There’s something about seeking out specific items within a certain time limit that puts a pep in our step! Granted, most hunts are minutes long but this one is more about slowing our pace, encouraging us to pause and to see simple objects in the light of God’s Word.
We started creating scavenger hunts in the Creative Pauses Facebook Group last year and we’ve never looked back.
So here’s the scoop!
It begins today and ends Saturday, April 2nd, at noon EST 6PM EST
Finish all five hunts by Saturday and you’ll be entered into a $25.00 Amazon gift card giveaway.
When you finish all five, come back to this blog post and leave a comment saying you’re finished. (We’d also love to hear what you enjoyed most about the hunt.)
If you like, snap photos of the items as you go and post them in the daily 1 PM “Share your pictures here” posts in the Facebook Group. Everyone enjoys seeing the various pictures but they’re not required to win. Have fun!
Hunting for objects + pause + reading the living and active Word + pause + meditating on His Word = a much-needed oasis for the heart, soul, and mind.
The words pause and fall come together like a sing-a-long.
They swing and sway to the melody of a season that offers natural pauses to our day. Swift breezes encourage us to bundle up and head outside for a walk, or a sit by the fire. Wild muscadines growing nearby release a fragrance so sweet and so strong, it takes root in our memories as tightly as its vine clings to an overhanging tree.
And then there is the mug⏤you know, the favorite one that fits your hand just right and makes you smile every time you pull it from the cabinet. It’s the one that warms the quickest when holding your favorite pumpkiny latte.
Fall offers unique opportunities to slow down, to intentionally engage with God, with others, and with our surroundings. It’s comforting to pause from our chaotic culture. And it refreshes the soul we when we offer another person the same opportunity.
“…those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25 NLT
1.
Offer soul refreshment to a parent by watching her children for a couple of hours. If there has ever been a year parents need a pause, it’s this one. Virtual learning, various school schedules, layoffs, etc. If you’re on a tight schedule, there’s nothing wrong with specifying a time, like 10 am-noon.
Bonus points:
Stay during a lunch or dinner hour so she can enjoy lunch or a quiet time at a park or in a quiet corner of Panera. Nothing revives a weary soul like fresh air and coffee.
Before she leaves, quietly hand her a coffee gift card to enjoy while she’s away.
Offer to help the children with homework.
2.
Offer a cooked or carry-out meal to a teacher, depending on how well you know her. One less meal to cook creates a bless-her-socks-off crevice of time in her schedule she’ll not soon forget. Goodbye, busy grocery store, preparation, and clean-up time. Hello, pause. A few favorite go-to sites for quick and easy meals include:
Have more money than time? Write a card that includes a restaurant gift card or a delivery service like GrubHub.
3.
Invite a new neighbor over for a cup of tea outdoors. Low humidity, no mosquitoes, and just enough chill in the air to appreciate a warm mug or teacup, all make for a welcoming time outdoors. Keep it simple or fancy it up. If you choose simple, Poetry Teatime offers easy treats for tea.
4.
Heading to the apple orchard this fall? Grab an extra bag for someone you know who especially needs to be reminded of God’s love. Or divvy up the bag and create smaller, separate bags for a few people. Apples are yummy but it’s the message that matters here. You can add this tag, based on Psalm 17:8, to the bag.
Every month, subscribers receive a holy, sensory-based pause to use in a particular setting. Like, the garden, or during a storm, or by the lake. It’s quickly becoming one of the most enjoyable downloads in their monthly letter.
Today, I offer you this “Fall Pause” as a “thank you” for becoming a subscriber. We’re a community that understands and appreciates the power of a pause⏤an intentional step toward moving closer to God as we choose to set the life we’ve created aside, and welcome the presence of our Creator.
Simply enter your email address in the top right sidebar. That’s it! {And of course, you can unsubscribe at any time.}
Thank you for stopping by Creative Pauses from The Tiny House on the Hill!
Bi-weekly posts invite you to come in from the craziness of life, take a seat, and pause awhile, allowing your soul to be refreshed with God’s truth and promises.
Each month, subscribers of this community receive a letter from The Tiny House on the Hill that includes:
Practical but meaningful ways to draw closer to God
Creative ways to show God’s love to your family, friends, and strangers
The latest happenings at the house, my books, and ministry
What I’m reading in the Book Nook
A favorite (often family) recipe
A FUN giveaway…and more!
It’s pithy but packed with grace-filled goodness.
So, come on over and sit a spell. I’d love to get to know you!
Leaving loved ones on the stoop of hospital doors, entrusting healthcare workers to fill in the gaps we want to fill but can’t.
