by marla on November 17, 2011
Not my drawer - but it could be!
Blogging is a vulnerable act of radical writing. Never underestimate how terrifying it is to bare your soul for anyone who happens to put in the right search words to Google. This is one of those vulnerable posts where those of you who know me may snicker to yourselves and make some snide comments. Go ahead: I’m going to deserve it!
But I have also learned that stating something publicly is often the tipping point to dredging up the determination to follow through. So…
I finally figured out that I am happier when I am traveling, in some ways, because my world fits in my backpack and my suitcase. On rare trips there may be a tote bag. That’s it. No bookshelves, no clutter piles, not laundry piles, no corners in out-of-the-way rooms waiting for me, condemning me. It’s a lesson I had better take to heart. If there’s one thing I’ve learned its that God often speaks in those inner longings of your heart, the half-heard and half-feared whispers.
I need less stuff.
Other people need more stuff.
I need to spend more time and money helping the other people get the stuff they need just to live.
Another truth in establishing any new habit — and less stuff would truly be a new habit — is to smart with a small victory. I’m combining these two habits and blogging my first challenge. Hopefully in a few days I will also blog my first victory.
Challenge
I will clean out my makeup drawer and reduce it to only what I usually shove in my travel bag for a longish trip. Then I will only replace those items (when they are used up), not add to their number.
That’s it. Nothing profound today, just a glimpse of where my life is.
Bonus: This is a quick post I found on how to actually clean out the makeup drawer. Why reinvent the wheel? http://www.luuux.com/node/2930066
by marla on November 13, 2011
A year or two ago I bought some amazing organic shampoo from my stylist. It was the same product she used in the salon, and I loved what it did for my hair! So optimistically, I shelled out the price for the lovely product and brought it home.
You know this part of the story: I used the shampoo and loved the smells, the feel. I loved the shine in my hair, even though I couldn’t quite make my hair do what my stylist could do. Great — expensive — shampoo.
On the second day I looked at my new shampoo and conditioner and thought “Wow…I paid a lot for that. Today I will use my regular stuff, and make sure I don’t run through the shampoo too fast.” So I did. And my hair looked pretty much the same…like my hair.
Fast forward a year or so. There I am standing in my shower reaching for my normal shampoo when I saw “The Expensive Shampoo.” By now those words were written in capital letters. I rarely used it. But this was an important day of some sort (can’t remember now), so I reached for my organic shampoo.
It had died. The cream had separated into components. The lovely organic ingredients didn’t smell happy anymore. In fact, it was such an icky experience just getting that stuff out of the bottle that I rinsed it down the drain and threw out the whole bottle. I hated watching that bottle go away. I had never even used it! All that potential was left to rot in the bottle.
Not long ago I bought some other, different expensive shampoo, this time recommended by my sister-in-law. And on that second or third day, when I was tempted to skip over the bottle in order to save it, I remembered my lesson. I remembered the nearly full bottles in the trash. Shampoo has only one purpose: to clean your hair. If you don’t use it, there’s no reason to keep it. I vowed to use every last drop of that expensive stuff, and so far I have.
Life is pretty much the same way, isn’t it? God gives us talents. He gives us creativity, insights, stamina, relationships, love. And he gives it all to us so that we will use it. But sometimes it’s easy to hold some back, to want to save for a rainy day. Like the Israelites trying to hoard daily manna, we don’t allow ourselves to be emptied.
We stay in the bottle.
Lately I’m trying to remember that my true life is outside the shampoo bottle. I don’t want to hold back what can’t be kept. I don’t want a container of moldy manna or ugly shampoo. I believe that God is able to refill that jar, able to refill me.
I believe it. Now it’s time to act on it.
So I guess today I raise my theoretical glass in a toast to those who venture outside the bottle with me!
by marla on November 3, 2011
That’s what I feel like lately.
A broken, used up lightbulb.
Not very inspiring, is it? It’s kind of a useless thing. It can still plug into the current, but it can’t produce the light it was created for.
