Several years ago while scrolling through Pinterest, I saw the quote “Stop the glorification of busy,” and I liked it, but I never let it sink into my life. Growing up in a Christian home I heard the word glorify often in my church and Christian school. I knew what it meant when it applied to God, but recently I’ve unpacked it more thoroughly. 

Today's Word: Glorification
       Five syllables. Pronounced [glawr-uh-fi-key-shuh n]. noun. Defined on Dictionary.com as the act of glorifying or the state of being glorified. The Bible talks extensively about giving glory to God. We are told that whether we are eating, drinking, or whatever we are doing it should all be to God’s glory. Glory is defined by Dictionary.com as to give adoring praise to something. Glorification is the act of giving glory. 
       So how do you feel about busy? Try this experiment. Tell someone you have a busy weekend and see what they say back. People love comparing busy. Tell them you’re going to sporting events for each of your three children, attending an event at the library, and going to your grandma’s birthday and they’ll tell you about the six sporting events, two birthday parties, and the cooking class they have squeezed into the weekend. I’ve decided to stop playing this game. This doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot going on. There are seasons and days where there are many things to do. During Christmas, I want to do ALL THE THINGS! See the lights, visit family, catch up with friends, decorate, the list goes on and on! There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being busy, but when we glorify it we are putting our focus on the wrong thing. 
       When we give our praise and adoration - How do you do it all? - to "busy" we are focusing on the person. Rather than “God has given me the energy, health, and resources to accomplish this,” we focus on, “I have to do these things to fit in or to be a good parent or to make my kid succeed.” (I really struggle with this last one. God is slowly and painfully teaching me that I can’t in any way MAKE Logan succeed. Only he can do that.) Busy also makes me look at others and how they manage their lives instead of looking to Christ. So often I’ve asked other moms, “How do you do it all?” but what I’m really doing is comparing my failures to do “all the things” and seeking to find success in a way that God hasn’t planned for me. This self-focus drives me inward instead of driving my thoughts upward.
       For the last several months I’ve been working as a nanny for very dear friends of ours. The baby is absolutely adorable and so incredibly good. Despite the relative ease of this situation, I’ve been unhappy at times. I see other people doing things I love such as teaching and I want to be there so badly. They are running around going, going, going and I’m not in that place. Staying home can very challenging because I feel like I don’t accomplish anything. I do laundry, wash dishes, clean up spilled toys, then the next day I have to do it all over again. I realized that I was longing for busy. Our culture values the production of something which leaves stay-at-home moms (and nannies) feeling like we aren’t contributing to the world. 
       In the past few months, as I’ve been unpacking this concept of savoring life and avoiding busy, I’ve learned that life isn’t about accomplishing things on a to-do list. God has brought this little guy into my life and he is a precious soul that I get to spend time with on a regular basis. So what if “play hide and seek” isn’t a product that I can showcase or sell? He is learning object permanence and having a marvelous time doing it. I accomplish nothing for myself when I sit with Logan and his homework, but I am teaching him perseverance and demonstrating my love for him. Yesterday he even identified adverbs and adjectives with ease which felt like something worthy of great celebration. When I stop glorifying busy and start glorifying God with my life I find great joy and peace. 
       This doesn’t mean I can sit back and hit the snooze button on life though. I no longer feel the need to justify my schedule to others, but instead, I try to see it as God sees it. When my calendar is run through that filter, things line up differently; to be honest it is quite daunting. Who am I helping? Why am I going there? Which of the calendar activities is best? But I rest in knowing that I am prayerfully doing my best and that is the best I can do. 
       How is your schedule? Do you feel worn down? A friend passed on a quote to me the other day and I absolutely loved it. “If you get tired, learn to rest, not quit.” Isn’t that great? Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." These verses always bring me peace because Jesus didn’t say, “Pull yourself together and grab a cup of coffee. Go do the things.” Instead, he said that He will give us rest. As you finish this likely hectic week, I’ll be praying that you find rest in Christ and that you don’t let "busy" steal your joy. 

