• Got ADHD?

    theresa


    Theresa Lode or, simply “T”, had her world turned upside down and inside out when her son was diagnosed with ADHD and a few other goodies. Her choice- follow the doctor's orders....or trust her heart and delve into the world of Free Range Education. She chose the latter...

    Curious? Want to know more? Read on ...

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 190 other followers

  • Your email is safe with me. No exceptions!

  • Blog Stats

    • 37,698 hits

  • Meta

Living by rule or principle?

Posted on December 31, 2008 by therealmotherlode

Better eat up the last of that Christmas fudge!  At the stroke of midnight it’s time to break out the celery sticks and toast in the New Year with a Diet Coke.  Oh- scratch that, if you’re like me, Diet Coke triggers hunger….make that a nice glass of selzer water.

Oh bleck.  Count me out.   Not because I find selzer water disgusting (which I do) or celery revolting (which I don’t)…but rather because I’m tired of life by the rule book.

And let the record show…for the most part, resolutions and accountability groups simply don’t work for most people.  Why?  Because they make us little law keepers.   Learning to live loved and by its principals will yield true, lasting  change.

Instead of a list of diet rules—adopting a love for self that naturally causes you to yield to a healthier lifestyle.

Instead of hauling out the ole ball and chain curriculum box for your kid—allowing your kids time to explore who he is. (The true basis for education.)

Need to quit gossiping this year?  How about asking God to transform your heart so your love for people reels in disgust at the thought of speaking badly of another.

Our human tendancy is to run to the law.  Modern Jews, God bless ‘em, have assembled a dizzying-list of laws, much longer than was ever laid out in the Torah.  And we Christians aren’t any better—most of our Christian life is validated by a performance driven culture which leaves us perpetually plodding one tired foot in front of the other.

And here–I’ll step on some toes–Accountability groups merely become another stage for the performance trap.

Do you suppose Ghandi and Mother Teresa kicked their year off with resolutions?  Do you suppose Paul and the other Apostles kicked off their year with a planning pow wow?  (“Hey boys!  Open your daytimers to the month of January!”)  It challenges my goal-driven heart.

Am I against goals?  Absolutely not!  But we need to remember that goals, vis a-vi laws,  have their limitations.   At their deepest level, they should point us to grace.  You know…the stuff Paul wrote to the Galatians.

I hope this is the year that I…and you,  tap deeper into the amazing riches of God’s love for you and enjoy the rest  it provides.

PS.  Join in the grace discussion at The God Journey.

Filed under: church, church life, Goal Setting, Personal development, Spirituality, The God Journey | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

The UNplan for 2009

Posted on December 1, 2008 by therealmotherlode

Brace yourself…I’m about to commit heresy.  (Like that would surprise those of you who know us.)

Jay and I have been busy pouring over our goals for 2009.  It’s something we’ve done all our married lives and we take it seriously. We also review our written goals for the prior year.

Reviewing can be a painful process.  If we accomplish 50% of our goals, we figure we’ve had a banner year.  And sometimes, we accomplish the goals with not-so-good results.  (IE….Our year to explore the country in an RV that ended in disappointment.)

Well, I was in the middle of writing out the 5 year financial plan when a radical thought seized my mind: Ditch the goals.  I told Jay.  You woulda thought I had just suggested an open marriage.

But we began talking about it.  How performance driven Christianity has become.  How performance driven our society is.  If you accomplish your goals- you’re a good person.  If you didn’t—you aren’t.  We validate ourselves and others through our accomplishments.

What about a year of asking God to help us discover more deeply who he is?  What about a year of asking God to show us who he’s called us to BE.  And from THAT….let life’s activities unfurl.

I’m always talking about how the DOING’s got to come from the BEING.  What about a year where we get the focus off of what we’re going to do and just live day by day?

I discussed this with a precious woman who is facing her second battle with cancer.  Cancer certainly wasn’t on her goal list this past year.  Most certainly not a second time.  She smiled when I told her our UNplan.  (Here’s a shout out to you, Dianna—-You’re an amazing woman and your courage inspires me.  And ditto to my friend Pat who has also been fighting a great battle.)

Yes, having written goals are a proven means to success.  But what about those interupptions that life has a way of throwing at us?   The engine trouble that messes with the travel goals.  Or God forbid, the doctor visit that turns your life inside out?

THOSE are the times when I realize I don’t know or understand God’s compassion and love deeply enough.  Can I trust who he IS instead of what he can DO (or NOT DO) for me in my time of trial?

I know there’s a lot of thoughts I’m throwing out here.  It’s a lot to sort through.  What does a year without goals look like?  Do we just wander aimlessly about like the snowflakes wafting outside my window?  Or will it look more carefree like Caleb who was just running amid the flakes, chasing the dog, full of the joy of the moment?

It should be an interesting year.  The Year of the Unplan.

Filed under: Goal Setting, Personal development | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Course corrections and friends that make me cry

Posted on September 3, 2008 by therealmotherlode

In a good way that is.  We have had an emotional soul-searching weekend.  We decided that, at this point in time, business ownership for us needs to come to an end. We’ve given one year and it’s time to try a different route to our goals.

Sad? Yes.  Encouraged?  Yes.  We are seeing with more clarity that we need a business model that is a better fit for us such as an eBay business or Amazon or flipping a house.  These are things that we’ve done successfully before and do not require pavement pounding or cold calling in building an accounting practice. (If you’re struggling with your business/job, you owe it to yourself to hop over to Dan Miller’s blog.  His wisdom has been instrumental to us sorting things out.)

In the meanwhile, Jay is looking for a job.  He is a skilled and talented CPA in a very good job market so we are encouraged by that.

I am encouraged that no longer will my time be divided between business juggling and doing what is my heart’s desire—-managing my home, loving my kids and of course,  writing.

And speaking of writing. I schedule a few hours a day to write as I am plowing along on my book, “Labels are for Soup Cans.”  I’m invigorated to write but yet a little emotional too with all the course changes we’ve had this past year.

So I wrote to my dear friends at the Homeschool fellowship board and asked for prayer.  One of the moderators wrote me this morning and said,

I still believe the Lord has the perfect plan for your day-to-day life and lifestyle. Something that comes to my mind is a thing I heard but probably won’t say right…..something about it took lots of trial and error before he got the light bulb right. I forget how that goes but Edison probably had a few experiments up his sleeve and thankfully never gave up when they didn’t work the first time.

And that’s when I started bawling…right here in the coffee shop.

Today I am researching a chapter in my book.  It’s on Thomas Edison.

Filed under: Individuality, Misc | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

I lost 20 pounds last night!

Posted on August 15, 2008 by therealmotherlode

I bet that headliner drew some curious people!  How’d she do it, you ask?

Okay, I mislead you.  I did lose 20, maybe 30 pounds last night…by cleaning out the filing cabinet.

With much of our stuff still in storage, our personal files have been in a jumble.  But one thing I fished out was my goal list from January.  I usually keep that list posted on the fridge or bathroom mirror but with life being rather transitory this past summer, it never made it.

Looking at my goal list put a fire in me.  Here it is middle of August and I hadn’t even touched some of my intentions.  And a road map is no good without any mile markers to measure the progress.

So last night I dug into files and photos with gusto.  I’ve also got VHS tapes to turn to DVD.  Today will be more of the same.

I am determined that when we leave this temporary rental, it will be with an accomplished goal list.

Which means I better work on that other 20 pounds.  Too bad that can’t be done in an evening rampage.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 190 other followers