On the other hand, perhaps it is no surprise that’s how I’m feeling, because my most recent prayer has been simply this: Unmake me, Lord.
I want to be unmade, so that God can start putting back into my life the bits and pieces that HE wants, not the pieces I’ve picked up over the years and hugged close to my chest.We all want to be made over, refashioned, step into the big reveal as a new person, made in His image.
But sometimes we forget that before the big reveal comes a lot of unlearning, unmaking, letting go. I’m not so good at that, but I’m trying.
So there it is.
Unmake me again, Lord.
by marla on October 31, 2011
Toy Story: revival of classic storytelling
It’s been awhile since I have done a book review, and this isn’t one either. Not really. But I recently read The Pixar Touch by David A. Price.
I picked up the book a week or two ago…but wait…that isn’t true. Sitting in my QEpiphany conference I realized I wanted to read more about Pixar. After all, we were deconstructing Toy Story 2 and learning the backstory of the process. I wanted to know more. So I grabbed my iPad, searched Amazon Kindle and downloaded what looked like the most appropriate book. I have never held the book in my hands.
A perfect illustration of the first lesson I learned from both the book and from Pixar: technology disrupts. It makes the “good old boys nervous.” Some people will tell you that the technology is ruining the integrity of what came before. What would animation be without hand drawn cels? It would be different. But equally amazing. And that gets people’s feathers ruffled.
Lesson: When you are going to venture into a whole new world, be prepared to spend some time bringing others along and smoothing down their feathers.
The second lesson quickly follows the first: yesterday’s skill set may not be enough to meet today’s challenge, but it will probably provide the foundation for the skills that will meet the challenge. Without the skilled hand animators, Pixar would never have been able to hit the right balance in their computer generated characters. It required the eye, the deep background and the artistic sense that only animators possessed.
Lesson: Don’t despise the skill sets of yesterday. Figure out what they knew. It may be crucial to you today.
Finally (because research tells me your attention has already waned)…
Lesson: Nothing — repeat — NOTHING beats a good story, well written.
Great book...with some interesting background on Steve Jobs' time at Pixar.
by marla on October 7, 2011
Blanchard Hall, the "heartbeat" of the Wheaton campus.
David and I are in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton for my…ahem…25th College Reunion. Today was the warm-up day, the day for us to sneak onto campus, register, wander around looking enviously at the new and improved bookstore, the new and improved dining room, the new and improved student center, the new and improved….well you get the idea. It seems that all is new and improved except, perhaps, the returning alumni! For us there is nothing new and not much improved!!
Or is that true?
Nothing makes you think about the person you have become like your college reunions. If you are prone to a mid-life crisis, a reunion is where you are likely to find it! But as I mingle with these friends who started out on life’s adult journey with me, I’ve realized that I could never have predicted or scripted the course of my crazy life.
In the words of a friend of mine, Bob Goff, my life is inexplicable.
My mind works like one big set of tinker toys, connecting one person to another I just met. I connect books to people, people to projects and to each other. I file information away to be connected to other information at some other time, some other place. I find trends in the challenges facing people who are trying to make a difference in this world, and try to encourage them. I love the people under my wings.
These are the things I do. And as I stand in this rich soil of Wheaton, the place where I started to be who I am, I am coming to appreciate who God has seen fit to make me. Make no mistake: it’s tempting. It’s tempting to look for the new and improved version of everything. It’s tempting to find a new job title that maybe describes me, places me in a category so others can easily figure me out. It’s tempting to wonder about paths not taken, twists and turns.
But I love my life. And I loved standing in the bookstore among all the books I have read and loved. I loved that a faculty member stopped to ask me about our iPads, and whether she should get one for her husband. I loved that I knew the answer to that, and to so many other questions she asked.
David and I agree that we would have LOVED to do college with the technology these kids are toting around in their backpacks. It’s an amazing moment in history to be engaged in learning.
On the other hand, it’s also an amazing moment in history to be out changing the world. And you can’t do that by being jealous of the “new and improved!”