       Look at the photo above. This is the breakfast display at a rest area along the highway. This is not a fancy cafe. This is a rest area. Notice anything? On one side there are sandwiches made with fresh bread with cured meats, fresh lettuce tomatoes, and onions. On the other there are pastries and these are not previously frozen. (I always opted for the croissant filled with Nutella.) Behind the counter is the coffee bar where the baristas were busy at work making espressos and cappuccinos. After ordering you would receive your food and coffee, but the coffee does not in our accustomed “to-go” packaging. Throughout the small rest area, people crowded around counter-height tables and drank their coffee while talking. They looked at each other in the eye and looked at the food they were eating.
       This may seem like a slight difference, but according to medical journals, distracted eating can causes us to find less satisfaction in our food and to eat more than necessary later in the day. What we saw while in Italy was a focus on food that by simple content is deemed "unhealthy" by American standards, but the time we spent eating, the focus we gave to our food, and the miles we walked around before and after eating all made a significant impact on our bodies digestion of the food. Stress - including the stress of "EAT! We have to get yoru work done!" - increases cortisol levels which can cause weight gain among other major health concerns. Trying to remove distractions from eating is harder than it sounds. So much of our eating is done while on our way to other activities or while in front of a screen that as I'm trying to break this habbit in my own life I am really having trouble. It's hardest when it's just Logan and I. Sometimes we play a game to allow us to interact in a special way that sets our dinner time together apart from the rest of the time we are together. This is still a distraction, but not in the same way as more of our brains are activated. 
       The contrast of our relaxing time with the ridiculously hectic Christmas season was glaring. I did my best to keep up without becoming overwhelmed. Ever since returning home we've been cutting back on activiteis that keep us feeling "busy." I like being active and am always on the go, but I don't like the feeling of busy. Busy feels like just doing a lot of things because that is what is expected. Active feels like doing many things because we are in an active season of life. Part of living an intentional life is removing activities that we do “just because.” I don’t care if everyone else is doing it or if we’ve always done it that way. I want to look at all our activities and ensure they are absolutely necessary. I refuse to accept that God’s plan for me or my family is to feel busy, exhausted, and unhealthy. If our life requires us to regularly eat fast food in the car to keep up with everything we are doing we will be reevaluating our choices and dropping a few things. 
       Now, I need to admit an obvious bias and I don’t want to sound as though I am hating on America or others who live a fast paced lifestyle. First, the obvious bias during our Italy trip was that we were on vacation. We didn’t have homework to rush through and we didn’t have to get to work. Our mindset was more relaxed and we were exploring something completely new. Also, the busy American lifestyle has made America a leader among the nations. We take up engineering and technological challenges and succeed where others have not. Unfortunately, that tireless work is exhausting us and leaving us with crippling health problems. My interest in rethinking the pace of our lives is not to stop us from achieving success, but rather to allow us time to rest physically, emotionally, and spiritually. ​ Carving out healthy time is no easy task, but it is very much worth the effort. 
       Are you frustrated by busyness or are you happy with your pace of life? What are your tips for savoring your food as well as savoring the time spent with family and friends?

       Last January I wrote about my commitment to utilizing digital apps and living what I called a “digital life.” I promised to set aside my beautiful bullet journal and use my phone and computer to organize things. I know that you’ve been waiting with bated breath to hear how my experiment concluded. (Humor me here.) Well, after a year of going digital I can decisively say that I am not going back to analog living. Some of the same issues I experienced while bullet journaling followed me into my digital life. Things like failing to immediately put things onto my calendar then finding myself double-booked or making a task list then failing to consult it. The only up-side to these failures is that I wasn’t spending time creating the calendars and lists then failing to use them. Occastionally, I was intimidated by new technology, but after a year of experimentation here are the pros and cons I noticed.  
​
Pros:

1. Convenience - I had been using a bullet journal, pens, and stickers that I carried with me which were clunky and required space to work. Using Google calendar to plan things on my phone made it easy to add events to my calendar immediately without choosing appropriate pen colors or stickers for the event. Also, because I depended upon it so heavily I didn’t lose my phone as much. I’ve reduced the size of my purse which alleviates shoulder and back strain because I’m not carrying around a journal, pens, and accessories. 
2. Compatability - Jason was thrilled with my desire to go digital. Our house was already wired with wifi light switches, surround sound, a smart thermostat, and a wifi garage door opener. Since then we’ve added a Nest camera and security system. Having access to all that on my phone makes so many fabulous things possible. Like opening the garage from across the country when a family member needed to get in while we were gone, sharing a shopping list with Jason, or, my favorite, scheduling joint activities on our busy schedule by sharing events through Google Calendar. 
3. Clarity - I use Google/Android apps that integrate my phone, computer, and car. I love that when I schedule an appointment using Google Calendar, I can enter a location as well as the time. When I’m getting ready to leave and I plug my phone into my car and Android Auto comes up on my infotainment screen. Then Google Maps automatically generates the address I need to go to or if it doesn’t I know the address is in my calendar and I can tell the car where I need to get without spending time searching or getting lost. This is brilliant because - you know me - I’m usually running late and I’m directionally challenged. 

