back of my neck bristle when people, especially children, are encouraged to behave in a particular way simply due to their gender. Let them play with whatever they want to, whether it’s trucks or dolls or blocks or crayons. Don’t let “boys be boys” and allow rude behavior or destruction. Don’t make girls “act like a lady” and prevent them from playing in dirt or running around. As I grew older, I began to see that there were some general differences between men and women. While I could play foo...

I was watching Oprah the other day. It’s not my usual routine, but I wasn’t in an Ellen mood. It was one of those update shows about Dr. Oz and how people fared after taking his advice. There were people who had lost over 100 pounds and people who discovered they had cancer in the early stages. All I could think about is how awesome it would be to have that kind of influence. How would it feel to know you were making a life-changing difference in the lives of untold numbers of people? Wouldn’t you feel important? How amazing would that be? I dream that someday my words will influence that many people in a positive way. Even if I never get there, though, I have to think that making a difference in the world can be an accumulation of small positive gifts everyday. Have you ever heard the Teddy Stallard story by Elizabeth Ballard? It is merely a story, unfortunately, but it chronicles how one person has the ability to say or do just the right thing to change the direction of some...

It’s my nephew’s birthday today. He’s seven years old. He likes to read, play video games, and is a powerful hitter on the little league field. Kids grow up fast. It never seems like it when you’re wading through diapers and spattered baby food, but they do. Before you know it, that bald baby with a big head is going to school and teaching his parents things they forgot they knew. I love watching babies interact with their world. They are constantly gathering information through all their senses and putting it into practice. I remember watching a baby next to me in a waiting room. His mother had given him a small bottle of pop to keep him busy. He grasped at it with tiny fingers, mouthed the cap, turned it, shook it, and dropped it several times. Once kids are mobile, their explorations increase ten-fold. There’s a child at my friend’s childcare that is like a wind-up doll. You put her on the floor and zoom! She’s crawling so fast her arms and legs are a blur. Soon she’ll ...