Lessons learned on the slope

Learning to ski has been a dream of mine from the time I first heard of it when I was a teen. Until recently, I never lived in a place where it was possible to learn. Last year, though, we moved to Idaho. Within the first week here, I learned of a special offered by a nearby (75 miles) ski lodge (http://www.pomerelle-mtn.com/) to homeschoolers. The package, which had to be paid for in advance, was 4, 6 or 8 weeks of Monday or Friday skiing. The $7 price included an all day lift pass and a 1.5 hour lesson. While some of the experienced skiers complained of the mandatory lessons, I was thrilled. For $7, plus $8 ski rental each week, I would get lessons and lots of ski time.

Learning ski at 47 years old is a lot different than learning as a child. My classmates, all under 9 years old were ready to go up the lift to the “real” slopes by the second week. Me? I stayed on the bunny trail and practiced . . . and practiced . . . and practiced. (That first week I got a LOT of practice in getting up after a fall.) I had an amazing instructor. He listened, he observed, he suggested. He gave me instruction and then let me alone to practice. He prodded, but not too much. He encouraged, but didn’t push. He’d give me something to work on then take the rest of the class to the lift. Once I was steady on my skis and could come down the bunny slope without falling, he taught me how to turn. He said I needed to be able to turn and stop before he’d take me up the lift. It took all six weeks of skiing to finally learn to turn and stop “on command”. He pronounced me ready for the slope. Since it was already afternoon (he’d spent some of his off time with me after lunch) and I was getting tired, I declined. I wanted to “end on a high note”. I spent my last remaining hour enjoying and improving my new-found skill on the bunny slope.

As you might imagine, I got lots of teasing about spending all my time on that bunny slope. Oddly enough, it has not bothered me. When it starts feeling mean-spirited, I shut down the teasing by adamantly reminding the teaser that I ski for my own enjoyment, not theirs. I recently had a conversation about that and realized I needed to import that feeling and sentiment into the rest of my life. So many times I have adjusted my actions to accommodate another’s viewpoint. While that is not always a bad thing, in my life it has kept me from being and doing what I want or feel called to do and be. No more. I am going to take yet another lesson from the ski slopes. While I may listen and learn from others, I will not allow them to force me to change what I don’t want to change. I will live my life for me. I will do and be what I know to be best for me.

BTW, I am skiing again this year. I finally went up the lift (the scariest part of the entire adventure!) and down a “real” slope. It was fantastic! Even more so because I did it when I knew I was ready.

The Relationship

If you run in church-going circles long enough, you will hear someone make these types of comments. “I ran ahead of God.” “I did it in my own strength, not His.” “I got a lot accomplished, but it wasn’t His way.” Basically, they mean that they forgot God, forgot to ask His direction, tried to do something in a way not consistent with Biblical principles. They accomplished things, but without keeping God first in their lives.

As I’ve stated before, relationship with God is the basis of true faith. As I spend time with the Lord, reading, studying and memorizing His Word, as I converse with Him, as I try to live by His rules and principles, as I share His Truth with others, I am living out that relationship. While my relationship with Him will look similar to others’ relationship with Him, it is unique. Just as two people can have the same friend and there be similarities in how they interact, each relationship is slightly different.

That uniqueness was evident the other day in a recent observation. Others may “run ahead of God” when they are neglecting time with Him. They may start projects, initiate plans, join activities that He would not have led them to do if they had been spending time with Him. I am just the opposite. If I am focused and productive, getting things done and taking on more projects without seeming overwhelmed, chances are I am spending plenty of time reading and studying His Word, conversing with Him and consulting Him for direction. It is when I neglect that relationship, when I rely more and more on myself and don’t spend regular time with Him that I become directionless, full of doubts and procrastination.

Accomplishments or lack of them are not the relationship. They do provide a window, however, into that relationship. A window that serves as a reminder, to me at least, that He wants my relationship most of all.

What about you? What characterizes your life when you are walking in obedience and companionship with your Lord? What characterizes your life when there is a fracture in that relationship? Have you ever even experienced that relationship? Spend time with Him today. He’s waiting for you.

The Most Important Thing

I don’t know how often I will speak on faith issues, but it occurs to me, given the foundation of my life, that it might be often. With that in mind, I should probably clarify just exactly what I believe. Foundational to my belief system is my assurance that the Bible is the source of Truth. While there may be other truth found outside of the Bible, only Truth is in the Bible.

The main Truth in the Bible pertains to our relationship to the Creator of the world. He created the first man and woman perfect. He loved them, protected them and gave them fulfilling work to do with Him. In their ignorance and pride, they rebelled against him. Their choice passed physical and spiritual effects on to all of mankind. Among the physical effects is that we die. Even more stark, though, are the spiritual effects.

No one can enter God’s presence. Although he desires a close relationship with us, we cannot participate in that relationship. Not in our natural state. His love for us was so great, though, that He provided the way for us to come to Him. Jesus lived and died to reconcile us to the Father. All we have to do is believe. We must come through Jesus. There is no other way. When we come though Jesus, though, we enter into a rich heritage. We become sons and daughters of the living God, priceless treasures and blazing emblems of the mercy and love of the Lord of heaven and earth. All the other Truth found in the Bible is secondary to this Truth.

That is the foundation of my life. Whatever I do, I do out of love and joy and gratefulness to the One who loves me so much He gave His life. And continues to pour Himself into me, making me more than I ever dreamed possible.