Cons: 

1. Confusion - Some of the apps still aren’t perfect or they don’t connect in the way I wish I could. I love my shopping list app, but it doesn’t connect with my voice-activated system. Occasionally, I get frustrated when an app goes down or doesn’t work, but most of these issues were solved relatively easily by contacting the app for support and researching the issue. 
2. Connection - This isn’t exactly the word I’m looking for, but I’m really deep in the C alliteration and can’t stop now. Last year, I was frustrated because I didn’t always put tasks on my calendar or follow my to-do list despite my beautiful journal. Using digital, I found out that the medium isn’t the problem. I have a problem with keeping my thoughts together and going digital didn’t magically fix that. I still sometimes ignore my task list and forget things. I suppose I can say that I sometimes fail to connect with my calendar and task list. (There now it works. Alliteration saved!)

       Undoubtedly, the pros have significantly outnumbered the cons and I don’t intend to go back to analog living. There was one interesting outcome that I did not see coming. The journal was my creative outlet. A way to be creative and untangle my brain from the frustrations of the day. That being gone, I took up other projects and was able to be a blessing to others in my free time. (I’ll write about my craftiness another day.)
​       Last year I defined intentional living as following Ephesians 5:8-10 "Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord." It is making deliberate choices rather than being swept along with a crowd and doing what it takes to survive a day. It requires a great deal of self-knowledge and knowledge about the One you are lining up your life to follow. I don’t want to survive life. I want to live and live to fulfill the mission God created me to complete.
       What about you? What are your tips and tricks for productivity and accomplishing tasks? Do you live your life with intentionality and purpose or have you settled for mere survival? Do you have any favorite apps to help you function and grow? Comment below and share!

       I remember checking out videos from the library and after finishing them removing the video from the VCR and putting them in the rewinder. To this day, I can't hear, "Be kind" without thinking rewind. Today is World Kindness Day according to the Facebook posts and my morning greeting from Alexa. I am tempted to research how long World Kindness Day has been a thing, who started it, and who is celebrating it, but instead, I’m going to refrain from that extraneous research and go with it. 
       On my recent trip to Seneca Falls, New York, I learned a great deal about kindness and the great impact ordinary individuals can have on the world around them. We arrived in Seneca Falls after sunset. The small downtown area was decorated for Christmas, a gentle snow was falling, and the church bells were ringing out “How Firm a Foundation.” I told my sister that I was reminded of Bedford Falls, the town from It’s a Wonderful Life and she immediately agreed. As we were checking in, the hotel clerk gave us a list of area attractions including the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum. He explained that Seneca Falls is the town that Bedford Falls is based on.
       Our days there included a visit to the Women’s Rights Historical Park, Elizabeth Caddy Stanton’s home, William Seward’s home, and Harriet Tubman National Historic Park. In each of these places, we noted the influence of major figures like Anthony, Stanton, Seward, and Tubman, but we also noticed the courage, conviction, and compassion of those whose names will most likely never be included in a national park or museum. 
       There were countless women who stood up for the rights of others. As I previously wrote, the subject of women’s rights can be controversial, but here we are talking about rights such as property ownership and the right to remove themselves and their children from a dangerous and abusive husband. Women who were not destitute or in danger took upon them the fight that the others in those situations didn’t have the ability to fight. 
       William Seward was a remarkable man who served with Lincoln as Secretary of State but was responsible for doing so much more. One act stood out as particularly significant during our visit. He sold land to Harriet Tubman including a home that she and her parents lived in after their escape from enslavement. This was after the Fugitive Slave Act and before the Emancipation Proclamation so his action was in direct defiance of federal law, but he believed that it was the right thing to do.
       Harriet Tubman’s life was full of her kindness to others despite being enslaved and mistreated. Often the word kindness invokes a soft-spoken, gentle manner, but Harriet was kind in a powerful way. She went back into the South thirteen times to rescue her people, ignoring her own safety. She also led troops into combat and freed 750 men, women, and children during a US military action. Retirement was anything but restful. She opened a home for the elderly on her land because the other home for the elderly in Auburn was for whites only. Her home was for everyone. Harriet Tubman exemplified kindness in action. 
​       Our last stop during the trip was at the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum. There we learned the beautiful story behind the movie. Frank Capra stopped in the town after reading the short story which would become the movie. There, while receiving a hair cut from an Italian immigrant, he heard the story of Antonio Varacalli. In 1917, Antonio was a young man working to save up money to bring his family over from war-torn Italy. He watched a woman jump off the bridge in an attempt to commit suicide and jumped in to save her. He succeeded in saving her but lost his life in the process. The town rallied together and collected enough to bring his family to the area. Capra changed the ending of the movie to include the town rallying around George and set the movie in a place that looked like Antonio’s town. 
       Acts of kindness can be small or large. They can be quiet or they can be bold. This “World Kindness Day” rewind your thoughts to some of the people who have influenced your life. How has their influence changed you? As Clarence observed, “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?” Today, don’t leave a hole. Get in there and influence someone. Maybe a child, maybe the person behind you in line at Starbucks, maybe a future generation.

