A Long Journey

I just made the official announcement on Facebook that my new devotion book, God at the Reins is now available to purchase. It has been...a long journey. And for my shortest book (just 112 pages), you'd think it wouldn't have taken me this many years to finally see it in print.

To be honest, it's been a struggle since the very beginning, with the first question of, "How many devotions do I include in this book?" It wasn't long before I landed on the number 52. That meant I had a lot of work to do...but also far less work than if I'd gone for a daily devotional of 365 - I wanted to create a new project, not a goal I couldn't accomplish.

Thinking up a total of 52 parallels between lessons learned with horses and life lessons as a Christian really wasn't as daunting as I'd first thought it might be. It was fun to actually put on paper what I'd discovered through years of horsemanship. Putting three passions together (writing, horses and my faith) was a good experience as always.

But then...I started running out of steam when I got somewhere around devotion number 30, and the project was set aside to make room for my other writing addictions. My novel, Discovering the Dawn, was published (while my devotion book was still waiting on me), as was my collection, Smatterings of an Analytical Loner, and my writer's guide, Under Construction. Somewhere in between all of that, I did manage to complete all 52 devotions ("complete" as in having them typed out). There were many, many long pauses between the first editing process, the second editing, the hunt for applicable Bible verses (which I finally "outsourced" to my mother [who is the editor of Daily Devotions for the Deaf, and a Bible guru] because by that point, my brain was all but fried completely).

Eventually, I had all of my text and all Bible verses together in one file. For all practical purposes, the manuscript itself was "done." I needed to start formatting - laying out all the pages, picking fonts, making everything look neat and tidy, etc. And...my heart just wasn't in it.

During the fall of 2013, my life changed in a way that affected this particular project - or at least the portion of my heart that was attached to the book. For the first time since childhood, I was without a horse. My life had evolved, and I was moving into town without the possibility of keeping my horse. She went to a loving home, and I knew it was for the best - I was very happy with where I was now living and my activities outside horsemanship. But whenever I would think about finishing my devotion book, it just hit a little too close to home. I missed horses too much to worry about completing the book.

Yet, it was an unfinished project, and if there's one thing I can't stand, it's leaving something unfinished. I eventually set a new goal. The fall of 2014. That's when this book would be released. And... it didn't happen. I was able to find enough motivation to have the text proofed and to make all the final revisions that needed to be made. But the motivation was short-lived, and the book once again was left to sit. Until now.

Maybe it was the start of a new year. Maybe it was the frustration that I'd not yet met my goals with the devotions. Or, maybe it was simply the right time - God's time. No matter the reason, I knew I needed to finish God at the Reins. I set to work on all the layout and design elements - formatting all of the inside pages, creating a cover, and producing a graphic to spruce up the text. And for the first time since the idea's birth, it felt right.

Here's the thing: I left the devotions with their original perspectives. This means that when I talk about my horse, it's in the present. She is my horse on those pages, not was. I thought about rewriting all of the text to indicate I no longer have a horse at this current date. But even though God at the Reins is published in 2015, the devotions were written several years ago when I was much more involved with horses. And even though I may not have ownership of a horse right now, I have no idea what the future holds. I will forever be a horseman at heart, whether I'm able to feel the mighty animal move beneath me on a daily basis, or only on rare occasion.

The purpose of God at the Reins remains as it always has (regardless of whether or not I currently own a horse) - to provide some hope and inspiration to those who are curious about horses, those who simply enjoy the beauty of horses, or those who are actively involved with horses. The book is about life. About faith. About taking simple experiences with an animal and turning them into lessons that stick with us for a lifetime.

Each book I write takes me on some kind of journey. Maybe that's why I'm so addicted to this art. Each time I produce a newly published project, it is simply evidence of new ideas, inspiration, creativity and growth in some way, shape or form. Each book is covered in my fingerprints...and God at the Reins is no exception.


I love hearing from you! Feel free to leave a comment.

A Significant Doodle

Sometimes it really is the little things. You know - those things that seem trivial at the time, but then later grow far beyond what was expected.

The other day, during a meeting, I found myself doodling. (Not an uncommon occurrence at all.) On this particular day, I had a pen with blue ink and a pad of narrow white scrap paper. As I listened to what was being said, I found my fingers creating a couple of strangely intriguing flowers with petals of odd shapes and sizes, and stems made of triangles and squares. The wispy grass grew in whimsical curls, and an insect (related to a butterfly) flitted about with its triangular-shaped body. A ladybug came onstage at some point, although this one had a peculiar rectangle body instead of rounded, and antennas fit for its fantasy home world.

