He looked at me intently, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Do you think I am going to hell?” His question was honest, open, curious. The question wasn’t loaded, as if he had a pile of ready-made snowballs next to him, ready to fire, whatever the response.
He just wanted to know what I thought.
Click HERE to continue reading.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Today, we will discuss the importance of goal planning. I have already outlined the critical requirements for setting New Year’s goals HERE. I’ll continue this discussion with a brief introduction to the ONLY type of goal-setting system you will need for the year.
Stop setting S.M.A.R.T. goals! Set S.T.U.P.I.D. goals instead!
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
As all the intense, Type-A people know, with exhausting alacrity, S.M.A.R.T. Goals are an acronym standing for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic (Ha! What IS realistic anymore?1) and Time-Bound.
I’m exhausted just writing out all these terms! Whew! Thankfully, I have developed (“Patent” Pending) a new type of goal setting that is a LOT easier!
It’s called (of course) setting goals that are S.T.U.P.I.D.!
S.T.U.P.I.D. goals aren’t actually an acronym. But we put periods after each letter because it looks cooler that way, and also, no one pays attention to grammar rules anymore. No one younger than Grade 5 even knows what an acronym is, or ever will know, so we’re safe there with the younger crowd, for sure.
S.T.U.P.I.D. goals are (distantly) derived from Einstein (See how S.M.A.R.T. these goals REALLY Are?), who made a statement about simplicity that later became colloquially known as “Keep It Simple, Stupid”.
So, S.T.U.P.I.D. goals are SIMPLE goals.
You can apply S.T.U.P.I.D. goals to all areas of your life!
For now, let’s illustrate this goal-setting method by starting with Spiritual Goals. The best definition of spiritual maturity is2:
One who gets up quickly after they fall.
We’ll massage more of the striking truths from this statement in a later article, but essentially, the best way to grow in any area of life turns out to be is:
To not give up.
As proven HERE regarding Fall Fairs, or HERE concerning physical goals like going to the gym, it’s not being amazing that matters most, but that we keep showing up!
The same principle applies to the spiritual life.
Most people give up too soon in their search for God.
Is it annoying people who keep you away from your search for God? Read THIS if so, but keep going on your spiritual journey, friend!
Is God distant, just out of reach? Read THIS if so, but keep going on your spiritual journey, friend!
Do you think God is a mean dictator, and you’re running the other direction? Read THIS if so, but keep going, friend, on your spiritual journey!
He longs to walk WITH us on this journey we call life. He wants us to WANT to want to seek Him. Will you KEEP (The key is this word – Don’t give up!) seeking Him?
And maybe if you are lucky, you may even have some spiritual insights that you can share online, and then be a spiritual “expert”3 like me4 one day!
If we don’t give up, even though most people do, and keep walking forward, following where we last saw his footsteps and carving out time in our busy day to sit with Him, unhurried, we will find ourselves surprised by hints of the divine, if our eyes are open and maybe if we even ask a trusted friend where to look.
There’s more to come . . .
Keep walking, friend.
And keep being S.T.U.P.I.D. to find true life success!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – All You Need Is A Few Sticky Notes To Succeed! by Eden Constantino on Unsplash
1 Oops! I got the “R” acronym wrong. Well, close enough!
2 My husband told me this. Isn’t he S.M.A.R.T.? He helps me remember that spiritual success is NOT about being better than others, for example, which I had forgotten (once)! Another time, we will discuss WHY this is the best definition of spiritual maturity.
3 Definition confidential.
4 Because I write about God online! Although I’m not sure why people laugh at the wrong times when they read my writing? It must be their spiritual immaturity. Sorry for being offensive.
To encourage you, I’m going to share another way I’m amazing!1
I have been (more or less) within the healthy weight range (basically – okay!) for my entire life, which has been no small feat.
However, when following my advice failed me for a while, and the pounds piled themselves on in a hurry (it happens!), I decided to switch it up and buy a nutrition app. I am constantly trying new approaches and programs and learning more about implementing healthy habits, which is the point of this article. But I’m not talking about that right now.