Lives lost, dream weddings postponed, jobs eliminated, and the inability to enter health facilities with loved ones being admitted, are just some of the situations we find ourselves in these days.
Several weeks ago, my stepmom took dad to the ER for a high fever. Saying goodbye at the stiffly guarded steel doors only to return alone to her car and wait was one of her hardest moments.
“The worst part of life is waiting. The best part of life is having someone worth the wait.”
When Jessica Brumley penned these words, she wasn’t referring to the same kind of wait, but the words still ring true, don’t they?
Choosing to see blessings beyond our circumstances is an act of faith.
Recently, I started creating sensory-based pauses (mini-devotions) for my subscribers to enjoy while in specific spaces. One month is it was the garden. Last month, a picnic. For each of the five senses, I offered a simple prompt to help push the pause button and focus on the goodness of God that stretches far beyond a steering wheel.
The simple act of focusing on God turns an upside-down world right-side up.
Today, “A Pause While You Wait” (including an inspirational page to color) is my gift to you. Feel free to share this post with your circle of friends because sometimes we don’t know we’ll need it until we do.
“You will keep the mind that is dependent upon you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.” Isaiah 26:3
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you’ll decide to stay awhile. If you’d like to become a part of the community, simply type your e-address in the righthand sidebar. >>>>
Bi-weekly posts offer a pause of goodness to your busy days, and once a month, you’ll also receive a fun but pithy newsletter with the latest happenings in the Tiny House on the Hill, practical ideas for drawing nearer to God and loving others well.
So, come on over and sit a spell. I’d love to get to know you!
On our way back from Boone NC this weekend, we made two stops. First, the Dogwood Café, where I enjoyed this beaut of a drink… Vanilla and Brown Sugar Latte.
A little further down the mountain, we stopped by a popular roadside market that was chock full of preserves, jellies, fruit, and my favorite—mountain honey, with the honeycomb⎯four to be exact. Yep, I’m a tad giddy.
Rarely do I gaze at a quart of spun sunshine without thinking of Psalm 119:103.
“How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103
Perhaps it’s because David’s life was tinged with the bitter flavor of sin⎯adultery, murder, and a collection of wives, to name a few⎯that he was able to fully appreciate the sweetness of God’s heart, reflected in His words. In biblical times, nothing compared to honey when it came to sweetness, which speaks volumes as to David’s spiritual palate and the relationship he shared with God.
In the current book I’m working on, Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Guide to the Mountains, I share how life would’ve been much sweeter had I become a believer at an early age rather than in my late twenties. A multitude of sins could’ve been avoided, and my sons, along with innocent bystanders {because sin never affects just one person}, could have been avoided. And yet, it wasn’t until I tasted the bitterness of my sin that I craved the sweetness of heavenly-breathed scripture.
You can’t taste my food, and I can’t taste yours. In the same way, we taste and value scripture for ourselves.
To taste is to be near.
When we look at the original language of Psalm 119, we see that David chose to use the plural form for “word” instead of singular, suggesting that the more we read scripture⎯the more we encounter God through experience⎯the sweeter our exchange becomes over time.
In reading, meditating, memorizing, and speaking its life into others (and having it spoken into ours), we taste God’s Word. We experience it and revel in its beauty for ourselves.
Open my eyes that I may seewonderful things in your law. Psalm 119:18
With the quart of honey in hand, I’m reminded of those written in my prayer journal who taste and testify to the sweetness of scripture:
Four friends—Bruce, Josiah, Mary, and Grace—are currently under the category of “cancer/healing”. All four are not mere tasters, they are dwellers.
There is also a friend’s son, Elijah, in my journal. This young man experiences a level of pain that would leave most adults gulping for air from the feeling of being swallowed whole. His mom, Callie, family and friends, cry out to the LORD asking for divine answers as doctors continue to seek for the origin of Elijah’s pain. Still, they taste God’s goodness, and trust.
There are two young and precious widows, Leah and Tara, who exemplify scripture dwellers, leaning into the provision of Christ, revealing robust faith beneath their devastating loss. Tara’s son just left for bootcamp.
And there is a young California friend whose husband was recently deployed. I marvel at her strength, and the joy that exudes from her relationship with God. Her toddler son is blessed as a result.
Oh, to taste⎯to personally experience⎯the sweetness of our Father’s words for ourselves!
I still have much to learn when it comes to enriching my spiritual palate, but there are a few things I’m learning along the way.
How to Sweeten Our Spiritual Palate
Keep a journal. Recording the ways God personally reveals Himself to us through prayer and scripture reminds us of His goodness, even in the toughest of times.
