blog stuff

Mark the Sacred

November 6, 2012 by Amy 6 Comments

A week ago I returned from Allume. Allume’s purpose is the following:

Our goal at Allume is to minister to the woman, the blogger, the story teller. We want to love well, encourage, and spur women on to shine the Light that lives within them. We want to serve you in ways that cultivate the Light in you, help you expand your influence, use your influence well (in your home, your community, or around the world) and encourage you with stories of those who are living out the Light.

While at Allume, I attended Stephanie Bryant’s session on finding your personal brand. In the session, she advised us to create 5 Pinterest boards which would help guide us to find our own brand. I created the following boards:

While I could see there was definitely a consistent style there, I couldn’t quite tell how to pull it together. I still can’t, to be honest (feel free to send me feedback).

I solicited help from a few friends to help me analyze the pins and a friend picked up on one theme within the photography board that I hadn’t noticed in the least upon pinning.

Light.

Source: 500px.com via Amy on Pinterest

While I was pinning these, I had no intent to pin pictures with such an obvious theme of light. I was just pinning photographs that looked pretty to me. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t even pick up that it was a theme until many emails were exchanged. But looking back, it’s obvious.

Just a few days after I returned from Allume and pinned these pictures, I started reading through the Bible with a group on Facebook on November 1st. On the first day of reading, Genesis 1:14-15 stuck out to me

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

I could not shake the idea of lights “marking sacred times”. I had no thoughts of Allume or my boards though.

Gary Morland spent his 31 days series talking about connecting dots in our lives. Some might refer to it as God’s tapestry, seemingly unrelated strings woven together. I’ve definitely seen this at work in my life before.

All these themes of light started coming together in my mind over the weekend.

Before and even during Allume, I was very close to closing this site. I wasn’t sure of my purpose anymore. But that phrase “marking sacred times” has given me my purpose.

Matthew 5:16 calls us to shine our light before men and I look back to Genesis and find my why. Just as the sun and moon mark sacred times, my words help me shine His light, marking the sacred: the sacred moments that he speaks to me, the sacred moments I question Him, the sacred moments I share with my children.

As if all of theses weren’t enough dots to connect, a friend emailed me just the other day, not knowing about my Pinterest boards or Allume’s purpose statement or even my Bible reading and says “I look forward to your posts, they make a difference to me, your light is shining BRIGHT.”

I feel a bit awkward talking about my blog on my blog and “letting my little light shine” might seem juvenile, but for me, when I see God confirming a message in many places, it’s sacred. And you might now agree, I would be remiss not to mark it with words.

And P.S., just as I finished writing these words, I flipped over to my reader and saw these words from Sarah Bessey:

A few months ago, I wrote an essay for Deeper Story called In which I am practicing. It was born out of a turning point in my own life, and I wanted to mark it by writing about it.

Really? Really, God? I think He just likes to show off, eh?

My prayer from here is not just that you’ll continue to come here to read these words, but that you’re looking for your own strings and connecting dots and finding your unique way to mark the sacred.

For the Joy of Riding and Writing

November 1, 2012 by Amy 8 Comments

For the last few years we have been trying to teach our Lexi how to ride a bike. Technically, she could do it. She’d warble down the street a bit but she had zero interest in continuing. Interest wasn’t lacking. She just couldn’t stand that she wasn’t proficient enough to zoom past everyone and stay at the front of the bike line. She is a bit competitive, that one.

So she just decided riding wasn’t for her. Usually Scott would take Emma out to ride and I’d stay in with Lexi. Or, when Emma really wanted both me and Scott to go, Lexi would whiz around on her scooter. In Hilton Head this summer, Emma and her cousin rode their bike to the pool and she walked.

Last month, it was one of those days we were all out. I was leaving the driveway on my bike and Lexi was standing with her scooter on the road looking further up the road as Scott and Emma had taken off. I could see her squished face and she might have huffed. I knew she couldn’t stand that she was being left behind.

So I said, “Lexi, just go get your bike.” I always encourage her to practice when we’re out but she always gives me an insistent “No!” So it shocked me when she began marching down the driveway with some serious intent towards the garage. Out she came with her bike and I started yelling “Scott! Scott!”

Well, sure enough, Scott ran with her for a few seconds, let go and she just did it. When she got off and realized she really could do it, she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

For the next few days, all she wanted to do was go ride bikes which was just really weird hearing after years of hearing how much she hated bike riding.

Within two days, we had taught her how to take off on her own, how to stop and how to make a turn so she could keep riding at the end of the road. And yes, as much as possible she made sure she was at the front of the line.