I’m talking about the notification that startled me.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
I was initially an undisputed failure at using this nutrition app.
Check this out. The photo below is an actual graph of my “progress” over several months, showing NO improvement in achieving my ideal weight. None.
There are normal fluctuations, but the graph of this line is flat.
Same, same, samers.
Despite hours (and hours!) of logging EVERY food item into the app, I STILL didn’t lose ANY weight!2
However, I continued with the program.
BY March, I was in the top 3% of users of this nutrition app I was using. The TOP 3%. And do you know WHY I was in the TOP (Let me repeat it) of users of this app?
Simply because I hadn’t given up yet.
And it wasn’t even that I DID anything extraordinary, which is the MOST amazing part!3 I eventually lost some weight using this app4, and I feel a lot better. And the program would have also benefited many other app users.
If only they kept trying.
And so, how do we increase in our journeys toward healthier habits?
1.Don’t be surprised that you’re a loser!
For example, I immediately unsubscribed to the “encouragement” texts accompanying the health app because so many people complained in a way I could not comprehend.
“I only lost five pounds this month!” they would complain.
Five pounds! That sounded amazing! I was excited to celebrate with them, but they were already discouraged. I hadn’t lost any weight in several months, and I was proud of myself for continuing the laborious task (for my thumbs) of logging food items into my iPhone!
Which brings me naturally to Point #2:
2.Have low expectations for yourself!
Then you don’t need to get discouraged! Oh! And remember how God ALREADY loves you?
That takes the pressure off, friend!
Why we even WANT to try to get healthier is another article, but we don’t have to please others or even ourselves because God, your community and maybe even your mom ALREADY love you!
3.Get up quickly after you fall, friend.
Keep going.
I’m with you. . .
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
Oh!
And these three ways to grow in our healthy habits journeys are EXACTLY the same three ways that we grow in our spiritual journeys! But more on that next time. (Or soon!)5
(But don’t give up just before your breakthrough, friend.)
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Can We Keep Getting On It Despite The Number It Tells Us? by i yunmai on Unsplash
1 As described HERE, online writers need to build their credibility and establish themselves as important and amazing, so that others will blindly follow their advice!
2 Yes, I was WAY OVER my “Recommended Eating Goals” in various categories, but it took me a while to find that part of the app!
3 You can do nothing but show up and end up being amazing, as proven definitively HERE!
4 Eventually, okay? (Like being more consistent with going to the gym.)
5 It snowed today! Ski season is upon us, here in Canada, friends! The holiday break needs to be extended again!)
I’m in extended holiday mode, so I’m not (quite) ready yet to set new goals, that I won’t achieve anyway.
However, stay tuned tomorrow (or soon) for how to start the year at a sprinter’s pace! (Though we will already be a bit behind because we are beginning our energetic goal setting a day too late!). Dang!
The new year has barely started, and you’re already a loser!
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
How to catch up and pass everyone else (Or how to at least stay in the race a bit longer) will be discussed tomorrow (or soon)!
“We’re just happy to be here!”
Said Jen and I, to explain why we didn’t want the number of Devil’s Press (NOTICE the name, anyway?) and other exercises recorded that our team completed at the “Competitive-Partner-Get-Fit-Day” at the gym.
Anyway, I hope you also feel encouraged to start your New Year off with a bang of frenzied activity (That you’ll do soon)!
For now, as clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, here is one of our past holiday newsletters to amuse you, while you look around for your pencil today to enthusiastically write out all of your life goals tomorrow!
Now, most homeschooling moms are looking forward to sitting on the couch with a glass of vodka after Christmas.
No, don’t get me wrong! I MEANT a tiny splash of rum in our Christmas eggnog! I am always misunderstood!
But instead of doing that, I wrote this holiday newsletter!
Anyway, it would have been preferable to have one of those lovely family Christmas photos – You know, where everyone is wearing those matching red hats, but who has time to book a photographer, coordinate ridiculously busy schedules, etc.?