Capra modeled the bridge in the movie after this bridge in Seneca Falls.

       I’m a huge fan of Far Side by Gary Larson. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a syndicated comic that was usually one pannel. The figures are distorted and the humor is quirky. One that has stuck with me was titled “Classic Conversation Stoppers.” The panel is divided into four squares and depicts four men talking to guests. Each of the men is saying something that is guaranteed to end a conversation. My favorite is the guy saying, “‘Contagious? Contagious?’ I asked my doctor. ‘Realy contagious,’ he tells me.” Insert awkward pause. Have you ever experienced something like this? You say something and people respond with awkward silence. 
       Last year I created a presentation about World War I to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the war. After completing that I decided to work on a presentation commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, which grants women the right to vote. I thought World War I had been tricky to investigate, but nothing could have prepared me for the mess that I’ve found during my study of the women’s suffrage movement. 
       In my research, I’ve studied Biblical anthropology - the study of humans as they relate to God, the history of women in the United States and Western Culture, and the philosophical foundations of the feminist movement. Phew! I’ve read about Upity Women of Medieval Times, Wild Women of Michigan, 12 Extraordinary Women of the Bible. I’ve read The Women’s Hour, Roses and Radicals, and (I truly loved this one) Cinderella Ate My Daughter. Relating to business I’m reading Lean In and, as a counterpoint, Lean Out. I’m intrigued and immensely enjoying this research, but all these viewpoints and counterpoints leave my brain a tangled mess. When my thoughts become tangled, I find the best method of unraveling them is talking. I’ve come up with some of my best party planning ideas when talking to the cashier while at the supermarket checkout. (Probably why I’m not interested in curbside pick up or grocery delivery.) 
       In the past few months, I’ve learned that the phrase, “I’m studying the history of women’s rights,” is a classic conversation stopper. People become uncomfortable and shift around looking for an out. One person abruptly stated they had to leave and ran away. I think most people are afraid of getting involved in a controversial conversation because of the tension in our current culture. 
       Viewpoints collide and emotions run deep, but I believe that this is a very important and vital study. I keep typing and deleting as I’m trying to explain further, but I’ll never be able to fit everything I want to say in this post. I’m going to state a few truths I’ve discovered, and leave it at that for now.

• God created man in his image and laid down commands that establish what we call human rights. (E.g. God said, “You shall not kill.” You do not have the right to kill me. I have the right not to be killed.) 
• Media and marketing send out subtle messages that impact us much deeper than we realize. 
• Women and men are both loved by God and designed with unique roles. We sometimes add to God’s expectations for men and women because of the influence of our culture.
• The need to protect women’s rights is going to continue to be a heated debate and it is one that Christians need to become active participants in. (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - SOGI - laws are trying to eliminate the fixed terms “men” and “women” and instead argue that a person’s identity is fluid. To protect women’s rights, we must be able to say what a woman is. We cannot legally protect a category of people if we cannot identify that category. From Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey) 

