Hug an election volunteer today

Today was Election Day. I’d almost decided not to participate because I feel like our politics is getting in the way of our nation. Then I realized how foolish that is. We have a chance to effect change if we just exercise our part in that process. I realized today that casting my vote is not just my right, but it’s my responsibility.

I was rewarded with the opportunity to watch people. People outside the elementary school that hosts my precinct’s polls were out to get that last fence-sitting vote from those headed inside.

One man used his arms in wide, sweeping gestures that ended with a hand, sometimes both, pressed to his chest over his heart.

Others just stood around wearing T-shirts and handing out flyers.

The arm sweeper handed me a business card for a congressional candidate and thanked me for taking the time to vote, no matter who I cast it toward.

The volunteers inside instantly earned my respect. There was at least one woman and her husband I saw on the last Election Day.  They obviously care about the process. As a member of the military, I thought how often people thank me for my service. I wonder if anyone told these volunteers that today?

There were five volunteers and they all looked tired and as if they had put up with snippy people all day who were more concerned with getting to use their right to vote than they were about being fellow citizens in a country that was once again choosing it’s own future in the peaceful revolution we call elections.

So if you worked the polls today, thank-you; if you know someone who worked the polls thank them.  Maybe next year I’ll wear a t-shirt that says, “hug an election poll worker and thank them for their service.”

Beautiful paradox

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Some things have changed and others, well they’ve thankfully just gone along, as they should.

I graduated the Couch to 5K program and have done one run of 5 miles and couple 4-mile runs. I’ve also had a few bad days. I’ve pulled a couple of muscles and rolled an ankle but I’ve kept going. The up side to all of it is that I’ve lost well over 30 pounds and I’ve listened to the entire book of Matthew. I need to reload my ipod with another book. I still listen to praise music and I find my running is now the therapy for life’s little bumps. I can mentally throw down my frustrations and stomp them like a bug as I run on by.

Now, I’m getting into learning mode in other areas of life. Just after Christmas I began piano lessons. I also went to a school for military public affairs. I enrolled in an online course for my accreditation in public relations and am pretty sure I couldn’t pack much more into my life if I tried.  Shh, don’t tell anyone I said that or something will pop up to fill the last few moments of my evenings.

I decided I needed to grow professionally and personally. Piano is something I’ve always wanted to learn. I’ve learned saxophone, baritone, mellophone (a marching version of the next one), French horn, bass guitar and acoustic. But piano was the one I’d always dreamed of. 

The military course does have college credit and certification will help build my professional credentials.

But, even with all of that I always feel there is more I can do in my spiritual walk. I wonder if there will ever be a time I don’t think I should spend more time with God, more time in the Word or more time in service.  I pray not. I want to always be hungry for more and want to find myself constantly growing closer to God. At the same time, I know that I could do more of all of those things.  It is a beautiful paradox.  To always get more of God and to always want more.

Running the race -- or not.

For those who don't know, I started a running program. Yes, me. I have always hated to run and now, I'm doing it willingly and on purpose. Nothing is chasing me, and no one is testing my ability to remain in the Air Force, at least not today. The program is called Couch to 5K and works with walk/run intervals that change over the course of 9 weeks until you are running 30 minutes at a time.
I begin the 4th week tomorrow. 
Today is a rest day, and I took a nap after church. I woke up from my nap way later than I'd intended and looked at the clock -- 6:58. My groggy brain looked out the window and thought it was 6:58 am! I thought I was late for my Monday morning -- and for Week 4 Day 1! I was freaked! I didn't want to run in the South Texas heat but resigned myself. I figured I'd done it to myself not setting the alarm even on a holiday. Then, when my husband asked if I wanted coffee, I started thinking, "Gee, it's odd for him to get up before me in the morning. Even odder that he hadn't made the morning coffee since he's as addicted as I am." Then it hit me. It's still Sunday evening. I hadn't missed my run and I'm still on track with the program. And now, all is right again in my muddled, foggy-brain, post-nap world -- and I got my coffee!


