UMMM...How much do you love this freeze frame?! If only I knew more about technology I'd make myself look better. So my gift to you today is this ridiculous freeze frame & also a few thoughts about Abiding.
Abide from Paige Allen on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label Abide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abide. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Monday, December 31, 2012
2012 - A Year to Abide
It is the end of 2012 and I must say it was a good year. I was so ready to say adios to 2011 that I started off with high hopes & 2012 did not disappoint. I only made two resolutions for 2012 and I can't believe that they both have been constant!
The first was my little 365 project of taking a picture everyday. I'll try my best to post the wrap up to this tomorrow...and although I do think I missed 10-12 days I definitely captured our year and I'm looking forward to making a book with only these pictures to remember our year by.
My second resolution was not really a resolution at all, but rather I was inspired by other bloggers and chose a word for 2012. You can read all about how I started off this year focusing on the word ABIDE here. And as I close 2012 I can honestly say that I've learned so much about abiding in Him.
I thought I'd blog much more about this journey, but was often silenced as I realized abiding is something that is worked within rather than something that I was able to articulate with lengthy blogs and beautifully scripted words.
In fact, in that original blog I wrote:
this is what I long for – an ability to shut off my to-do lists and agendas – a serenity and yet also strength that resonates from simply being with Him.
It is as if He took me at my words and abiding has not been something that I've strived to achieve but rather it has gradually manifested the more that I became quiet and listened and in turn responded to His promptings.
He prompted in January as Josh and I toured a vineyard in Sonoma. As I walked amongst those vines...and I stared at the piles of branches that had been pruned by the vintner...and I wondered if that pile was an omen of what awaited... It was that day in which I knew that this year would require some pruning and yet He was gracious to remind me that I could submit to the pruning and it would be much easier.
He prompted me one day as Selah brought home a painting of monkeys swinging on a vine with John 15:5 written along the margins...and I realized it would be hard to abide so long as my margins were cluttered with anything other than Him.
He prompted me in the middle of many nights as I fed and rocked my new baby. It was there that He showed me - THIS - THIS is a picture of abiding...she needing me for sustenance...me wanting to just be with her. Choosing to stay up past the feeding simply because it was so precious to be with her & she with me.
He prompted me when I really let go of my desires to do more and chose instead to be more by going part-time at the church and spending more time with my girls.
He prompted me through His Word and in conversations with friends. He prompted me as I've walked with friends through trials and heartache. He prompted me in laughter and joy. And I'm learning that to truly ABIDE one never fully "gets it" but just tries to keep in step with Him...in step with His love.
"As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." - John 15:9
The first was my little 365 project of taking a picture everyday. I'll try my best to post the wrap up to this tomorrow...and although I do think I missed 10-12 days I definitely captured our year and I'm looking forward to making a book with only these pictures to remember our year by.
My second resolution was not really a resolution at all, but rather I was inspired by other bloggers and chose a word for 2012. You can read all about how I started off this year focusing on the word ABIDE here. And as I close 2012 I can honestly say that I've learned so much about abiding in Him.
I thought I'd blog much more about this journey, but was often silenced as I realized abiding is something that is worked within rather than something that I was able to articulate with lengthy blogs and beautifully scripted words.
In fact, in that original blog I wrote:
this is what I long for – an ability to shut off my to-do lists and agendas – a serenity and yet also strength that resonates from simply being with Him.
It is as if He took me at my words and abiding has not been something that I've strived to achieve but rather it has gradually manifested the more that I became quiet and listened and in turn responded to His promptings.
He prompted in January as Josh and I toured a vineyard in Sonoma. As I walked amongst those vines...and I stared at the piles of branches that had been pruned by the vintner...and I wondered if that pile was an omen of what awaited... It was that day in which I knew that this year would require some pruning and yet He was gracious to remind me that I could submit to the pruning and it would be much easier.
