You and I need a fireside chat and not just because the polar vortex is bitterly walloping chunks of the country. If you and I were sitting around a roaring fire and chatting about life and our dreams and aspirations for 2019, I would hope we’d find ourselves at ease and chuckling (with a few hearty chortles mixed in). But, I’d also want us to stay real and transparent that we don’t always have life figured out and wrapped with a sparkly bow. Life just gets messy at times, but thankfully we don’t have to stay in the mess.
Things to Ponder in Our Fireside Chat
In our little fireside chat, here are some things I’d like us to ponder.
- Am I an approachable person?
- Who do I allow to speak truth into my life?
- What keeps me from receiving insight or correction from others?
- What little things am I letting eat away at me?
- How might I risk more authenticity in relationships?
After I added another log to the fire, perhaps I’d share a bit from my journal, which I write in here and there. Maybe I’d share this excerpt from the Our Daily Bread devotional, “Once you have become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down.”
I wonder what problems I’d share with you over the crackling embers.I’m in the thick of working on my next book, but so many daily distractions keep arm-wrestling me away from my planned writing time. I’m in another flare with painful neck aches and headaches and I wonder what my neurologist will say next week. The local professional match service is way short on eligible bachelors, do I go back to an online dating service?
Digging Deeper in Our Conversation
We’d probably banter back and forth about our everyday dilemmas and even bemoan local road potholes and worldwide trade and political issues, but then maybe we’d dig deeper in conversation.
- Do our hearts really break or actually just bend?
- What do you say to someone whose loved one is near death? Or just passed?
- How do you trust God when others think he’s rather removed from everyday involvement in our lives?
- How is it possible to find deep joy in spite of life’s unpredictability?
Questions like these are where trusting camaraderie is forged. I’m glad we had this fireside chat. We may not have solved everything we’re currently mulling over, but I think we’re on a good start for the year. Here’s one final question for you.
What keeps us from quitting when life says break? That’s the theme of my next book. I’ll add another log or two while you send me your thoughts on this. Oh, would you like another round of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa?
Love this! Once you become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down. So helpful today as I struggle with my circumstances. I choose joy and now I choose to be grateful for the hard things.
Thanks Beth
Char, thank you for sharing this. I will pray for you today to sense even greater joy and peace in your being grateful for the tough things. HUGS to you!
Love this! And love you!
Thank you, Shelly. Love you too! Miss you!
Knowing us we’d cover about 100 subjects and go down a lot of rabbit trails! But it would be fun and productive! What keeps me going? That I trust God is good, and that He will be with me as I pick myself up and give it another go.
Nancy, I love how you describe giving life another go by trusting that God is good and with you through it all. Wonderful summary of faith. And yes, we are quite gifted at rabbit trailing while still bringing our conversations back to point. 🙂
Beth,
I chuckled when I read, “do I go back to an online dating service?” I chuckled because I had just been discussing this yesterday morning with God as I spent time journaling and praying through a passage of scripture I was reading. Still haven’t arrived at an answer? But, I found it humorous that it was in your blog. In response to your question, “What keeps us from quitting when life says break?” Well, I don’t know about the “all encompassing us”, but I can say for me, it is knowing that I have a God who is in that breaking place with me. It is a great comfort when I remember that I do not walk into anything or go through anything that He has not lead me to and will walk with me through. Even though it may be tough to see Him I keep walking because I know Immanuel, God is with me! Blessings to you in the fireside chat moments.
Hi Vickey, you wrote this the day Bellie was attacked and I apologize for my delayed response. I love your words on God being with us in our bending places. I sure have felt that the past two weeks. Bless you for sharing such words of hope and comfort.