Courage to Change the Things I Can

The other day someone mentioned that the only constant thing we can count on is the certainty of change. There’s absolute truth to that. And yet, as much as I count on change, it’s also exhausting. I get tired of trying to muster up the courage to do what must be done, to say what must be said, to be what I feel called to be  … sometimes courage looks very different than anything we ever imagined. For some it just means having a party! 

This weekend the kids had a costume party at Lake Joy. We were almost set to cancel it due to windstorm warnings, but I decided since half the invites went to neighbor kids, it would probably work out even if some of the kids couldn’t be there.

We decorated the house with cobwebs and orange streamers, bought pumpkins, and purchased a generator for the just in case scenario. My sister came over the night before and made pumpkin cookies and brownies with Emma. On the day of, she helped me make the chili. Lucas boasts his aunt is a chef, and I must say, her chili was delicious.

Kids from all over the area joined us, donned with new costumes and excited faces, ready for a spooky night. We carved pumpkins, ate lots of food, inhaled candy, and laughed. In spite of all this crazy election business, we laughed. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton never even made it into the conversation. For me, it was the gentle reminder that life is about so much more than the person I’m choosing to vote for in several weeks. It’s about the ordinary lives of people loving their children, meeting their neighbors, and becoming friends. 

This morning my publisher wrote a nice but firm note about some deadlines I’m under. I also have a deadline for an essay I’m going to submit in November, and theres ‘s agent waiting on a novel I’m determined to submit to him by Thanksgiving. All that to say, I’m in the thick of writing deadlines, and struggling to keep my head above water.

Would you please pray for me? That God would help me get everything finished? And that God would establish the work of my hands?

I’ve been blogging now for four years. I took a year off and wrote a novel. I don’t think that was the only reason, but I needed to let the creative work of my life go into hiding for a season. Winter is like that. The leaves fall off the trees and we’re called into hiding, into a quiet season, where our work is primarily underground and hidden. I’ve felt this coming on for several weeks and haven’t quite known what to do with it.

This morning, after my publisher wrote, I realized it’s time to finish up some novels that I set aside because I was afraid of them, and allow my blog to become a bit more sporadic. It’s time for hibernation. (Maybe that’s why I’ve picked up a very unwanted ten pounds.)

I’m still going to write for SheLoves once a month, and I’ll be connected in various other ways, but for the next several months, I’m going to turn my weekly Fragments into a monthly Fragment, until I’ve met the deadlines pressing in on me. I suspect this will be good for me and for my readers. I need to fill the reservoir of material so I can bring something worth reading in the new year. I had many ideas for the fall, ideas, which I still would love to pursue, but not yet.

Feel free to sign up for my newsletter (that I’m going to figure out how to do), so you don’t miss anything. I’ll make sure and send out any give-aways and upcoming news about new publications coming out.

Let’s try and stay close, even if I’m not writing every week.

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