Later, as I actually took a moment to look at my blue-ink doodles, I realized that I kind of liked the scene. There was something about it that made me smile, and my mind's eye began filling in the spaces with colors and details I hadn't yet drawn. The doodle evolved into a living scene with motion, light and sound. There was a world there with undiscovered creatures, stars not of our own solar system, and a feeling of peaceful adventure.

Then the meeting started again, and my piece of scrap paper was again just a page with some blue-ink doodles.

Until I had time to sit at my computer and play.

The purpose? Just fun (and my rectangle ladybugs are doggone cute). I'm still working on different versions of the scene, adding new details, and am already using several images as wallpaper on my computer. It still makes me smile.

And it all started from a simple little doodle. Go figure.

Little things can't always be dismissed. They can't always go ignored as something that will never amount to anything else. Whether it's a doodle, a small idea, a kind word, a tiny seed of faith, or a simple smile - anything (and anyone) has the potential to become more. To become great. To become significant.


I love hearing from you! Feel free to leave a comment.

An Hour Behind in the Name of Fun

This is the wall clock in my living room:

It's one of my favorites. Probably because it’s one of my own designs. But regardless, there’s something special about this clock – other than the fact that it doesn’t have numbers and I’m still able to read it (which, some days, is quite a feat).

The cool thing about this clock is that it doesn’t run on daylight savings time. Well, actually, it probably would, but I never set it ahead in the spring. So basically, yes, it remains an hour behind for a good portion of the year. You might think I did this for some complex experiment. But I gotta admit…it was just pure laziness. I’m short. So taking things off my wall and hanging them back up again doesn’t happen very often. Granted, I have a step stool, but that makes the whole process even more complicated. And I can do the math when I look at the clock. So…I left it. Besides, this time of year, the time is right!

Apart from laziness though…I have another confession. My mom sits in my apartment almost every weekday before work, since we carpool from my place. And she sees the clock. And she’s mentioned it multiple times – the fact that it isn’t set right during the summer. So, of course, I do the daughterly thing and…leave it as is. Just because. I’m not saying I enjoy annoying my mother. I just find a moderate amount of amusement in it.

I sort of do that with other things, too, though. Like the runner on the floor of my office at work. I know it moves with use and gets bunched up on the sides because it’s moved too close to the filing cabinet. But I just want to see how long it takes for my office buddy to move it because she can’t stand its crookedness any longer. Sometimes I rearrange something on a shelf just because I know someone else likes it another way and will continually move it back without knowing I’m the one that’s been moving it…on purpose. I guess I’m just ornery that way.

I’m not saying I’m a prankster. Oh, I enjoy an innocent prank now and then, but I usually stick to the more subtle methods of getting under someone’s skin. (Although I do keep a fake spider around for special occasions.) I need some kind of outlet for my creativity, right?

In the end, I only pick on people I like, though, so if I should ever purposely annoy you, just remember it’s a good thing. Besides, I think God gave us our senses of humor for a reason. If not used, it will surely go to waste...and humor is a terrible thing to waste.


Feel free to leave a comment! Have you ever done something like this?

CHRISTmas Arrogance - Part 3

The Celebration vs. The Blame. 

We’d like to think that just because we (Bible-believers) celebrate the birth of Christ during this season, that we avoid the stress of the holiday, but it’s just not true. We like to ridicule “the world” for their shopping frenzies, obsession with gifts, and stressful (if not downright weird) family dynamics at the holiday dinner table.  But while we’re pointing fingers, we’ve got plenty of leftover fingers pointing right back at ourselves. Even though we like to proclaim our godliness throughout this often-times-greedy time of year, how many traps do we ourselves fall into?

“Look at those folks stumbling over one another for that one good deal. How absurd! Now…where is the shopping list from Uncle Herman? You know we have to get him exactly what he wants or else he’ll complain.”

“Look at all those retailers taking advantage of the holiday season! They’re offering all these obnoxious sales, just to gain more money from people who can’t even afford their rent. Oh, hey, here’s a good deal – I should buy six of those for all the cousins.”

“That retailer only cares about making a buck! They’re taking advantage of ‘Christmas’. It’s despicable! Let’s go shop over at this other store that’s owned by someone who’s having an affair with his secretary instead – at least the store encourages its employees to say ‘Merry Christmas.’”

“Those folks get so stressed out about their family dinners! Look at all that unnecessary food! They could be giving food to starving kids in Africa. Now…do I need to bring rolls or a pie to Grandma’s? Both? Okay.”

The Christmas season can be wrought with perils, whether at the grocery store or family dinners. And we all partake in the stress in one way or the other, whether we deny it or not. We’re not immune to the stress of Christmas lists, family dinners and shopping. We may not appreciate the busy retail stores, but we shop anyway. We may roll our eyes at someone else’s family dynamics, but ours are no different. We may even go as far to boycott particular retailers or traditions, when in the end, our own choices are really no better.