On another area, spiritual fitness, the pastor challenged the church to start in the book of Matthew in the morning and read a chapter a day through the New Testament. I was pretty dedicated to listening to an audio Bible while I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 but have tapered down to reading much less. I think I will use my audio bible to begin my morning workouts. I will be exercising my spirit along with my body. I'll let you know how giving up my up-beat contemporary Christian music during the warm-up period goes with the training. I may have to use it during my cool-down stretch instead but I'm going to try it at the beginning first. I'd appreciate prayer as getting into shape physically is important to me but getting into spiritual shape is more valuable. For me, the two are tied together and I'm on a journey to become faithfully fit. 


I would love some feedback from you on ways you stay fit, both physically and spiritually. Have you found ways to tie the two together? Please share any tips that help you in either area.  

Take yourself out of the story, put the reader in it

Today, I read an article that tried hard to put some personality, in the form of emotion into a main character. Personality and emotion are important and help bring some life into a story. A common mistake is in telling the reader what that emotion is instead of showing it.

For example, the following sentence:

He showed pride in his work as he talked about it.

That's the writer’s opinion. By giving that opinion, the writer has now inserted himself into the story. In writing non-fiction features and news, this is a bad idea. It isn’t a very good idea for fiction either. This is for first person opinion pieces and thesis papers.

I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule. There always are. I won’t go into any of those but let's look at how to show the reader that pride instead of telling the reader about it.

Try this:

His shoulders lifted a little straighter as the soft-spoken man’s words came out steady and clear while he described the work he does. All the while, hands that had been down at his side (or in his pocket) punctuated the air as he pointed to the tools of his trade.

OK – this is longer but it also shows me his emotion without putting the writer in the story. That shows me his pride and allows me, as the reader to think what I want. I might think that the man knows his job and comes alive when he gets to talk about it.

You get the idea. Be observant. You can't make this stuff up later and expect it to be convincing. Record it as it happens. Use photos, voice recorders, whatever you can to help arm yourself with things to describe. Does your interview subject talk with their hands? Does his demeanor change? Show how. Look for the describable and write it. Leave drawing an emotional conclusion to the reader.

Here are some emotions and possible physical signs.

Fear – clasping hands, shaking, looking over the shoulder, voice lowering.

Excitement – rapid hand movements, eyes darting around to everyone rapidly, raised voice

Anger – voice volume, change in color (red faced – which can also be embarrassment or shyness) leaning forward, fisting hands. Narrowed eyes.

Watch for those things in your subject. Does your subject show signs that are unique? Those are great for putting the reader in front of the subject.

By showing your reader the emotion, you bring them into the story instead of yourself, and that is the goal isn’t it?

Share some ways you bring the reader into your scene. Would love to see examples and feedback on how you handle keeping yourself out of the story.

Treasure is...

There is a popular contemporary Christian song out right now that has a line that speaks straight to my heart. The song is called Forgiven, by Sanctus Real. The line goes, “When I don’t measure up to much in this life, Oh, I’m a treasure in the arms of Christ.”

It speaks to my heart because even when everything is fine, I can still find myself falling for the lie of negative self-talk. We all hear it. It’s that voice in our heads that tells us we aren’t good enough, we should or shouldn’t have said or done that or that we aren’t worthy of whatever we are striving for at that moment in our lives.

It’s all bunk. Sure, we aren’t good enough. We never will be and we don’t have to be. All we have to be is what we were made to be. A work in progress, a learner at the knee of one who knows us and loves us completely in all our inglorious, brokenness.
We fall for that lie when we start looking at ourselves through the eyes of the world. Those are sometimes really the eyes in our own minds that see others doing more, achieving more and living like we wish we were. Those are the eyes that we measure ourselves with and they are nearsighted. They can’t see where God is leading us or what the future holds. They expect us to have “arrived” by now. We don’t know where but you know it isn’t where we are. We try to act like we’ve reached that mythical place; like we are a success and can be defined by our possessions, titles or incomes. But those things won’t last and they tell nothing about the person we really are; nothing about our real value to the one who wrote the bluebook on humanity.
How wonderful it is when I can close those eyes and just be that treasure in the arms of Christ.