However that salad bar was pretty awesome…and the ice cream machines…and the ice cream topping bar…
Can you ever escape your past?
by marla on October 4, 2011
The cloud of Pixie Dust descended on South Florida last Saturday.
David and I were happily at lunch waiting for our salads to arrive, surfing our Facebook feeds like we always do. And yes, we do look like geeks in public quite often. But on this day my feed was lit up with friends heading to Orlando and the Magic Kingdom for Disney World’s 40th birthday. In addition, while we were sweltering in SoFL, apparently Orlando was getting one of its first fall days. Pixie Dust sparkled from my Facebook.
Within an hour we had picked up a good friend and headed north for an evening in the Magic Kingdom.
Great decision.
While we were wandering with the other 50,000+ crazy folk, we spent a good chunk of our time analyzing the Disney magic. I could spend years studying the best practices of Disney leadership and creativity, and this day was especially significant as all Disney employees were on high alert. The birthday celebration was proving far more popular than even the Disney prognosticators had anticipated. In response, the park moved into action. Alternate exits were opened to ease traffic flow — something I’ve never seen before. Guests walking through Cast Member Only areas? Wow! Ride lines were extended and re-worked. Entry to the Kingdom was restricted to resort guests only. This was Disney in full response mode, and it worked.
At one point we were spending a few moments with a friend of ours who works at Disney in their transportation department. On this night he was estimating guest flow and helping adjust the monorails accordingly. But he had a few moments to meet us and chat about the day. We were impressed that Brandon had gone out to buy a new shirt for the celebration day: an employee so excited about a company event that he wanted to “spruce up!” I loved it. That said a lot to me about Disney’s ability to inspire loyalty (which is legendary), as well as Brandon’s commitment to his company.
We also asked Brandon about his trash picking stick he was slinging over his arm. Remember, Brandon is a team leader in the transportation department, not assigned to the inside of the park or the sanitation department.
“Brandon, why are you carrying that?”
“We always carry them whenever we walk through the park. We don’t want trash to lie around.”
“Does everyone carry them? All employees?”
“Oh no…only the leaders. It’s actually one of the easiest ways to tell who is a team leader.”
Wow.
Now that will preach.
The easiest way to spot a leader at Disney is to notice who is carrying a trash picker and is picking up the trash as they walk through the park.
Pretty great description of servant leadership, if you ask me.
The best symbol of leadership!
Main Street on Disney's 40th Birthday...look at the crowds!
by marla on February 28, 2011
What an amazing weekend!
Some of the details will have to wait for another post, but I was so privileged to go and tour a completed and running safe house for girls rescued from trafficking. It is the only Christian safe house in the state of Florida. And while I was humbled at the dedication it takes to run the house, I was also overwhelmed by its simplicity.
You see, this wasn’t a huge home. It was pretty average. And they didn’t have ten and twenty girls. They had two, with room for five. And these two houseparents were not specialists trained for trafficking. They were parents who answered the call to love on two girls in a radical, unconditional way. The overwhelming part was this: it was all so doable.
And yet there is only one Christian safe house in the state of Florida.
This has got to change, and you and I are the ones who have to change it.
Later in the weekend David and I were at a weekend retreat sponsored by the Luis Palau Association. If you don’t know who Luis Palau is, click this link or google his name. We heard so much over the course of the weekend that confirmed what God was saying. This is our job to do, and so we need to prepare.
Luis was speaking on Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his son. True worship, he said, involves sacrifice. We are called into the world to tell others that Jesus loves them more than they could imagine, more than they’ve been told. He loves them so much, that nothing they have done could keep him from heaping even more love on top of them. He loves.
But for someone to hear that message, others must sacrifice. As Luis said, “Someone must pay the price. Someone must sacrifice to do the work.”
My mind flashed to the safe house.
I don’t know what it is going to look like yet, but that someone is me. That someone is you. These girls need a place to heal and be restored.
This is our sacrifice.