       That’s all I’m going to say about this for now. I can already feel the discomfort and I can hear the, “Well, I don’t know what she means by that,” running through your mind. Feel free to comment below or message me if you want to talk more about this and look for future posts about women’s rights. Wait! Where are you going? I need someone to talk to about this! ​

     The news reports statistics that demonstrate an increase in cancer and heart disease. Desperate to prevent and cure these, we spend ample resources protecting ourselves and our loved ones. We take supplements, exercise, buy organic, and spend fraught filled hours researching the safest household products. Could my water bottle be killing me? Yet even with all this, careful prevention people die of heart disease. People still get cancer. Each year over 600,000 people die of each, which amounts to more than 1.2 million deaths per year in the United States alone.        
       I share these statistics because I want you to know that I understand the devastating effects of diseases. I have friends who are fighting and suffering through these and know many who have lost their battles. What I would like to offer today is some perspective and a dose of hope into the devastation and brokenness of modern diseases. 
       One of my favorite genres to read is medical mysteries and histories. My three favorite examples of these are Quakery: A Brief History of the Worst Way to Cure Everything, The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul, and Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them. My family is often horrified by these books, but I just can't get enough. Anyone who reminisces for times gone by and wishes they could live in the olden days should be slapped and forced to read any one of these. I say that jokingly, but our minds are skewed by watching historical dramas on film and wondering at the beauty and ornateness of palaces and castles. Sickness reigned supreme and in our days of nervousness over how many and which types of supplements should we be taking, we forget just how bad life was. Let me explain.

• Your doctor was just as likely to kill you as he was to help you. In The Royal Art of Poison, the author describes some royal deaths then uses modern forensic science to determine if the death was natural or murder. Whether natural or murder most of the royal deaths were aided and abetted by physicians. Doctors routinely prescribed mercury and other toxic remedies. Much is made of the process of bleeding, but bleeding isn't the worst. Bleeding is based on the theory that bodies contain four humors - blood, yellow bile (from the stomach), black bile (from the bowels), and phlegm. Depending on your sickness they would attempt to balance these humors. Physicians would bleed patients, give them powders and enemas to make produce vomit and diarrhea, AND work to draw puss from wounds. Trip to the ancient doctor anyone? Many of these people would have healed had they been given chicken soup and sent to bed. Plague doctors (incidentally, Logan's Halloween costume) wore the long beak mask thinking it would protect them from the bad air that caused the disease. It did protect them but not for the reason they thought. In reality, it kept them from breathing in the bacteria that caused the sickness. Centuries would pass before the real known cause of diseases (bacteria, viruses, and mutating cells, etc.) would be known.
• Your beauty products were poisonous. In England during the time of Elizabeth I, the style was for women to have broad foreheads and very pale skin. They would apply copious amounts of powder and foundation which were full of lead and other toxins. I know that much is made of the chemicals in today's cosmetics, but those are minute when compared to those of yesteryear. Besides causing paranoia and sickness the lead also kept sunlight off the royal face and many nobles suffered from rickets and other vitamin deficiencies. 
• The decor may have been lovely to look at, but that would probably kill you too. In the early 1900s radium was all the rage. People were obsessed with glowing things and marveled at the beauty. Only later did scientists realize just how dangerous all those glowing items were. Lead paint and mercury are partly responsible for the image of the eccentric artist and the mad hatter. These people weren't just weird, they were being slowly poisoned. 
• Poop was everywhere. I'm sorry, there just isn't a polite way to word this. Because it is so gross most historical dramas and histories gloss over this point, but it is unfortunately true. Chamber pots were used in the house but then dumped into the streets or into a cesspit that seeped into groundwater. Sometimes families would cohabitate with livestock. In some living situations, according to Get Well Soon and Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting, the cattle lived on the top floor. Yes, you read that right. Above the family. Think about that next time you are in a barn. Ever wondered why royals had so many palaces? I have and I finally got my answer in The Royal Art of Poison. According to Eleanor Herman, royals and their courtiers would defecate and urinate in hallways, stairwells, and occasionally chamberpots. The air was foul and unbearable. To alleviate this, court would move to a different palace until the servants could clean the previous one and the whole cycle would start again. 
• Bathing was thought unhealthy. Doctors inflicting misery, beauty products and decor poisoning users, cities filled with the stench of human and animal waste and to top it all off bathing was considered dangerous. Louis XVII is said to only have bathed twice in his life. Elizabeth I was considered odd declaring, "I take a bath once a month, whether I need it or not." Granted that the water was usually nasty and full of filth but - UGH! - can you imagine the stench?