Crank up the praise. It’s more difficult for the enemy to slither his way in when praise music is occupying the space. {This is especially helpful when we find ourselves in the waiting room of life, tempting our minds to navigate unnecessary scenarios.} Also, when we crank up the praise through our lips, testifying God’s goodness to others, our spiritual palate matures and develops, creating a joyful noise of its own.
Invite God into the mundane. Why? Because He cares. I struggle with traffic. I mean, really struggle. If you pass me on a busy road, you will see my lips moving. I ask for His help in the smallest of things because I know He understands and desires to help me. What good father wouldn’t? Trusting Him for the little things prepares us to trust Him for the bigger things, releasing a glorious infusion of sweetness that rises to the heavens.
Remain confident…in God. When scripture reads more in the form of conviction {never condemnation} or instruction, we can remain confident in God, the Author of all things good and sweet for His ultimate glory.
See this blank page in my prayer journal? I would count it a privilege to pray for you.
Please feel free to leave your request either in the comments section or message me via Facebook.
Also, as the Spirit leads, please pray for those mentioned above in my journal.
Let my prayer be accepted as sweet-smelling incense in your presence. Psalm 141:2
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You’ll also receive a community monthly newsletter that delivers behind-the-scenes information on the blog, my books, and more. Oh, and did I mention there’s a giveaway each month? Yep, it’s the place to be and we would love you to be a part of all that God is doing! Simply go to the sidebar and enter your email address. That’s it!
Summer offers a plethora of scents that leave us dizzy, mostly with delight:
Roses in bloom
Lit charcoal fluid
Suntan lotion
Freshly mowed grass (for allergy suffers like me this one literally leaves me dizzy!)
Chlorine ( = swimming)
Saturated air after a summer afternoon storm
Hawaiian Fruit Punch (throwback to the 70’s)
Citronella (delight in the sense that there are fewer mosquitoes!)
And when one is, oh say, 56 days away from a beach vacation, one must turn to the next best thing to capture the sea-side scent: a candle. But not just in any candle.
While searching for beach-themed goodies to promote my book Pauses for the Vacationing Soul, I came across this candle. The scent was not the first thing to grab my attention.
Being a sucker for all things visual, it took a mere three seconds to place myself in this VW van, front emblem and all. Then I noticed the packaging. A canvas material with California Dreamin’ printed in a funky font was only the prelude to the delight waiting beneath it, and one whiff was all it took. I paid more than I normally do but it was dreamy VW van (which I love) and I was there, in it, with ocean breezes blowing by as I drove down the California coast line. {Told you I was a sucker.}
But I digress.
Less than one mile from the TJ Maxx parking lot, I’d already finagled a way to keep this little treasure for myself. I would use it for inspiration by burning it each time I sat down to work on the next book in the series. Never mind that the book setting is in the mountains! Plus, it would be too heavy to mail if it became a contest prize. {If you care to hear more excuses as to why I needed to keep it, feel free to email me.}
Fast forward three months. This carefully carted VW-lovin’-ocean-breeze candle continues to sit on my kitchen bar⎯unwrapped, unopened, and unlit. Oh, I stop by occasionally to hover, inhale, and dream for a brief moment but I hesitate to take the cover off and light it. I want it to last. Burning it will only make it disappear. And because of this hesitation, the candle is neither being enjoyed or used to its fullest potential.
Jesus had something to say about this in Matthew 5:14-16. (Although tempted to focus on the 2 Corinthians 2:14 passage that eludes more to fragrance, Matthew just wouldn’t let it be.)
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
A covered, unlit candle’s fragrance is scant compared to one which sits on a stand and is lit. From the moment the flame licks the wick, everyone in the room benefits⎯both from the light it sheds, and from the delightful fragrance it diffuses.
Jesus declares that you and I are the light of the world! We are to display God’s gospel-work in our lives and not hide it away. It is meant to be shared and seen by others for His glory. So how do we shine our brightest, reflecting God’s glory to a darkened world?
3 Suggestions to Help Us Shine, Sister, Shine!
Recognize Who is behind our shine.
In John 1:9, John proclaims Jesus to be the true light who gives light to everyone. We are only able to shine because we are reflecting His great light! In Matthew 5:16 we’re given the very reason why it’s vital that we shine. When our calling, our spiritual gifts, our good works are seen, God is glorified.
Recognize that too many yes’s can actually diminish our ability to shine.
