Tag: Family

Routine

ROUTINE can itself be a means of creation. Rob Hoerburger

May God strengthen you with power deep inside. The Apostle Paul

God of all comfort and joy, give me eyes to see how your Spirit is working in the routines of my daily life. Amen

My Grandmother spent half her life a farmer, the other half a townsperson with showstopping gardens. She was also a cook who put out large and delicious spreads for holidays and family picnics. People always wondered how she and her sisters could create such beautiful home places and feed such crowds.

Grandma B. survived the Big Thompson Flood of 1976. Her home in the canyon was only a few hundred feet from the river. I was 11 at the time and spent the rest of the summer living with her to keep her company and help with chores. In the aftermath of the flood we had no electricity, no running water, no road into town for months. My mom and uncle trucked our groceries and drinking water over high country ranch roads south of the canyon.

That summer I learned the secret of Grandma’s creativity and contentment—ROUTINE.

Every day we got up with the sun, hauled water, tended gardens, baked, did laundry, ate breakfast and lunch, prepped dinner, had tea and sweets, read, fired up the cookstove, cooked, ate, washed dishes, took a walk, lit kerosene lamps, got ready for bed and slept like logs.

Grandma B. was not one you would label a “creative.” She had no “career.” Her talents were gardening and home-keeping, and her secret weapon was routine. We live in a world that often pits creativity against routine. But the summer I lived with Grandma, I learned how our creativity depends on it.

When it was my turn to be a grown up, I established my own routines: Morning reading, coffee, exercise, laundry, packed-lunch, dinner prep, evening news… When there were little ones: waking, feeding, playing, napping, bathing and bedtime. At work: morning creative projects followed by meetings and afternoon admin.

Sometimes I wonder how my routines are hindering, rather than enhancing, creativity.

Now that I’m living in the land of quarantine like all of you, I’m renewing my appreciation for the creative power of routine. Rob Hoerburger writes: Routine can itself be a means of creation. Routines, like all acts of creation, [are] essentially acts of faith.

Spiritual Practice

What routines are a means of creation for you?

How have your routines changed or been strengthened during the pandemic? Which routines get boring? When do you notice a lack of joy or peace? Is there a routine that might give you comfort and stability?

Sleep tight, and don’t forget the sleep enhancing properties of a healthy bedtime routine!

L, Katie

Teaching Our Children (Day 39)

We’re doing our best to model and teach our children the rising strong process and help them integrate it as a practice in their lives. Brené Brown.

Put these words of mine in your heart and soul… teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Moses (Deuteronomy 11)

In the past 40 days, I’ve heard about dozens of your personal ah-ha moments. Many of us have said something like this: The rising strong process is opening my eyes and changing everything; I wish I had learned this stuff years ago.

Your stories remind me of the importance of teaching our children the rising strong process and helping them integrate it as a practice in their lives.

My nest is empty now, and I have a passion for equipping parents, grandparents, foster parents, teachers, health care professionals and church leaders how to integrate the rising strong practices into their lives. From there, we all have the opportunity to teach these practices to our children, grands, fosters, students, patients and parishioners.

In chapter four of Rising Strong Brené writes: It often takes just a single brave person to change the trajectory of a family, or of any system, for that matter.

Furthermore, this one brave person does not have to have all the answers. They just need to show up, be vulnerable and practice rising strong in their own setting. Brené tells about her mother going to therapy and then showing the family how to take responsibility for their own feelings. That’s teaching the process to kids!

Who are your children, grandchildren, foster and adopted children? How could you model, and teach them, this process?

Would you like more information about attending a Daring Way™ intensive or retreat in 2020? Email me at daringway@crossroadscolorado.com. We’ll add you to the mailing list and make sure you receive the calendar of opportunities for parents (grands and fosters too!), educators, health care pros and faith community leaders.

Starter Prayer

LORD God, help me get started modeling and teaching rising strong with the young people in my life.

Reading Focus for Rising Strong, by Brené Brown

We are now in week 6, of this 6-week study. The focus is Chapters 11 of Rising Strong. The topic is the Revolution– keys learnings and writing a brave new ending.