    So what's my point? Here it is. We are all going to die. After reading these books I'm astounded that any of us have made it to 2019! Cancer and heart disease are just two of the illnesses we don't have cures for (yet), but perhaps more people are being diagnosed with them because we aren't being killed by our doctors, cosmetics, decor, lack of sanitation, or lack of hygiene. We are living long enough to get cancer and heart disease. A universal truth is that death will come to us all because of sin. Romans 5:18 states "Therefore, as one trespass [Adam's sin] led to condemnation for all men [and women], so one act of righteousness [death and resurrection of Christ] leads to justification and life for all men."
    I look forward to a future free from death and misery, but we aren't there yet. Because of sin, we will all die of something. The hope I offer is that by God's grace in preserving my life and your life through medical science and investigation He has given me more time than those who lived before. We are now living longer and enjoying greater health than that of any other time in history. Give thanks for the health (no matter how little) you have and praise God for his gift of salvation! 

To set up these verses you really need to read Hebrews chapter 11. The chapter is full of people who had faith and were used by God. Chapter 11 ends with the statement, "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised . . ." Chapter 12 starts with beautiful imagery of those previously listed acting as witness to a great race.
Tomorrow I am running a half-marathon. I wanted to run the whole, but didn't have time to train for it. I'm not very fast, but I love running long distances. I love the solitude of the long run, pushing through the discomfort, and enduring to the end. For me it is a deeply spiritual experience. That is not to say I transcend into some other state or "feel" really emotional, rather my experience helps me comprehend and meditate on spiritual things particularly Hebrews 12:1-2.
The great cloud of witness: Tomorrow there will be crowds of family and friends cheering. People will be cheering harder for their specific loved ones, but I've stood as a spectator. The crowd becomes one as they are cheering for all those who are striving to finish. Those who have walked the Christian faith have inspired us to go on. We can look to men and women of faith and know that they are worshiping God and cheering us to do the same.
Laying aside every weight: Usually when I go out for a long run I bring along a water bottle and/or some Gatorade, but bringing these to the race would be unnecessary. I trust the race planners will make sure there is hydration stations along the route. Some items might be downright wrong to bring, but most would just be unnecessary. In my life, the sins that plague me the most aren't the really shockingly bad ones. They are sins of worrying about inconsequential things that keep me from living a life that is full of God. They are worrying about what others think of me more than considering that God loves me.
Run with endurance the race that is set before us: A marathon (or a half-marathon) is not a sprint. If you run too fast in the beginning you can cramp up and suffer later on. You train at a sustainable pace then settle in for the long run. Walking the Christian life isn't about doing amazing things every Sunday then living apart from God for the rest of the week. It's not about doing great things occasionally then ignoring God the rest of the time. Walking a faithful Christian walk takes endurance.
​ Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God: Tomorrow, I'm going to trust the race organizers. I trust they have measured correctly. I trust they have set up the hydration stations. I trust I will be safe. They know the course because they set it up. They originated it. They've traveled it. When I'm discouraged by the early morning, the sore legs, and the cold, I think of the finish of the race. Detroit gives out great medals. I get the bragging rights to say that I've ran the race. I finish the race not for the fun during the race (although it is fun), I finish the race for the joy at the end. Jesus isn't asking us to run a race he's unfamiliar with. He planned the path he's asked me to travel. He designed it specifically with me in mind. He didn't have an easy time when he was here. He left the glory of heaven to come to earth to die for our sin. He walked many a lonely road, but he didn't do it for suffering's sake. He did it because he knew the joy that was to be set before him. He knew that his death would reconcile man and God and that he would be back in heaven with his Father.
Tomorrow's event will end for me after I've run 13.1 miles. The other race I'm part of will end when God calls me home. My goal is to run both with endurance.