After I wrote this I read a blog post by Matt Hammitt on the song Forgiven.

There's a We on the calendar

Wednesday. The word starts with We. A reminder right there on your calendar, in the middle of your week, that you are not alone. If you are there, the Lord is with you. If you need a friend, there is another Christian who will pray with you, for you or just listen. I hope We all have a fantastic Wednesday knowing we are never forsaken and never alone.

Just a short note of encouragement to some women I know who are having a tough week. Their husbands are military men and many of them are deployed. If you know one, encourage her today. Don't forget that there are husbands who have deployed wives. Stand by them in friendship and encouragement. Sometimes we forget that they worry too. I know my own husband, a retired Army infantry sergeant, worried a lot while I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008. He worried maybe more than a civilian husband because he's been deployed himself and his training prepared him for the worst. While I was deployed his imagination and training memories warred.

Our friends from church really came alongside him during the time I was away. I'm so proud of them, and grateful to them, for how well they kept him uplifted. It's been a couple of years since that time. So, the memories of being separated are softer. I hope my own experience will help encourage others who are facing separation. Just remember it's WEdnesday and We are not alone in any struggle.

Nutrition for body and soul

A couple of months have passed since starting my diet and I’ve learned a few tricks that are helping me. After the first 20 pounds of loss, I’ve quit getting on the scale. Mostly because I realize it isn’t about the number but now it’s about how I feel. I feel better. I’m in a smaller size and depending on the clothing sometimes two sizes smaller. But I still am avoiding that dirty diet word – exercise.

I have to do it. I hate it until I get going so I have to do something. I started out using my Wii Fit plus and that was fun. But then I tapered off and now I’m not doing anything again. That has to change.

I have several friends that are on various programs and they are encouraging. We don’t have to be on the same program, we just have to give each other support. That is the first key to success for me. I need the mutual support of others.

The next key is for dealing with my lack of willpower. One of my favorite little mantras is, “It looks better on that tray than it will look in my seat.” I just don’t give myself room to wiggle in hopes that my seat will have more wiggle room. I’ve also found that by experimenting with new ideas and giving makeovers to recipes, I can have some pretty tasty meals and I don’t feel deprived. Third in the category of tricks is to look up the nutrition information for meals at my favorite restaurants. I pick where we go by what the choices are. If the place has no offerings that fit my plan, I become one of , “those customers,” and I ask for everything on the side or get a salad and carry my own spray bottle of dressing.

I’m a little single-minded when it comes to making this program of relearning eating habits work, but it does work.

My next exciting defining moment has nothing to do with my outward appearance. I’ve volunteered to facilitate a writing group at my church aimed at helping people write their testimony and then helping them overcome the fear of speaking about it to others. It will be sort of a writing group and public speaking class. The idea is to help formulate a written testimony and then learn to present it publicly by starting in a small, supportive group of people learning to do the same thing. The goal isn’t to preach to anyone but to be able to share what God has done in our own lives.

I’d found myself coasting lately. You know that feeling. Everything is coasting along just fine, no problems but at the same time you just don’t feel that you’re doing anything or growing as a person. I was there in that comfortable rut. Nothing was wrong with life. I was just feeling like a lump of flesh taking up space on earth until it was time to take the train to heaven. Not a very good feeling for me. I’m one of those that if I’m not actively growing, I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall and for my world to explode. I hate that. So, I considered, prayed and I volunteered. I will help get the writing started, edit where I am asked and then we will practice telling the stories of our lives to each other. I’m excited and fearful all at once.

We’ll start out once a month and see how it goes. Maybe after all the testimonies are done, we can continue to meet and, those who enjoy writing can help coach each other through the word-smithing process. Maybe we will help with resume writing and cover letters. Could be we’ll help with college entrance applications. There are a ton of possibilities and that alone has brightened my little world.

For now I'm enjoying the effects of better nutrition for both my body and my soul.