Can We Be Too Busy?

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The questions is: What are we busy about?" (Henry David Thoreau)

I used to have that quote on my desk calendar because I think it's a great question to ask ourselves. I get busy. Lately I am often way too busy and I have to stop and think am I busy about the right things? I don't know if you are like me or not, but when my kids were young, I was always busy then too taking care of them, making sure they got to school and to their ballgames and church. I thought when they grew up that I'd have so much time. I haven't found that extra time. It seems that somehow we fill our hours or somebody fills our hours for us. I like being busy. But there are times when I think I need to slow down and enjoy the moments. 




I did some of both of that this week. I was busy, but I took time to let the grandkids who live close come spend the night. I had promised one of them that before the summer was over I'd walk with her to this creek and cliff area on my farm. She reminded me that summer was over last month, but before the winter snow started flying, we did get to take that walk. It was still warm and she did get to splash in the creek. She caught a frog. She ran down the creek like a surefooted deer. Promise kept even if it was a little later than planned. 

Then I took part in the Christian Fiction Fall Scavenger Hunt. Wow!! That has been quite an experience for me. Over 1,300 people (so far) popped in here at One Writer's Journal to read Lyn Cote's guest post about the "real McCoy." And a lot of my visiters left comments. I love getting comments from you readers and I usually try to answer each comment personally, but hundreds of comments has overwhelmed me and my blogspot memory here too. It keeps telling me I have to reload the comments. So if I haven't answered your comment, it's not because I haven't read it. I did and I appreciated each and every one of them and I love that so many of you are checking out my Facebook page. I hope you'll chime in on the conversations there in the days and weeks ahead. But I may not get every comment here answered. I will have your name in the giveaway when I have the time to double check to make sure I have all the names in my hat before I do the drawing. 



To top off my busy week, I had my Hometown Book Launch party for Christmas at Harmony Hill today at my local library. Here's some of the beautiful reading friends who came to hear me talk about writing my Shaker Christmas book. They ate my brownies too even if they were a little crumbly. 

But it's past sundown on the week now. A new week is about to start. Time to slow down and think about what's next. And that's coming up with a new story so that somewhere down the road I can get busy again and maybe take part in another Scavenger Hunt and have another one of my book parties!! 

What do you like best to be busy about?

Oh, for those of you guessing on my blog post mystery picture that I posted on Wednesday, I love your guesses. I'll reveal the rest of the picture Wednesday and let you know if you guessed right, but you have until November 1 to leave a comment on any of my blog posts other than the Scavenger Hunt one (those people have the chance to win a Shaker novel). The mystery picture comments are to perhaps win a copy of Orchard of Hope. I'm hoping I can keep all these giveaways straight. Wishing you all great luck in the many drawings in the Scavenger Hunt.

Graduation - A Commencement

  There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises." Graduation is not the end, it's the beginning. ~Orrin Hatch

On Friday, my oldest granddaughter graduated from high school. Here she is walking into the chapel where the ceremony was held. My son is the man in the picture watching her. It seems not all that many years ago that I was the parent watching him come down the aisle to line up with all his classmates and receive his diploma. A rite of passage that thousands of young people and parents are going through across the country.

In some ways it's as much an ending and a beginning for the parents as it is for the young people. The teen years are ending. Their child is ready to step out into the world and try his or her wings. I remember sending my son out into that world of independence. He was off to college the next year after working through the summer. He came home for visits and school breaks, but he never truly lived at home again. It was just a place to rest a few days or weeks before heading off on his journey to the rest of his life. Now he's beginning that time with his daughter - hoping her wings will be strong and her future good. His wings were strong and he's always soared high in life. That's what I wish for his daughter, my beautiful granddaughter. A good future with love and family and work that is fulfilling and makes her happy.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. ~Henry David Thoreau

Have you lived the life you imagined? Or maybe one that turned out better than anything you might have imagined? And if you have a cherished child or grandchild graduating this year, what do you wish for him or her? 

Thanks for reading. And remember, if you want to throw your name in the hat for the May drawing for a copy of one of my books, you've still got time. Just send me an e-mail or leave a comment here with a way to contact you if you win. Also e-book copies of Angel Sister and Words Spoken True will be at reduced prices until the end of May.

A Country Church Revival

We just got home from the last night of our revival at Goshen. How many of your churches still have revivals? I'll guess they aren't like the revivals of old. I've been told of two week revivals, but since I've been faithfully attending Goshen, revivals started on Monday with the evangelist and went through the next Sunday. And we never skipped Saturday night. But then things started to change. People got busy with five hundred and six things and revival meetings ended up ranking about five hundred and seven. So churches around here started having three or four day revivals. Some churches have a different speaker every night. Some churches tried mid-day meetings and offered to feed the comers lunch. We tried having supper before services a few years back. We had ice cream and cookies tonight because we're an "eating meeting" church.

But you know what? It's better when people call us a "praying" church. Or a "spirit led" church. That's what Br. Fred, our pastor, wanted for us this revival. He wanted it to be a spiritual renewal time, and it may have been for most of us. There were no decisions at the altar, but surely there were many decisions of the heart. If any of us step closer to the purpose the Lord has for our lives, then we can claim a spiritual revival.

But a revival such as they had of old? I don't think we had that. Nobody suggested keeping the meetings going another night. I've heard of revival meetings that continued on for weeks and months. People didn't want to stop meeting. They weren't tired of hearing the gospel. Do you think we're tired of hearing the gospel now? Or are we just concerned about getting back to those other five hundred and six things we need to do?

I came across a quote a few years ago that I often repeat to myself. As usual, I had to go out on the net to get it exactly right. I remember things in general terms and I'm not too good at word for word quotes. But I found it. I remembered it was Thoreau which helped in my search. So here it is.

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?" ...Henry David Thoreau

That's a question I ask myself often when I seem to be spinning in place, so busy I don't have time to think or get half what I think I need to get done finished. I have to remind myself to be busy about the right things when I'm writing or when it comes to my family. A church can be the same. Busy with a thousand activities, but we need to be busy about what the Lord wants us to be busy about. And realizing that can be hard.

Gee, guys, I didn't aim to preach at you, but looks like I might have. I promise to find something funny for next Wednesday. Talk to you Saturday or Sunday. I'll tell you how things go at the Joseph-Beth Bookstore's booksigning with Virginia Smith. We had been planning to do some speaking about our books, but J-Beth's people thought we weren't. So now I don't know if we are or we aren't. If you come to hear talking, we'll do the talking one on one. How about that? Hope to see some of you there.