       I recently had the amazing opportunity to present at a teacher's convention. This particular convention included Christian educators from all over the Great Lakes Region. I presented about World War I and about teaching history with a Biblical worldview. I think I'm supposed to be all calm and professional about it, but can I just say -- THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I got to talk to teachers and talk about nerdy history stuff and it was just the best! Okay, back to sounding like a calm adult. I would relish any other opportunities to speak to groups in the future should the opportunity arise. 
   Although my presentations weren't specifically about reading books, I had stacks of books to recommend at each. I see immense benefits in students reading across a broad spectrum of genres and topics. Reading allows students to take their education into their own hands and study what they are interested in. Because we all differ so much in personality, it is always difficult if not impossible to find books that please everyone. When teaching 6th-grade reading, I used a method that I learned from Donalyn Miller in The Book Whisper. I assigned a total of 36 books for my students to read throughout the school year. I know this sounds daunting, but here's how it worked. 

• 36 books worked out to one book per week. I didn't assign books, but rather genres. Students had to read 3 fantasy, 3 science-fiction, 6 books of the Bible, 3 realistic fiction, 4 non-fiction, 3 historical fiction, 3 classics, 2 traditional literature, 2 mystery, 2 poetry, and 5 of the genre of their choice. 
• Students were given time to read during class multiple times each week. This would not give them all the necessary time to do the reading, but it significantly helped. During this time I would read with them. Sitting there quietly absorbed in whatever book I was reading, I modeled reading behavior. Sometimes I would be angry with what I was reading, sometimes I would look sleepy and have to move to focus my attention, and sometimes I would read quickly with concern. Then we would talk about how we felt about what we read. I would not quiz them about it, but more as a discussion using the language we of literature. "Did you get to the inciting moment yet? The climax of that book comes so late in the story! Isn't she the BEST antagonist!?"
• After reading a book, students would turn in a reading response, not a report. Based on their responses I could generally tell whether or not they had read the book. We also discussed and read our books in class so if a student was without a book or had nothing to report it became clear that they were not reading. They would turn in their reading responses and I would either pass them with a seal (the animal) stamp (the seal of approval) or ask them to redo it with a "You Shall Not Pass" and Gandalf stamp. I created my own responses for Bible reading and altered a few that I found on line. My favorite pre-made responses were these available on Teachers-Pay-Teachers.
• Each student received a reading notebook to keep track of their reading and notes. This was checked and graded each quarter.
• After finishing a book, students wrote the book's title on a strip of construction paper and made a chain that circled the classroom. 

​       There are places for book studies and I'm not denying the benefits of reading together as a class. My classes read short stories together and did book studies that included The Lord of the Flies, Midsummer's Night Dream, and Macbeth. The advantage of letting the students choose their books is that they will like reading more if they are interested in what they are reading. Non-fiction is a huge category and includes a history of football, Undefeated, or a funny history of our language, Much Ado About English, or a historical thriller like Chasing Lincoln's Killer. Motivation to learn grows as students read about things they find interesting.
    I used this method for three years and saw immense success. Pitfalls could arise so it's important for each teacher using this program to consider the definition of success that best matches their goals. My goal was to encourage literacy and get students reading. I had some students that only managed to read 5 or 10 books. I saw this as a win. As long as they noted everything and turned it in they at least got a C grade. (By the way, a C is and is acceptable. I'll write about that another day.) 
     I also allowed and even encouraged students to read graphic novels. Nathan Hale writes fantastic graphic novels in the historical fiction genre. Some graphic novels, such as Snow White, have little to no words but tell a compelling story. I would talk with students and make sure they understood the symbolism and picked up on the literary devices the author employed in the illustrations. Learning to "read" pictures is a very powerful tool especially in this day when images are king.  
       For my class, success equaled books consumed. And did my students consume books! During the 2015-16 school year, I had 52 students and we read over 1,400 books. Below, you can see a picture of our book chain. So that's how I taught reading. I got to read and learn with the students and we all grew. Maybe it isn't for every classroom, but I can't imagine my life without this experience.
​       What was your classroom reading experience like as a middle school and high school student? Comment below and let me know. 

       Today's wonder word isn't unusual or rarely used like spanghew or defenestration, but it is one one of my favorite words so I'll get right to it. 

Today's Words: Curious, Curiosity, Curiously 
       Curious: Three syllables. Pronounced [kyoor-ee-uhs] Adjective. Defined by the OAD as eager to know or learn something
       Curiosity: Five syllables. Pronounced [kyoo r-ee-os-i-tee] Noun. Defined by the OAD as strong desire to know or learn something
       Curiously: Four syllables. Pronounced [kyoo-ee-uhs-lee] Adverb. The adverb form of curious. 

