For those who guessed a steering wheel…yes! It was steering wheel of my truck! đ
perspective
Looking Back…Moving Forward: Growing Pains and Pleasures
**Spoiler Alert: this post is a little lengthier than others, but still about 1000 words….I’m so sorry if you’re looking for a shorter read today. I’m catching up on a week’s worth of “assignments,” or challenges, given by The Daily Post for Blogging 201… Please, feel free to peruse through some of the Poetry or Lessons Learned categories (widgets to the right) to find a little shorter post.**
Well, here I am again trying my hand at Blogging 201… I did this back in October, but I thought, “Hey, what can it hurt to attempt it again and see how much I’ve “grown” in blogging over the past four months?” If you’re curious to read those first notes on blogging, back in October, you can catch up here. This is the weekend, and yes, I’m playing a little catch up, as I didn’t start on Monday, and the week simply got away before I realized Blogging 201 had started again; however, that’s sometimes, just what the weekends are for, right? …to catch up. So, here we go. Hope you have fun reading!
Day 1 of Blogging 201 – Goal Setting
To do a short recap..my goals back in October were: “3 Goals to Accomplish by January 31, 2015”: (1) Consistently post on my blog at least twice weekly. (2)Gain 100 followers by January 31, 2015. (3) Spend one hour each week visiting my followersâ blogs, reading their posts, and commenting on their work, from now until January 31, 2015. Thankfully, I was able to be consistent to blog twice and, sometimes, more than twice a week; however, I did run into a snag here and there when I would go several days without blogging at all; so, I will probably keep this goal on my next list. Thanks to YOU, my nice followers and those who drop by from time to time, I reached the 100 followers long before January 31. That was a sweet moment in time! đ I was pretty consistent with spending an hour each week visiting other bloggers; however, once Christmas time rolled around, and I had the boys home fulltime for a few weeks, I got quite distracted with other priorities. That will return to the goals list, as well, for this quarter.
2015 Goal Setting – This time, I think I’ll set 5 goals to Accomplish by May 31, 2015:
1. Consistently post on my blog three times a week.
2. Gain 20-25% more followers by May 31.
3. Spend at least one hour weekly reading other blogs and sending “encouraging notes” to as many as possible.
4. Create a new weekly feature, for reader’s pleasure and just for fun, by March 1, and post each week through June 1. (feature title to soon be announced!)
5. Create a separate blog for my husband’s posts, thoughts and musings by April 1. …We’ve been thinking about this but have yet to put it into action.
Whew! Okay, that is completed… I don’t know why goal setting, sometimes, can be so difficult for me. I can make a checklist and plan out things to accomplish today, tomorrow and all next week; however, to set long-term goals, I always have in the back of my mind, “What if I fail?” “What if I let someone down?” So, often, I will struggle to push the hesitation and fear aside and keep the determination and focus at the center. When I actually do set the long-term goals, and I set my mind to accomplish them, I always end up with incredible results: I either succeed with “flying colors,” or I realize the areas in which I need to improve, and I’m able to see that a little learning and hard work will help me to succeed again.
Day 2 of Blogging 201 – Audit Your Brand
Looking over the checklist, I think, maybe, I’ve got this one covered…theme matches blog’s intent…font and color choices are congruent with the “grist mill” theme. My title and tagline compliment one another. My post titles, about page,  username/nickname, and widgets all seem to correlate with the blog’s intent, or rather, my brand: this is a grist mill. Every word I type is a tiny grain needing to be “ground,” in order to bring forth a pure thought and a wholesome content upon which others can be encouraged and uplifted, and then, ultimately, that these simple “grains” might bring glory to my God. As far as the visual identity being consistent with the elements of this blog, they seem to support my brand…So, what do you think?? (*Please, do respond! I’d love to hear your thoughts about it! đ )
Day 3 of Blogging 201 – Get Read All Over
Mobile-friendly and responsive design? It seems to be…
Day 4 of Blogging 201 – Give ‘Em What They Want
I’m still getting the hang of stats and editorial calendars…Looking over the stats, aside from the home/archive page, and the About Me and Why I am Here pages, the top 3 most viewed posts for 2014 were Beautiful Praise, Life In The Little Things, and Eyes of Mercy. The most likes seem to be on categories “Lessons Learned” and “Poetry,” while the most searches seem to be on tags of “grace” and “eternity.” So, even though, I don’t think I’m ready to tackle the editorial calendar quite yet tonight, this does give me a good idea to know where to start focusing my different blog posts, thoughts and ideas. Over this next week, as I have more time, I will look over these stats more and see what days of the week and which weeks of the year seem to have higher traffic, and this will help me with posting times and consistency.
Day 5 of Blogging 201 – Make the Most of Your Archives
Bring your archives “back to life” … I think I might have done this pretty well by linking to several in this blog, as well as, creating widgets on the right side of my blog which can direct the reader to my archives, as well as, give a running list of “Fresh Grounds” (most recent posts), and “Your Favorite Grains” (reader’s most liked posts)…So, yea, I do believe that one might be covered, too! đ
Okay, so “Operation: Catch Up” seems to be complete…Now, maybe I can rest tomorrow and get ready for the rest of next week! If you stuck it out for the duration, I hope you enjoyed your reading!