“We” face stress along with the rest of the world. It can’t be avoided – it’s a given. But we don’t have to focus on it. Instead of pointing fingers, we can know that we’re no better, and simply improve ourselves. Yes, we will get stressed out at some point. Yes, we will roll our eyes at certain gimmicks, and we may even shed tears over things that a year from now we find silly. But none of those things should override the celebration.

There is reason to celebrate this holiday season. I celebrate Christ, and I celebrate the holiday itself. But if all I do is blame the rest of their world for their shortcomings, how does that make me look? What kind of an example am I then? I can’t sit around and think of all the things I could complain about. Instead, I need to be thankful for the opportunities I have, spread the love, and enjoy the things that make me smile. That’s what will set me apart. That’s what will make me different. And that’s what will bring me the most peace – not pointing fingers.

To conclude my 3-part message:
Accept “Happy Holidays” as a cheerful greeting. Celebrate what’s worth celebrating. And focus on what’s really important.

Let’s shine hope and love, not arrogance, this season and always.



Did you miss the other segments? Read Part 1 and Part 2.

I love hearing from you! What does your holiday season look like? 

CHRISTmas Arrogance - Part 2

Celebrating Christ vs. Celebrating the Season. 

It’s interesting how Christians bend and twist a holiday to fit their own level of involvement in order to ease their guilt. Let’s make sure we always call it “CHRISTmas” instead of a “Holiday” so we can feel better about celebrating.

Really?

Here’s the thing. Whether we (Bible-believers) like it or not, “Christmas” in our day and age and culture IS a secular holiday. Did you know that Christians chose this time of year to celebrate, simply to combat other pagan holidays? We shout from the rooftops that it’s Jesus’ birthday, when in reality, His birth probably didn’t happen anywhere near December 25th. Besides all that, we are never even told in the Bible to remember/celebrate Jesus’ birth – only His death. We connect all our little silly traditions to Jesus, just to ease our guilt for partaking in something that really has nothing to do with God.

Christmas trees, lights, exchanging gifts and singing Christmas carols – all can be connected in some way to the Bible if we really want to stretch it, but in reality, they have nothing to do with Jesus being born. But we would never want to be compared to the rest of the world, right? We would never want to be associated with heathens. So when we put a blow-up snowman in the yard, it’s because we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus?

That said, is there anything really wrong with celebrating the holiday season just for the sake of celebration? Why do we have to connect it back to the Bible? As always, I’m not saying to compromise beliefs, or partake in activities that are unpleasing to God. But why should we feel guilty about setting up a string of lights for no reason other than we think it’s pretty? I get it that a long time ago there were some people who worshipped decorated trees like idols – but that doesn’t mean when I put up a Christmas tree and delight in something pretty that I am involving myself in idol worshipping. On the contrary, all I’m doing is reveling in memories and taking pleasure in being creative with colored lights, cute ornaments and sparkly garland. (Yes, some people skew the holiday season to satisfy their greed, but that doesn’t mean I have to throw out my proverbial baby just because they made the bath water dirty.)

In my personal life, this season carries with it two reasons to celebrate: The birth of Christ, and the holiday itself. I have separated them, because in all reality, my lights, tree, wreathes, and even gift-giving have no direct relation to Jesus being born. I love the whole peace-joy-love-giving message of the season – but again, though it’s a biblical concept, even the secular world takes part in encouraging such attitudes and behaviors. I love making treats to give away, watching my family open gifts I’ve wrapped, and enjoying the scrumptious cookies and dipped pretzels that automatically come along with the holiday. Once more – all those things have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. That doesn’t automatically make them wrong. I just can’t justify those things by claiming they are directly connected to the celebration of God’s Son being born.

I celebrate Jesus (whether it be His birth, life, death or miraculous resurrection) by following His commands and trying every day to act like He wants me to act. I celebrate Him during this part of winter by taking advantage of the holiday as an opportunity to talk about Him while others may be more apt to have open minds/hearts.

I celebrate “Christmas” by enjoying decorations, gift-buying/giving, yummy treats, and the smiles on others’ faces. I celebrate the secular holiday for what it is – an excuse to get together with folks, gift gifts (when it would be weird any other time of the year),  and put up pretty decorations.

Enjoy the season for what it is, and enjoy the gift we have through Christ. Let’s not bend the holiday just to make a point or satisfy our need to be “better” than the world. Besides, Jesus came for the whole world, not just “us.”

(Did you miss Part 1? Read it here.)

Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, why? I love hearing from you!