I’ve been thinking about Lexi and her bike.

I realized that what kept her from starting was the fear of failure. She wanted to be first. We laugh, but how many times do we give up before we even start because we’re afraid to fail? But, even more interesting, she decided to go for it when she finally realized by not even trying, she was missing out all together.

I realized this weekend at Allume, I have this same issue with blogging. I admit it’s hard to see people that have been blogging for much less time be much more successful. It’s not that I don’t celebrate their success–I’m so happy for them.

But as for me and my blog, part of me just wants to give up and leave it to the folks that clearly know better what they’re doing. But I remind myself the joy is in the doing, the writing or riding as it were, regardless of what place or rank I’m placed in. Just as I wanted to shout at Lexi to just get up and ride because it’s FUN, I have to shout at myself, Amy, JUST WRITE. IT’S FUN, remember?!

And it is with that renewed sense of joy I came back from Allume and sit typing. I want to reject the idea that I need to be first. Reject that idea that sitting out is better. I accept that I do it because success is not in numbers. It brings me joy and that’s enough.

What are you holding back from doing for fear of failure? What do you need to just DO for the joy of it?

The Stadium Pitch

May 22, 2012 by Amy 9 Comments

I sat in a two hour quarterly meeting at work this morning. To be honest I usually don’t look forward to these rah-rah business meetings. But today we had a guest speaker. Mike Lipkin is a traveling motivational speaker and while there was a lot of rah-rah, be-a-better-employee type of talk, I was feverishly taking notes. He presented his ten laws to Living Above the Line . I found that they were applicable in all sorts of ways, one of which being the why and how I manage this blog.

At one point, he asked about our 60 second stadium pitch. Many of you probably have heard of a 60 second elevator pitch. Potential authors are trained to have one. If stuck in an elevator with an agent, how can you pitch your book between floors well enough that they get what your book is about AND care about it. Well, the stadium pitch he referred to is what you’re going to say if you get 60 seconds to speak to 70,000 people in a stadium.

Image credit

I don’t know about you but that thought is pretty daunting. It made me think about this blog though. If this is my mini stadium, what, ultimately, am I trying to communicate? I haven’t come close to reaching 70,000 on this blog but what if? What if I stumble upon 70,000 viewers and they give me 60 seconds before they click the little "x"?

So I stepped back to define why I’m here. And the short of why I’m here is you. If I wanted to write to myself, I’d keep all my posts on 750words.com and call it a day. For that matter, I’d start up Word and type it out to my heart’s content. But it’s about you. I want so desperately to connect with you. YOU. The one reading these words. I have this belief that God created us in such a way that we need each other and are spurred on by one another. We can’t do life in a silo. And so we must have that connection point. That one thing we have in common so we then begin exchanging. And if we’re lucky, we keep finding connection points until one day we can call each other friends. And friends are pretty great. Sometimes we connect over a TV show or sometimes we connect over a simple helpful tip. Sometimes whatever God is teaching me, is what He’s trying to teach you too. But we can’t expect to connect until one of us reaches out and shows who we really are. So this blog is my attempt to lay me on the line. To say, this is who I am, do you connect with any of it? I read blogs to find more connection points. Who are those people that I can learn from? Be encouraged by? Encourage? Support?

My ultimate hope is I am just a pass-through connection to God. A big finger pointing to Christ. Even if you don’t agree with me and find me lacking that you will see that above and through it all, God is real to me and He can be real to you too. And I suppose in the end, that defines my stadium pitch. If I had 60 seconds I’d take every one to point to Christ.

And while I get my stadium pitch is important because it tells you what I’m about, I see this blog a lot more like me walking from stadium seat to stadium seat telling you stories, looking for those connections. I’d sure love to support you, encourage you and help you in any way I can. It’s what friends do.

PermissiontoPeruse.com on Facebook

March 24, 2012 by Amy Leave a Comment

Well, I’ve held out for a long time. I knew getting a Facebook page was the “right” thing to do but I just wasn’t sure I wanted one more thing to manage. But, I think it’s finally time. The bottom line is everyone’s on Facebook. And now so is this blog. I’ll be posting the links to new posts there instead of my personal Facebook stream. I’m hoping to share some of the great blog posts I read and who knows what else. So please go Like it. If you end up not liking what I share, I won’t get mad if you hide me 🙂

Head over there now –> Facebook page.

Know Why You Do What You Do

December 31, 2011 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’ve kept this post open in my browser for days. Daye posted the top ten things she’s learned about blogging this year. Something about her first point has stuck with me.