This photo (SEE DISCLAIMER!)1 will have to do. We took it tonight, impromptu. Sure, some of us MAY be in costume attire, but this is what we look like. On reflection, elf suits may have been a slight improvement.
In past years, we included memorable quotes from various family members in our New Year / Holiday letters. This year, we include ten quotes on Homeschooling, Aging, and Love. Enjoy!
Kyah: “I’ve had a pretty good day so far!” Time: 7:13 am
Andy: After his shower, “Hey! Where was my soap? I couldn’t find it?!!”
Me: “Oh, sorry! Kyah carved it into a turtle and entered it in the fall fair yesterday!”
I mentioned lunch.
Kyah: “Mmm…lunch!”
What she was doing – eating breakfast!
Kyah was having an in-depth Zoom discussion with budding philosophers about the Easter holiday.
Suddenly, a shrill 10-year-old voice from Pennsylvania emanated from the computer, “Well, I think the Easter bunny should go to hell because . . .” An impassioned speech followed. A lot of great learning and critical thinking is in progress!
(She may need a bit more work on theology.)
Me: “Where do you want to be in five years?”
Andy: “Where you are…!!!”
Me: (Oh!!)
Kyah: “And I can help you up the stairs!”
Me, thinking: “Will we functionally be 100-year-olds in just five years?”
Andy: “Next June, I will be 50. We should have a massive party.”
Andy remembered that we had a big 1990s party for him when he turned 30. Andy continued, “We can have another 1990s party! We can wear . . . jeans and . . . all the clothes I wear now…” … “and we can listen to … all the music I still listen to now!”
Esther: “I feel so much older now that I am seventeen. It’s a big difference from being sixteen, or fifteen, or fourteen. I don’t know why. Do you think it’s because seventeen has an extra syllable?”
Esther to me: “Whenever I make my hair look like yours, I get compliments. Whenever I wear your clothes, I get compliments.”
Me thinking: “I’m not completely irrelevant, yet!”
Andy: “I like it when you talk.”
Me: “What??”…(!)
Andy: “Well, most of the time.”
Kyah: “You are the best Mom.”
Me: “Well, thank you, Kyah, but I don’t think that’s true.”
Kyah: “No one is perfect, but you are the best Mom for me.”
And so we may not be perfect, but we are the best people that God put in our lives for each other.
I know that’s true with your family and friends, too!
Happy New Year!
Oh! And I think professional online writers like me are supposed to encourage you, especially on New Years! And so, as this song sings, “. . . make a list and do not make it brief. Write down every single wish and every little thing that you want” (Seriously2?) – Well, good luck with that!
As for me, today I plan on doing a little more skate skiing, enjoying my favorite soup with friends and family, and trying out some of the new board games we received at Christmas.
(And as you write your exhaustive to-do list for the year, remember to keep one ear open to Holy Spirit. You’ll have more luck pursuing the activities God is ushering you into in your next season.) However, to be safe and ensure we are actively setting goals to be like everyone else, we will soon discuss setting not S.M.A.R.T. goals, but S.T.U.P.I.D. goals, to help you even more!
Stay tuned!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Happy New Year! by Debra Manny Mosley on Unsplash and It’s Us!
1 DISCLAIMER: My family stays mad at me for longer each time I post embarrassing things about them on the internet lately (It’s not like ALL of the five billion people on the internet read every word!). However, to keep them happy, I deleted the photo of my entire family that accompanied this article. They didn’t want the family photo posted SIMPLY because some of them were wearing dress-up clothes, pajamas, or something (I couldn’t keep track of ALL their complaints). Anyway, good thing you like me!
2 My wants (synonymous with needs, in my case) are a giant bucket without a bottom that would completely consume me as well if I focused too much on them! But whatever works for you!
As clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, I require an EXCESSIVE amount of time this holiday season skiing and soaking in a hot tub.