Resolutions

Do you make resolutions at this time of year? Or do some kind of evaluation of past accomplishments and future goals? Most of us do. And just as many of us often end up disappointing ourselves with what we perceive as failure to keep those resolutions. Next time you want to change something in your life, consider these tips.

1. Start small. Don’t try to change everything about your life. Choose something small, such as establishing a new habit of greeting each person you see with a smile or drinking one less cup of coffee.

2. Set yourself up to succeed. Put a process in place that helps you establish the new habit. For example, you want to lose weight? Keep healthy, non-fattening snacks in the front of the refrigerator or cabinet, where you see them first. You want to smile more? Put attractive, unobtrusive mirrors in strategic places throughout your house so you catch glimpses of yourself throughout the day. Or buy some herbal teas to replace your usual coffee.

3. If you slip up, don’t give up. Forgive yourself and start over. One dessert binge might add a pound or three to your weight, but a return to sensible eating the next day will put the weight loss back on track. That person you frowned at may never remember you with kindness, but, if you stop worrying about him, the next person may find sunshine in your smile.

4. Reward yourself. Establish milestones to celebrate. Your goal is to lose 20 pounds? Reward yourself for each 5 pounds lost. A new blouse, an hour spent giving yourself a facial, a guilt-free night watching football, whatever you think of as a special treat. If the reward is a special food, make sure it will not sabotage your progress.

Resolutions don’t have to be destined to fail. They can be the stepping stones to making your life more fulfilling, peaceful and productive.

JaNoWriMo

As I said in my previous post, I had a great time, learned a lot and produced a lot during NaNoWriMo. I’m not the only one. A few of my writer friends and a few of their writer friends decided the whole “push yourself further than you ever thought possible” needed to be repeated at least once more. We decided to do our own mini-NaNoWriMo, which we are calling JaNoWriMo since it is taking place this month.

A couple of us are writing new words on new works, just like the original premise of NaNoWriMo. Most of us, though, have adapted this idea to more closely fit the actual goals we have for the month of January. Instead of writing 50,000 words on a new novel, we have given “word points” to our projects and are calculating our progress by percentages. This allows the group, with its many different goals for the month, to compete with each other in an equitable way. The published writer of 50+ books has her goal; the not-yet-published writer has her goal. Obviously, they are widely different actual word counts. By calculating percentage to the desired goal, all can see their progress and compare it more equitably to the other competitors.

My goals include 15,000 new words on several diverse projects. I plan to write and upload something to this blog every few days. When I do, I’ll get x-number of word points toward my goal of 50,000 words. I am also editing many scenes from my current novel. I reviewed my previous draft and reorganized the scenes, deleting several and adding new one. Doing that earned me x-number of word points. As I write or edit each scene, I will get another x-number of word points. My goal is to get through 25 of those scenes by January 31. That is only about half of the book, but it is a reasonable goal. I also will write a synopsis that I will start sending out to possible agents and publishers. That is worth another set of word points. My last set of goals is to start writing articles or queries to magazines about possible articles I can write. Each query written gets a word point and each time I send one, I get another word point.

I’m really excited about monitoring progress this way and by the friendly competition between a few writer friends. I expect this to propel me ever closer to the dream of creating and publishing my stories. Look for them soon! In the meantime, keep checking back here for updates on my life, my thoughts, my musings and more!

Review of NaNo

NaNoWriMo was a wild ride, let me tell you. Especially wild was that last week, when I had to write over 30,000 words to make it to the finish line. I did it. I wrote 50,000 words from November 1 to November 30 and arrived at the 50,000 word mark at 11:02 Friday night, November 30, exhausted but ecstatic.

I don't know what I was thinking, though, to expect I could establish the new habit of writing on this blog while also writing 50,000 words in one month on a new novel. From this point on, though, I am determined to add to this blog on a regular basis. Expect to see me here often.

Like I said, NaNo was a wild ride. Because of various outside commitments and pressures in the beginning of the month, I fell behind. Way behind. By the beginning of that last week, I still needed to write over 30,000 words. I kept plugging away each day, but became more and more convinced I could not possibly finish the month with 50,000 words written. I did it, though! In fact, during the last two days I wrote 23,000 words! I wrote my 50,000th word at 11:02 p.m., 58 minutes before the deadline.

I discovered or was reminded of a couple of interesting things through this experience. The most obvious is that I do well with an objective, non-negotiable deadline. When I know it really doesn't matter if I get a certain scene or article written, I tend to take a lot longer than when someone is waiting on me to finish the piece. I plan to take advantage of this bit of information over the next year by forcing myself into situations where others are expecting me to produce something. I'm going to send queries to magazines asking if they would like me to write an article for them. I am also going to write up a synopsis of my current work in progress and begin sending it to agents and publishers.

That decision will also take advantage of the second thing that I discovered during NaNo, that I need someone to notice what I do. When I went to upload my 50,000 word story onto the NaNo site, I couldn't access the word counter. I didn't realize it, but I had neglected to change my time zone when I registered for this year's NaNo. Last year I lived in a time zone two hours earlier than the one I live in now. It was amazing to me how disappointed and betrayed I felt. The matter was resolved with a quick note to the tech support person, but it provided me with an interesting insight into myself. I thrive on and am motivated by recognition. Even though few would see my winner’s bar, and those people in my life who really mattered would believe me when I said I finished my 50,000 words even without it, I still wanted that little purple bar and the winners icon on my NaNo page. Go check it out. http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/34061

Isn’t it great?

All in all NaNo with an exhilarating experience. I recommend it to anyone who wants to push themselves to write more.