Subscribe viaAs it is still January, and I am still reading New Years posts from others and thinking through how I myself might want 2012 to look and feel, I am brought back to the wisdom/warning that it doesn’t so much matter how I want this year to look if I’m not willing to look at today.
This is something I’ve had to tackle as a writer—sitting down on a very consistent basis and getting a bit of work done. Sometimes the work that is done is barely perceptible, with little sense of accomplishment. Sometimes the work that is done is terrible. And in the face of that knowledge I have to choose to sit down again and begin again and keep beginning again. Hideous. Yet, at the end of a week, a month, and a year, there it is . . . all documented in words: some strange kind of sprawling progress. Raw material. Something I could have never just spit out in a weekend binge writing session. Movement. Healing.
This is the truth I am taking with me into 2012: the great importance of today.
One of the things I really love about the 12-step program is its emphasis on today. Breaking life down into a series of todays keeps us from getting overwhelmed by the prospect of having to sustain anything (i.e. sobriety) for an entire week, month, or year. Just for today. And it keeps us from living in the delusion that I will – sometime this year/at some point in my life – do such and so and really change things for good: i.e. lose weight, begin writing, read more, watch less TV, drink less, walk more, get my emotional health under control, etc. This is the thinking that allows us just enough wiggle room to sabotage our best intentions.
Goals/resolutions are a necessary and important part of life, but they are impotent without a firm root in today. It doesn’t matter what I set out to accomplish this year if I don’t have a sense of how I will reorder my today.
Am I willing to start today—even if that means fumbling and stumbling a bit?
How might my decisions today begin a trajectory and a momentum that I could build on?
What choices do I have today?
I’m hopeful that this will be a writing year for me. Not so much in terms of just producing something but because I know that when I am writing consistently, I am more of a whole person. I also know that I will be birthing a baby in the next few weeks. Balancing mothering and writing never works perfectly. And yet, if I try to take all that in right now, I’m overwhelmed and stuck before I even open my computer. But if I can think about today . . . the little bit of work that I can do today . . . even without a perfect sense of how it’s all going to come together, at the very least, I’ve put some words down. And I will always be better for wringing out my soul a bit.
Tolkein has the dazzling line that says, “Not all who wander are lost.” I love this because it reminds me that wandering is a part of the gig. I can’t map out a perfect strategy from beginning to end for most things in my life. Especially the things that really matter. And that doesn’t mean I’m lost as a result. What it means is that the mess is often the magic. And I also take that to mean that I might need to get my hands in the mess – today – instead of waiting for the perfectly clear path to present itself.
What we do in the messy, wandering, trenches of today matters. So I guess I’m encouraging myself, and hopefully you too, to consider how your dreams might intersect with today. And in doing so, we might roll up our sleeves and get to work even if the path is not perfectly lit.
Sometimes all we’ve been given is fog lights when what we were hoping for/waiting for was high beams. But if we’ll commit to what’s right in front of us, we can make a long journey with just a little lit at a time.
Here’s to today.
Have I ever told you I love your writing? Wow. As God often does, he has met me today with a gift for today. I am prone to grand pronouncements about my plans, followed by inaction and frustration. So am I willing to change TODAY? I am. Will that continue tomorrow? Let’s see! But today I can handle today…
Shawn, you’re awesome! Am I willing to change TODAY? That is a beautiful question. I appreciate your transparency. Thank you!!!
Yay for Mr. Wisley! And yay for you, Leeana. Beautiful post. Great encouragement. Let’s look at today and at the end of the year, we can review with your great workshop-post! And I bet we find something beautiful in all those todays strung together. But for now, just today. Thank you.
Rebes — exactly! If we put our whole selves into today, it’s pretty remarkable what we can string together over time. Love that. Thank you for highlighting my workshop prompts over at itsakoolife.wordpress.com. Meant so much to me. Praying for big things to come your way, dear friend!!!
Well as a pucordt owner… i would personally never offer a “lifetime” on anything except training. If it is a PDF… maybe but even that I think is unfair to the pucordt owner… but with using software there are hard costs and support and all that and if after 90 days (not sure what the refund policy they have is going to be) you have not used it… then refund. If it is not working for you and you can see you are making money… then refund. I dont think it fair to any business that they should have to provide support for a lifetime and then a year later the person just decides to refund. AffiliateX had a great comment above… it comes down to you deciding if you are going to implement and use. If you are then in my opinion 90 days is more then enough to know if you need a refund or not. But this of course is just my opinion as both a consumer and pucordt owner.
Thank you Leeana for such an encouraging and timely post. I am in the midst of embarking on the writers journey and I am nearly paralyzed by the big picture, the big goal. But God has put things on my heart to share… and I am so thankful to be reminded that I CAN take one day at a time. Even if it’s messy, seems unproductive in the moment, or mundane. Your writing is a gift to so many. Thank you for sharing your heart…
Very exciting, Audi! The big picture is so entirely overwhelming. I feel that too . . . all the time. In fact, just because I wrote this post doesn’t mean that I have this concept down. I have to return to this truth all the time. Too much probably — and relearn that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Go get ‘em!!!
Recieved your book as a gift.. a friend searched and thought I would enjoy since i am a Christ follower, an artist and i also ived in Turkey as a military wife (86-88).. i really enjoyed your insights and sharing the angst of youth so to speak… you put into words what i and many have
felt
i am glad at 52 i am finally at a much more peaceful accepting state of myself i think i realized that through your book… i ve been on a journey
as well thru many self discovery phases and heartaches but like where the Lord has led me
i have a strange affintiy for Turkey and had many found art experiences there
and continue to.. after returning on 16 mission trips… i also identified with you working as a bagger.. me too!
you described many of the people sights and sounds of the M. E. better than any i have read and i have read alot…
i am excited to see you future writing… be blessed Lou Ann
Lou Ann, Thank you so much for reading Found Art and for stopping by GypsyInk and for your reflections. It’s amazing how a place can change you. So glad you enjoyed Found Art and that it brought back some of the beauty you experienced in Turkey!
I agree with ahmad, but I have found that a good way to engcuraoe the community you form from a blog / site etc is through contests/giveaways. This may not be something that is easy to organise, but I am in the middle of my first one (link below if your interested!) and I have found that by encouraging that first post from a user, they then post regularly on other sections of the site.Once a few people post, other users then feel more inclined to do so. That’s what I have found anyway but I would be interested to hear others opinions too!
well i wrote a very long post… but it vanished…. enjoyed the book
Fear not . . . the long post appeared!
Psalm 118:24
New Living Translation (NLT)
24 This is the day the LORD has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
THIS is the day He has given us! TODAY!
Beautiful and timely!
Thank you for this post!
You are so welcome. Thank you for reading. I can’t tell you how much it means.
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Thank you for writing this, Leanna. It helps me to write a little bit every day, and there are some days when I feel like it was all very messy and didn’t make much sense. It is usually those days, when someone reads what I wrote and was somehow touched by it. You just never know. Thank you for the reminder to focus on today. It is definitely a struggle for me to try to get ahead of myself. Today is good
Yes, Lindsay! Sometimes there’s much more magic in the mess than we thought on first glance. Grace to you as you wade through it all. Keep writing!