However, given that some of you in the fifty-three countries1 who read this drivel (no-STUFF!) can barely function without my constant wisdom flooding your inbox, I will be posting some of our Christmas/ New Year’s letters from past years here to help you through this season with adequate wisdom and insight to complete the bare minimum of your holiday activities.
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Click HERE to continue reading.
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Who isn’t excited to open a present?
Even for the most hardened of hearts, a brush with hope in an unopened present makes the soil of our hearts ready for the seed.
And what happens when we open the box and find nothing inside? We turn it over and examine it from another angle. Did we miss something? We take the box apart before finally setting it aside.
Click HERE to continue reading.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Our family got a Christmas tree together in the woods this week, which is a perfect family experience that we (of course) always end up having!
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Even my doggy helped us find the right tree for us!1
But did we hold hands and sing Christmas carols the entire time, you wonder, with rapt attention?
That wasn’t EXACTLY the case if I’m completely honest, which, of course, I am all of the time when I write online.
In fact, upon careful reflection after this event, at least one person was mad at another almost the entire time! (But not me! I was only mad twice during that whole time! And I was only involved in one of the fights over which Christmas tree to get!)
Other than that (I.e., THEM), we had a wonderful family time!
Reflecting on this experience made me realize that getting a Christmas tree was like a mini microcosm that reflected our entire year2.
This experience also reflects all of our homeschooling times, where joy and sorrow are combined, sometimes even at the same time, and always in the same day.
And so, why is the gift of Christmas sorrow and joy (basically) the same thing? Because we are little bundles of joy and sadness all mixed up together. Both are inside the package of “us” at any one time, if we know where to look.
I’ll illustrate with another example that happened again when we were decorating our tree this morning.
When I was about to hang up the Christmas ornament that reminded me of my dad, who passed away a few years ago, I blurted in uncharacteristic honesty, “You know, I’m sometimes still mad at my dad for dying!” My kids looked at me with their wide, astonished eyes, their Christmas tree ornaments held in mid-air, candy canes about to fall out of their mouths, wondering (with a bit of trepidation, perhaps?) what would come out of my mouth next. But my husband knew that I just needed a hug and a little cry.
And then I was fine again and joined in our after-we-put-up-the Christmas-tree family dance.
Because even on our best vacation, the one where we “get away from it all,” the shadows of sorrow follow us. And even the longest, darkest, most desperate night carries within it the inevitable threat and hope of dawn.
We can never completely release ourselves from either sorrow or joy because we have both within us all the time.
So may our lopsided tree, with a few sparse spots, remind us that the journey to finding Christmas hope isn’t always as straightforward as we would like it to be.
But may we savor the joy of each day, release the sadness when necessary, and anticipate our inevitable transformation that both the gifts of joy and sorrow bring, as we hold the hand of God, put on our ears to hear the voice of Holy Spirit better, and follow Jesus on the next step of our spiritual journeys this season.
Merry Christmas, friend.
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
1 Check out his ridiculously snow-packed paws! He was busy digging up the tree to contribute in his unique way, too! (Like when he barfed that OTHER TIME.)
2 For a COMPLETE, in-depth summary of our year, read more HERE.
I was spinning in circles, putting up a decoration on the tree with one revolution, beating back my dog in the daily effort of chaos management, who was sneaking licks of the Christmas pudding, again, trying to find my worst, ugliest Christmas sweater in time for the curling party, while still spinning the plates that keep our lives circling round and round – food prep, clean up, laundry, and then the alarm rang in the early hours of the winter dark to do it all again.
Click HERE to continue reading.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this stuff to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
As clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, I require an EXCESSIVE amount of time this holiday season skiing and soaking in a hot tub.
However, given that some of you in the over fifty countries1 who read this drivel (no-STUFF!) can barely function without my constant wisdom flooding your inbox, I will be posting some of our previous Christmas letters here to help you through this season with adequate wisdom and insight to complete the bare minimum of your Christmas activities.
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
We enjoy publishing a letter and sending it to all our friends and family for the Holidays.
Click HERE to continue reading.
