Wildflower Writes

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.

Hello, my name is Carrie. I'm a procrastinator. It's more of a bad habit than an addiction. I'm trying to be more responsible about my projects and plan my time wisely, but sometimes, I just don't wanna. Especially if it's time consuming or hard. There are worse things to procrastinate about than a household project. Sometimes we put off getting in touch with family members, or making important decisions. If you're putting off telling people in your life how much they mean to you, or deciding what career path to pursue or a million other life altering actions... Just do it. Don't procrastinate anymore.

I auditioned for a show the other day.  I hadn't auditioned for anything for two years.  And I am getting old.  I probably wouldn't have felt as old if I hadn't gone with my college-age friend, who happens to have an amazing voice and can apparently pick up dance steps as if she were, in fact, a dancer. The show is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat .  I am a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, but I didn't know this was his first publically performed musical.  One of the songs captured my attention as my daughter played the rented VHS tape this morning before school: Go, go, go Joseph you know what they say Hang on now Joseph you'll make it some day Sha la la Joseph you're doing fine You and your dreamcoat ahead of your time (It was written in the 60s. after all.) The song highlights why Joseph's story is so amazing. It wasn't just about going rags from riches, or overcoming adversity.  It was his faith.  It was a ...

I enjoy festivals . It’s not the crowds, because I could do without that. It’s the celebratory atmosphere, the neighborly chats, and the break in the everyday humdrum. I just came back from the Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival. Even though it was cold and wet, my children and I had a really nice time. After several years of festivalling with my children, I’ve learned a few things. 1. Know where you’re going. I spent a half hour traipsing all over a small town with young children because I was too proud to get a map and too cheap to pay for a shuttle. These days almost everything is online. You can look up schedules, directions, everything. You just have to plan ahead. 2. Dress for the weather. And walking. I always make my kids where tennis shoes and socks, even if it’s scalding hot. Hot is better than blisters. I also try to prepare for the worst. It was fifty degrees outside today, but if we hadn’t all had long sleeves and winter coats, we would have frozen. Ponchos would have ...

I haven't blogged for awhile.  At some point I decided that writing daily was never going to get me to the writing career I longed for.  However, since I am recently unemployed (technically self-employed with a tiny paycheck), I thought maybe sharing my experiences in that category might be helpful to others. I've always felt the most for those who have been laid off because there wasn't enough work, or there were budget cuts, or the position was eliminated.  No one feels sorry for the person who was fired. That's me.  Fired, canned, terminated, given the pink slip.  I had been joking for years that I looked forward to that day.  It wasn't that great, after all.  Although I don't believe I deserved it, no one wants to hear that.  It doesn't matter that Indiana is an at-will employment state, and that my employer did just that- fired me without a good reason.  I didn't complete a project because I was working overtime with what...

God has a will, plan, and purpose for humankind, and each person has a part.  Everything someone needs to reach his or her God-given potential is within, waiting to be discovered and developed.  Reaching your full potential for God can be achieved by working with His Spirit to develop a clean heart, and clear mind, and a balanced schedule. When I read this book, it was as if Dr. Stanley could read my mind and heart, saying  “You have settled.  You’re threatened by life’s challenges.  When are you going to have enough faith in God that he really has a plan for an abundant life for you?  When are you going to make the most of opportunities and start moving in the direction of God’s plan?” This book lays out seven essentials for moving toward the path God has designed for each individual.  It is also peppered with appropriate Scripture references and Biblical examples that illustrate the step-by-step plan Dr. Stanley has outlined for moving from excus...

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...

“For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” –Proverbs 8:11 Wisdom is difficult to understand or appreciate. In a society where truth is considered an arbitrary subject, and tolerance is valued more highly than what is right, wisdom becomes something of past generations, gained merely be life experience. Even though I seek wisdom, I don’t ever feel wise. It seems like daily I have decisions to make and I rarely feel confident that I’m choosing the right path. I have this twisted desire to interfere in the lives of others- to give them advice or provide for them- and never know for sure what the right thing to do is. I am also horrible at organizing my time, things, or finances. I know what I value, but it’s difficult to make tough decisions. For example, I play flute in the church orchestra. I originally signed up to get my husband involved. The problem is, I haven’t played in a group since sixth grade. It’s like a 12 year old trying t...

How does a treeline form? I’m looking at the trees surrounding my kids’ school, and the tops form a fairly smooth line. You would think, with the wide variety of trees, it would be more uneven and choppy at the top. Instead, the line itself rises and falls in a series of shallow undulating waves, with all the trees right next to each other coming up to approximately the same height. I wonder if it has to do with the amount of sunlight available to the leaves. Maybe once the tree grows to the height of the surrounding trees, it no longer has to fight for sunlight. Maybe all the trees were planted at the same time, although my guess is that they were here before the school or the playground. Maybe the slope of the land affects the height of the trees, since it might affect how much water is collected in each place. I’m always thinking. It’s like the little “why” that started when I was a little girl never died. Usually I think about people or relationships or problems. Someti...

After a huge barbecue at my sister’s house, a large group of us went for a walk. We followed my brother-in-law’s lead on a winding trail across a field, through a wooded area down to the river, back through the woods and across another field, and onto the neighborhood street. The walk brought back childhood memories of being gone all day during the summer, exploring uncultivated areas, creating forts in the woods, and munching on wild mulberries. As a child, I didn’t plan my day. I got up in the morning, and rode my bike to a friend’s house or to the drug store or to a new place to explore. Whatever “good idea” popped up, I’d pursue, looking for something interesting and fun to do. As I got older, these strange new questions started to pop in my head: “Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing?” I thought these were questions that I would figure out and have answered by the time I was an adult. I’m not sure how I got the idea that people choose a college major, get a job, an...

I read an email reply from my son’s kindergarten teacher. She had asked me to pray that it didn’t rain the next day during their field trip to the zoo. I typed back, “I hope everything goes according to plan.” I felt a little guilty for responding that way. Did I really hope that everything went according to plan? Does anything ever go 100 percent according to plan? Of course I hope it doesn’t rain. I hope all the children stay healthy and safe and with the group. I hope none of the animals are traumatized by the onslaught of kindergartners. I also hope for little “unplanned” surprises along the way. I hope for animals that come right up the edge of their pens to discover what children are like. I hope for monkeys that are funny and lions that are scary. I hope for peacocks that show their full plumage. I hope for all the cute, unexpected things children say and do that will make their teachers smile. I hope young friendships are created and strengthened. I hope for memor...

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about jobs and careers. I have come to the conclusion that there is no reason a person shouldn’t go after their dream job. One of my friends has been going to school for several years to get her Master’s in counseling, while running her own restaurant at the same time. She started to realize about 10 years ago that she wanted to use her listening ear and life experience to help others in need, and after defining her goal, worked steadily toward it. Another friend would like to be a full-time youth pastor. However, he has to decide whether it’s important enough to him to go back to school. He has been out of work for six months and is trying to figure out how to make a living in the mean time. A third friend is miserable in his current situation- he has to work late hours, has to choose between pleasing his boss and being civil to his clients, and is constantly hounded to do more. His dream job would be coaching college basketball. While he may...