I suppose that, when one starts a blog, there ought to be a beginning post with some sort of explanation... so here goes!
I have goals, but I don't have promises. I can only accomplish as much as the Lord allows me to. Long term, I aspire to publish a series, or something like a series (perhaps it will be more like a book with a prequel and then a second prequel which should come before that... but you don't want to hear that confusing story now). Short term, I have begun to set myself at 20 pages (I am considering one page a hand-written spiral-bound notebook page, both front and back) per month. I think setting a goal for myself will give me direction, and I haven't specified to myself what I must write 20 pages of, because it doesn't so much matter what is written at this point as that fact that I did write. The book is in brainstorm mode, meaning it has little structure. For now, I am totally okay with that. (One step at a time!) If I were to draw you a picture of what it would look like as a living thing, it would be like one of Brian Froud's Lady Cottington's Pressed Faerie Book creatures, adorable (?) but odd, squished, missing limbs and bent out of shape. Therefore, it's hardly worth sharing to you now because it only makes (some) sense to me. What matters is that I have a plan, although this first month I failed, having written fourteen unfinished pages total. This blog is meant to share my aspirations, in the hopes of gaining potential readers and encouraging others to pursue their dreams, too. I mean it to be for your enlightenment and my learning. Once in a while, it may just be for wandering and dreaming.
There were also two things which stood out to me today, which renewed my soul and reminded me that, in the midst of busy life and unaccomplished projects, goals, chores, ect., there is peace and joy in Christ. Even if I didn't finish the earthly things I set myself to, there are greater things to attain to.
The first of those things was a friend's posting on Facebook of this Bible verse: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like the deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." Habakkuk 3:17-19. It reminded me that even though I was overwhelmed with all that I needed to do this week, and if I finished nothing and work or home, I still had the Lord and that He would give me the strength I needed.
The second of those things was this little video from another friend on Facebook (although not sent directly to me) reminding me that I didn't fail, because I had tried. I had at least finished work, I had made valiant efforts on lunch breaks to write something, and I had laughed with my family afterwards and I was blessed by having done all good things this week that the Lord had given to me. I had done what God intended for me to do, even if it wasn't meeting a personal goal. Sometimes God just asks you to step away from your own to-do list and do something on His, and that is okay, even though the list-making introvert in me panics when that occurs.
The video (Facebook link): https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider/videos/10153737987304071/
So, with today being the last day of the month, I can say, tomorrow, that I will officially start over, and I know that with my Savior "He will make me walk on my high hills" this month.