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Please find our annual holiday “Newsletter1” below!
This is where we update you on our family and share some insightful sayings that our family members shared this year to encourage you! And so, “What happened this year?” You ask? I’m glad you asked!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
Well, our youngest child decided to leave home a year earlier than anticipated.
She’s planning to move out this summer, which sent me into a (SLIGHT!) identity spiral:
“Who am I if I am not a mom homeschooling her kids?”
Luckily, I have been researching starting another Master’s Degree (I’m smarter than I let on) or a certificate, or additional schooling of some sort, to try to claw my way into some sort of cultural significance. (Or should I get more counselling instead to work on the neuroses that drive me? Well, I guess we’ll see whether a year of schooling or a year of therapy is cheaper.)
As long as I have enough going on to keep me busy and distracted, that’s my goal!
So, yes, given my new plans, as described above, for when all the kids move out, everything is great!
Now that we’ve got all that sappy and annoying “real” stuff out of the way, not much has really changed around here.
We putter around a bit. Our kids putter around a bit, do their homeschooling, and then they move out and leave us, one after the other. (That’s FINE! Who cares?). Our animals, a dog and a rabbit, putter around a bit, too, as usual.
That’s about it.
Anyway, without further ado, here are some quotes family members said last year. May you have a good laugh (At our expense?! – WAIT! IF you laugh, EVEN ONCE, MAKE SURE you send us some of the stupid stuff YOU said so we can laugh at you, too!)
Why not?
We’re all ridiculous. We might as well admit it! And then let’s laugh together!
Andy to me: “Yes! I DO want you to come to the hockey game with me! Why? Because I’ll have more fun if you’re there! Everything is better with you. You’re like whipped cream.”
Did I mention that we are celebrating twenty-five years of marriage this year? If you’re marriage is on the rocks, copy and paste what Andy said here to your wife! More marriage advice HERE and HERE and below!
Kyah, as she was about to do math – “Oh wait. I have to get my headset so I can listen to classical music so I won’t cry.”
And so, as you can see, not much changes in our homeschooling rhythms, either! “If you have to cry, go ahead and do it!” is what I say when I homeschool my kids! You can find more helpful homeschooling advice HERE and HERE!
Me to a young man from our church, “You’re a good boy.”
Kyah: “Mom! Why do you talk to him like that! That’s the same way you talk to the dog!”
Young man: “She’s trying to embarrass me, but she ends up embarrassing herself.”
Me: (!)
THE POINT is that not much seems to change with me, either, despite my pouring money into (obviously useless) therapy! However, more articles on how to excel relationally and even to have fun with others can be found HERE and HERE!
Significant changes in our home INCLUDE that our predator (dog) and prey (bunny) ARE changing!
A LOT!
Andy to me: “You are like Cesar Millan. You ARE the dog whisperer.” The dog was peacefully lying at my feet during supper2.
Then Andy said, “I NEVER thought I would say THAT about YOU!”
Me, thinking: “WHY did he have to say that last line?”
However, we can now leave our dog and bunny alone together – unattended! Actually, our bunny gently (but manipulatively) nibbled at the dog’s toes once. Our dog is so sweet and good-natured that the bunny now terrifies the dog when she jumps around the house, asserting her dominance.
(I’m sure there’s some great marriage advice in there somewhere, but I’ll need some careful reflection time to extract it from this life situation. So I may require a lot of time for skiing, relaxing in the hot tub, etc., during this Christmas break. However stay tuned and expectantly anticipate more helpful relationship advice this coming year!)
And so, Merry Christmas! We hope you feel caught up on everything that happened in our lives this year! And we pray God overflows your lives with blessings, as you hang fast to the rope as it swings you through life!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Photo Credit – This is us in a choir that we joined this year. (Maybe new things ARE brewing…?) Do you sense a possible change in the weather, too, friend?
Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
Don’t you see it, friend?
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
1 News! Hahahahaha!
2 (Because I “dropped” my food.) But why tell everyone that part?
Restoring Life 