Know why you do what you do- It is okay to not have a well thought out vision for the next 20 years of your life. But it’s important to have a reason for what you do. For me this means that I write because when I do, I feel God’s pleasure (One of my favorite quotes is from Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame- "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.").

I didn’t blog for much of December. Time and inspiration were not lacking. But I didn’t feel like it would please Him. Not because of their content because many of them would have been tucked away in the spiritual category. I don’t know why it was but I didn’t feel freedom to blog. The day after Christmas I finally felt His permission to write but He needed to ask me that question: why do I do what I do?

I don’t know how the content will change in 2012, if at all, but my goal is to work on this thing called writing and to do that for as long as I feel His pleasure. I hope you’ll join me.

Happy New Year!

And the 2011 Christmas Card Begins

October 20, 2011 by Amy 18 Comments

My jaw just about dropped yesterday when I read a tweet saying there are only 66 days until Christmas. 65 today. And the days will just go by faster. How? How are we near the Christmas season in 2011?

This is the time of year I start thinking about Christmas cards and my yearly photo gifts and I start kicking myself in the rear end for not taking more pictures during the year. As the girls have gotten older, I’ve found that I’ve had less reasons to “grab the camera quick”! Yes, they are learning new things all the time but usually it’s happening up in that little brain of theirs instead of an outward manifestation like crawling or walking. Or, you know, smearing spaghetti all over their tray. In any case it IS time to start thinking about those cards and gifts.

Last year I super-duper LOVED my Shutterfly Christmas card.

The pictures meant a lot but I love the layout allowed me to share so many from that photo shoot. I’m ecstatic to say this year I’ll be using Shutterfly for our cards again thanks to a fabulous blogging program. If you have a blog, make sure to check out the end of the post!

It looks like they have some great holiday cards this year. Here are a few of my favorites:

Clearly I’m a sucker for cute little happy girls. Hm, wonder why?

And here’s the best part. I have the opportunity to give THREE of you a code for 25 free Shutterfly cards!! Just leave a comment here telling me which of the above is your favorite and I’ll pick a winner next Thursday.

I was given 50 free holiday cards in exchange for this post. Shutterfly, you rock. Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

Klout Says

June 2, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

So these are the things Klout says I talk about on Twitter and Facebook. So I’m just thinking. If I mesh all of these together it basically looks like this: get a bunch of moms together at a Starbucks to watch American Idol and discuss our faith and then blog about it. Genius!

Must-Have Chrome Extensions

March 4, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

First off, if you’re not using Chrome as your browser (instead of Internet Explorer or Firefox), go here immediately, download and begin using. I switched last Spring and haven’t looked back. Browsing is FAST. The other thing I love is the Extensions you can install to make browsing even more efficient. Firefox has these as well so if you’re switching from FF, these will definitely interest you. And to those who don’t know about them at all, this will be a treat!

Chromed Bird Why I love it: when I get a reply on Twitter, it pops up in the lower right hand corner of my browser to let me know

Clip to Evernote – Why I love it: Evernote is like making a bookmark but you save it to your evernote account and can access it anywhere, even your mobile phone. No more syncing bookmarks when you get a new computer!

Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (by Google) Why I love it: Automatically previews pdfs, powerpoint presentations, and other documents in Google Docs Viewer. Pretty!

goo.gl URL Shortener – Why I love it: Get a shortened URL for the page you are on OR clicking on fast!

Google Mail Checker Why I love it: Displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. No more switching to your Gmail tab to check it.

Google Talk Gadget – Why I love it: It shows you a pop-up in your browser when you get a new Gchat message.

LastPass – Why I love it: It remembers my info and types in all those web forms for me!

RSS Subscription Extension (by Google) – Why I love it: Adds one-click subscription to your toolbar similar to how Firefox already does it.

Screen Capture (by Google) Why I love it: It screencaps your web page as a PNG image.

Scroll To Top Button Why I love it: If you’re scrolling down a page, just hit this button that shows up on the top right of the screen and it does all the scrolling to the top for you. I particularly use it when I’m on Twitter.com.

Send from Gmail (by Google) Why I love it: Makes Gmail your default email application. I HATE when a browser tries to open Outlook instead!

WiseStamp – Email Signatures for GMail – Why I love it: Creates a professional footer to all your Gmail messages with pretty social media icons.

Rapportive – Why I love it: It pops up social media info in Gmail about the person you are emailing to/from. Makes it so easy to connect with people!

So there you have it! All you Chromers, what extensions am I missing?