He prompted me one day as Selah brought home a painting of monkeys swinging on a vine with John 15:5 written along the margins...and I realized it would be hard to abide so long as my margins were cluttered with anything other than Him.
He prompted me in the middle of many nights as I fed and rocked my new baby. It was there that He showed me - THIS - THIS is a picture of abiding...she needing me for sustenance...me wanting to just be with her. Choosing to stay up past the feeding simply because it was so precious to be with her & she with me.
He prompted me when I really let go of my desires to do more and chose instead to be more by going part-time at the church and spending more time with my girls.
He prompted me through His Word and in conversations with friends. He prompted me as I've walked with friends through trials and heartache. He prompted me in laughter and joy. And I'm learning that to truly ABIDE one never fully "gets it" but just tries to keep in step with Him...in step with His love.
"As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." - John 15:9
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Saving My Life Right Now...
My friend from college and blogger extraordinare, Sarah Bessey wrote a beautiful blog yesterday answering the question “What is saving your life right now?” It stirred others to write the same and so today she opened a syncroblog and invited any who will to share their words.
I haven’t written in so long that my first instinct is just to read the words of others, but as I sit here staring at the stacks of laundry folded and awaiting their exile into drawers and closets I impulsively grab my computer and decide to write.
What is saving me right now? It’s definitely not this laundry - oh, the laundry that seems to multiply while I sleep. And it’s not the list of things to do like the back porch that needs sweeping and the panties that still lie on my bathroom floor...
What is saving my life right now?
I could write about the peppermint tea and two pieces (well maybe it was three) of dark chocolate that I savored while my girls napped.
I could pen words of beauty describing the pink blooms on the giant crepe myrtle outside my back windows or tell you how Selah and I love to pick the bright orange trumpet flowers off the vine that weaves it’s way around the corner of our house.
I could say I’m being saved as I attempt something that truly scare my introverted heart - yes, I’m hosting dinner tomorrow for a family that I’ve never even met face-to-face. But I’m not sure if it’s saving my life...more like sending jolts to my heart as I envision my attempt at hosting people I don’t really know. And yet, I know that those giant leaps - even small leaps like dinner with strangers always leave me in a better place - reminding me to get outside of the bubble that I find such comfort and safety in.
I could describe the conversations I’ve had this week with missionaries around the globe because in many ways they did save my life this week. The seasoned couple who have given over 20 years to the people in Russia and Belgium. The young couple in Botswana who poured out their hearts - frustrations, desires, and hope in the future - as we looked at computer monitors and connected over the ocean. And of course the stoic and wise young man who calmly explained his plan to move his young family of five into Western Sudan...the immense love he has for a people who have seen nothing but hate was inspirational and made me think...even now, 3 days later about what I can do for those forgotten.
I could mention long conversations with friends who know me well - over coffee, on the phone, and while we stuff our faces with burritos. Those conversations are good for the soul.
But most of all, in this moment - what is saving my life is the quiet...and this face.
Sleeping peacefully with arms lifted as if in praise. Watching her round tummy as it rises and falls with the rhythms of her breath. The eyelashes that flutter occasionally, the slight smile that curves her lips, and the tiny fingers curled ever so gracefully. Just looking at her - knowing she depends ON ME for food, for comfort, for shelter...for LOVE. Just knowing that she needs me and I love her is saving my life right now... because it reminds me that I too am in need. And I am loved. And because of that love I am saved.
I haven’t written in so long that my first instinct is just to read the words of others, but as I sit here staring at the stacks of laundry folded and awaiting their exile into drawers and closets I impulsively grab my computer and decide to write.
What is saving me right now? It’s definitely not this laundry - oh, the laundry that seems to multiply while I sleep. And it’s not the list of things to do like the back porch that needs sweeping and the panties that still lie on my bathroom floor...
What is saving my life right now?
I could write about the peppermint tea and two pieces (well maybe it was three) of dark chocolate that I savored while my girls napped.