A Child’s Perspective
I love to see pictures that a child has taken, especially a younger child, like maybe between the ages of four and ten years old. Have you ever taken a moment to look? My son took this picture the other day, and I thought it turned out incredible. The cabin is totally focused; yet, all of the surroundings are completely blurred.
This picture created a thought within me… “What if we approached our lives like this?” Living life with one focus and one focus alone. Carrying on through our daily routines with one main goal, one desired end. Living a life in which the central goal is in complete focus while the surroundings are just sort of out of focus. Having that main focus being Jesus at the center of our life.
Too often, we go through life with so many goals, so many desires, so many ambitions that, too often, it seems the central focus gets blurred, and we get tuned into one thing and then another. We move from one agenda to another, many times, forsaking the real purpose we are even here on this planet. When we have too many agendas, too many goals, too many desires to be met, we become scattered, distracted, even chaotic in our witness and our testimony.
When we keep “the main thing the main thing,” HE is able to bring all the other things into the right focus. HE is able to show us the things which are needed and those things which are not. He is enabled to be the Lord of our lives, and the world turns to gray as it loses its hold on us.
In this new year, let us remember Who that central focus should be. Let us remember Who the one goal of our lives should be. Let us start this new year with one main thing, one goal, one central focus, JESUS, who will take us to higher heights, deeper depths and wider opportunities than we ever thought possible!
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…” Philippians 3:13
Help Me To See
I look in the mirror and see my own face.
I tend to neglect the needy to embrace.
I listen intently to hear my own voice.
I seem to ignore the hurting that need to rejoice.
I go my own way, busy in my own life,
Forgetting You’ve called me to be a good wife.
I run from here to there, scurrying to get the job done,
Neglecting You’ve told me to raise my young son.
I read in Your Word to always put Jesus first,
Believing that I do until I realize my own thirst.
I hear from Your servants, “Never make idols to love,”
Believing that I don’t until I recognize what they’ve become.
Change me and my perspective. Make me what You desire.
Draw me out and cleanse me from this filthy mire.
Transform this mind into the intellect You have planned.
Make this heart as malleable as the shifting sand.
I need Your touch; I need Your grace.
I long to feel your sweet embrace.
I long to walk beside You, hand in hand.
I thirst for Your righteousness and Your promise land.
Be my strength and my ever-present Light.
Be my focus and be my heart’s delight.
Be my reason to face each new day.
Be my guide and show me every step of Your way.
Help me to see those around me in need.
Open my ears to hear those who want to be freed,
Cause my hands to reach out to those in sin.
Give me the boldness to tell them how to change from what they’ve been.
Penned – MG – 6/29/02
In Perspective
My eight year old was looking for opportunities to make some money; so, I told him he could fold the two baskets of towels in the laundry room. He enthusiastically agreed. Before he left the room, I reminded him of how we fold them; so, they would fit nicely on the shelves… “Remember to fold them end to end, end to end again, then, fold over twice.” (similar to many hotel styles) He skipped out of the room, excited about the bit of cash that would soon be lining his pocket. I was in the middle of setting up my new blog, and I knew it would be good to go in and supervise, or at least “check his work;” however, I casually thought, “Well, he’s done it before. It’ll be fine; I’m sure.” A little while later, he moved onto something else, and I walked downstairs to fix dinner..the loads of laundry forgotten for the evening. The next morning, I entered the laundry room to finish the (thought to be) forgotten pile of towels. To my surprise, all the bath and beach towels were stacked and folded, just as I had instructed my son to do…well, each one was definitely folded and stacked; however, the stack wasn’t quite what I had expected (See pics!). You see, my sweet little boy had folded each towel “end to end (2x) and then tri-folded;” yet, depending on where you start the very first fold, this will determine how the towels will look when you are finished…
This caused me to start thinking about how we all have so many different perspectives and expectations. Together, we all travel this road called life. Some places are rocky; some are smooth. There are mountain top experiences, and there are valleys. We will all encounter days of sunshine, days of lightning and rain and even days of scorching heat or a refreshing mist. Yet, where we end up in this journey will ultimately depend upon our perspective of the events that occur. If we face the journey with hope of our eternal destination; the days don’t seem so long, and the seasons seem more like a passing summer shower rather than a hopeless natural disaster. Having a positive outlook on life doesn’t mean we have to be blind to reality, painting a mask of imagination and fantasy. It simply means we hold onto hope that life is more than what we encounter down here.
Life is more than compact calendars, exploited agendas, failed achievements and achieved failures. Life is more than petty arguments, offenses and conflicts. Life is all about the moments when we truly live, when we actually impact the lives around us. It is about the destination we have in Christ, and how many people reach that destination with us. It’s about reaching out to someone more in need than we are. It’s about providing the comfort or the encouraging word to help our fellow man just make it through another day. Life is about more than what we see, and, often, more than what we care to take notice. Life is all about perspective. If we have the right perspective of things, the world will take on a whole different view in our eyes. With this new “mini revelation,” I looked differently at that stack of bath and beach towels. They were no longer seen as a mismatched, disheveled stack of towels that I would desperately need to refold, but rather, a stack of creatively corrugated towels which were folded by my precious, entrepreneur son whom I will only have around for another few short years! … It’s always great to see things with a new perspective.
the grizzle grist mill 