       Curiosity is often associated with the young because children tend to ask a lot of questions. Sometimes parents bemoan this as a frustration because the timing of the questions can be frustrating. In our house, bedtime always seems to produce deep theological questions. Instead of looking at children's questions as frustrating, we should recognize that curiosity is a powerful thing. Albert Einstein said, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." I would argue that he was particularly talented, but I think the point he was trying to make is the curiosity drives learning and growth and he had a lot of curiosity. 
       Why is curiosity so important? Well, without it we accept our life as it is. That is not to say that curiosity breeds discontentment. Curiosity asks questions and seeks answers about how the world works rather than lamenting over one's current state.  Alice's curiosity is what leads her though Wonderland. Had she been scared or disinterested she might have curled up in a ball of terror instead of continuing to explore. Curiosity encourages contentment because it occupies the mind with thinking and removes boredom. I've noticed that people (kids and adults) who are easily bored are often not very curious individuals. Curiosity gives the mind a place to go when the body is stuck in one place. Why is grass green? Why are there so many people working in this restaurant's kitchen? Who buys all the Spam at the grocery store? Why do birds move like that?
       Curiosity breeds wonder and wonder is a fantastic feeling. After reading Quackery, a book about the history of medicine, not only was I more curious about the history of medicine I was also left with a sense of wonder that any of us have survived to the year 2019. After reading Consider the Fork, I was left curious about the history of other household objects and in  wonder of the simple innovations that make my life what it is. In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that curiosity is a powerful motivator and an indicator of future success. High marks on report cards indicate an ability to follow directions (which is good) but a strong sense of curiosity is an indicator of future success (even better). 
       Experts in listening and conversation will state all kinds of ways to engage in stimulating conversation. They will tell you to mirror your counterpart's body language and nod to let them know you're listening and a bunch more things to remember, but really, if you're curious about what you're hearing and you are paying attention you will listen well without all the steps. (Here's a great TED Talk to that effect.) 
       So my challenge for you on this day is to live curiously. Live eager to know or learn something. In a conversation with someone who has strong opinions you disagree with? Find out WHY they hold those strong opinions. At a restaurant where your food taking too long to come up? Look at the restaurant design and try to understand the designers choices. On a long car ride? Ask questions about the lives of those you are with. A curious life is always growing and always moving forward. 
       

       One last book recommendation for today is A Curious Mind by Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman. Grazer makes the case that his successes in life have a great deal to do with his curiosity and passion to learn new things from interesting people.

       Earlier today, I wrote a really frustrated sad article about how much I'm struggling with Logan and his school work which I never published and have since deleted. I'll spare you that rant and just leave it at - we're struggling. Some of it has to do with executive function disorder which deals with organization, working memory, and attention. I constantly feel like I'm behind in some way. Like I'm treading water wearing a weighted vest. 
       Something else I'm struggling to accept is that I can't do it all. This year I had grand dreams of learning French, reading a big stack of books, learning to play the piano, getting into shape, keeping my house clean, making crafts for a PTO event, and keeping on top of writing letters to family and friends on top of writing my blog, preparing two more historical presentations, and working on a side writing project. I tell myself that because I'm not working full time all this should be possible, but I'm so wrong. Instead, I find myself shriveling in, depressed by my lack of progress. I've been successful at getting into shape and am currently training for the Detroit half-marathon in October. Yay! But the time spent training has got to come from somewhere and my other efforts suffer. I'm slowly trying to accept that I can't do it all. 
       So my greatest struggle right now is being content. I've been trying to find contentment, but can't when I compare myself to other moms or chase unattainable goals. So how can I find contentment? What is the secret to finding contentment in the midst of turmoil? Fortunately, Paul told it to the Philippians in his letter to them. "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
       This verse isn't about winning a sporting event or doing your best. It's about contentment in any and every situation. It's the secret, the key, the linchpin.  So I can live contentedly in the situation God has placed me in and I can accomplish what he wants me to. Just so we're clear, this isn't easy though. I'm not quoting a quick verse then heading of to a perfect person soiree. The struggle is real, but at least I know the secret to success.
       So tonight, I hope you find yourself in positive circumstances, but if not, I'll take this opportunity to share the secret with you. Christ gives strength.