I could pen words of beauty describing the pink blooms on the giant crepe myrtle outside my back windows or tell you how Selah and I love to pick the bright orange trumpet flowers off the vine that weaves it’s way around the corner of our house.
I could say I’m being saved as I attempt something that truly scare my introverted heart - yes, I’m hosting dinner tomorrow for a family that I’ve never even met face-to-face. But I’m not sure if it’s saving my life...more like sending jolts to my heart as I envision my attempt at hosting people I don’t really know. And yet, I know that those giant leaps - even small leaps like dinner with strangers always leave me in a better place - reminding me to get outside of the bubble that I find such comfort and safety in.
I could describe the conversations I’ve had this week with missionaries around the globe because in many ways they did save my life this week. The seasoned couple who have given over 20 years to the people in Russia and Belgium. The young couple in Botswana who poured out their hearts - frustrations, desires, and hope in the future - as we looked at computer monitors and connected over the ocean. And of course the stoic and wise young man who calmly explained his plan to move his young family of five into Western Sudan...the immense love he has for a people who have seen nothing but hate was inspirational and made me think...even now, 3 days later about what I can do for those forgotten.
I could mention long conversations with friends who know me well - over coffee, on the phone, and while we stuff our faces with burritos. Those conversations are good for the soul.
But most of all, in this moment - what is saving my life is the quiet...and this face.
Sleeping peacefully with arms lifted as if in praise. Watching her round tummy as it rises and falls with the rhythms of her breath. The eyelashes that flutter occasionally, the slight smile that curves her lips, and the tiny fingers curled ever so gracefully. Just looking at her - knowing she depends ON ME for food, for comfort, for shelter...for LOVE. Just knowing that she needs me and I love her is saving my life right now... because it reminds me that I too am in need. And I am loved. And because of that love I am saved.
Monday, January 2, 2012
One Word for 2012 : : ABIDE
 |
For the last couple of years I’ve chosen one word to focus
on for the coming year instead of resolutions.
I’m a big goal setter, so resolutions come and go in my life…sometimes
on a daily basis. But taking one word to
meditate upon, grow in, and discover has an intentionality that suits me right
now.
I’ve been praying for the last few days about what word the
Lord has for me to focus upon for 2012…and my mind has swayed from A to Z. But when I get really quiet and let my heart
listen to His voice one word becomes clear:
ABIDE
I have to be honest, the word abide scares me a bit. It seems almost like a description for the
super spiritual, like a Mother Teresa or Mary at the feet of Jesus. And those who know me best will readily admit
I’m much more of a Martha or Army general.
It scares me because at the core of who I am – this is what
I long for – an ability to shut off my to-do lists and agendas – a serenity and
yet also strength that resonates from simply being with Him. And it scares me because it seems so opposite
from what I naturally gravitate towards.
I am, after all, a master goal setter – I accomplish life with gusto.
I am, after all, a master goal setter – I accomplish life with gusto.
Run a marathon – I’ve done it.
Graduate from seminary – check.
Learn to take great pictures – working on it.
And on and on it goes…
But I want more.
I want more than an impressive resume – I want substance and joy and beauty and Him. I want to continue seeing fruit from my life, but I want to know that it’s His fruit and not something I’m creating that is nothing more than a waxy substitute that just looks pretty.
I want more than an impressive resume – I want substance and joy and beauty and Him. I want to continue seeing fruit from my life, but I want to know that it’s His fruit and not something I’m creating that is nothing more than a waxy substitute that just looks pretty.
So ABIDE it is.
2012 will be a year in which I try to discover what it
really means to abide in Him & He in me.
I’m prepared for the uncomfortable, the silence, the listening, and the
unexpected. Honestly, I don’t really
know what I’m expecting, but I trust Him…and isn’t that – trust – the beginning
of abiding?
John 15:4-9
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart
from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not
abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are
gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that
you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
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