The candle wick’s purpose is to deliver fuel (liquified wax) to the flame. If it’s not trimmed before each lighting, it will burn too quickly. Just because we can shine in a lot of different ways doesn’t mean we should place ourselves between every problem/opportunity and the solution. Burning out is not glorifying, nor is it a true reflection of Jesus.
Recognize how community helps everyone to shine brighter.
Have you seen the multi-wick candles? Some think the extra wicks cause the candle to burn faster but the truth is, it helps the candle to burn more evenly. Isn’t it the same with us? Bearing one another’s burdens, being vulnerable and transparent with others, and keeping a teachable spirit so that others can speak truth into our lives are all good places to start. If we release what is not ours to carry we are all able to shine brighter for God’s glory.
An unlit candle doesn’t shine. Neither does a covered one.
Heavenly Father,
Reveal anything or anyone that is hindering my ability to shine for Your glory.
Help me to lay bare my sin, my struggles, guilt, shame, and fears before You now,
confident that in the process of uncovering the darkness way down deep within,
You will bring forth light, ushering in fresh grace and mercy
that I might shine brighter for Your glory and fame.
This is my heart’s desire.
Amen.
How do you sense God calling you to shine, sister, shine?
Join our Creative Community!
Subscribe to my blog and receive a scripture-based coloring page to enjoy on your beach vacation (and another goody is on the way!) No more bookmarking, searching, or waiting. Posts (once every week during the summer) and the monthly newsletter arrive directly in your inbox. The newsletter gives you behind-the-scenes information on the blog as well as my books. Oh, and did I mention there’s a giveaway each month? Yep, it’s the place to be and we would love for you to join our little creative community. You can unsubscribe anytime. Simply go to the sidebar and enter your email address. That’s it!
A man is a very small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders. – Lord Dusany
In the city, the night sky felt like a backdrop. I knew it was there but I couldn’t see it for the street lights and gnarly oak trees growing nearby.
But here⎯in the country⎯a wide-open sky spreads out like a picnic blanket offering up its finest for all to see and enjoy. Smatterings of stars, planets, the big pizza pie-in-the-sky, and sometimes even meteor showers await. When I look up I can’t help but stand in awe of God’s majestic feast that He displays every night without fail.
The sky is obviously the same in both places but one is obscured by trees and city lights. Or was it just the trees and city lights obscuring my view? Rushing to get inside the house to unpack groceries, start projects, binge-watch the latest series on Netflix, and of course, perusing the internet can hinder the clearest of views.
Clearing the mental clutter and physical calendar makes way for wonder⎯being awestruck by the One who was struck for me, and for you.
Wonder
May we never lose our wonder May we never lose our wonder
Wide-eyed and mystified May we be just like a child Staring at the beauty of our King.
[first stanza]
Talk about a hymn of praise! Perhaps I gravitate to this song by Bethel Music because I know how easy it is for me to get distracted to the point that I forget to look up and all around me. “May we be just like a child, staring at the beauty of our King”. Oh, the power of child-like wonder. These simple lyrics reflect my heart cry, and maybe yours too.
How can our heart⎯the one that longs to be known⎯not be drawn closer to our heavenly Father when we read how He calls forth each starry host by name?
“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”Isaiah 40:26 NIV
Be intentional.
Wake up every morning with the intention to see the wonders of God at every turn. Watch for it in nature, in other people, and in the eyes of those we love. Set aside a few minutes each day to stop and see the wonder of God.
Keep a journal of wonder.
We’ve benefited from gratitude journals so what if we start journaling those moments when we’re awestruck by God?
Rub shoulders with other wonder-women.
Show me a grateful person rescued from the clutches of sin and I’ll show you a fellow wonder-woman. The woman at the well in John 4 came face-to-face with the One who knew her better than she knew herself. Her sin was confronted, but done so in love. She was offered Living Water that would flow new life through her veins for an eternity. I know how she felt in that moment when she saw love instead of condemnation in His eyes, except my setting was inside a duplex instead of beside a desert well. Our outcome was also similar for neither of our lives would ever be the same. The wonder of salvation spurred us on to share this love with others and to rub shoulders with other wonder-women, like you.
Physical sight is not necessary in order to grasp the beauty of God’s wonder (one need only know my friend Jamie to testify to this truth), but if we do have sight, look up, sweet friend! The sky testifies to His wonder tonight.
What has left you in awe of God this week?(Can I start? Hummingbirds. I could watch them for hours. God’s creative touch is awe-inspiring!)
Join our Creative Community!
Subscribe to my blog and receive a scripture-based coloring page to enjoy on your beach vacation (and another goody is on the way!) No more bookmarking, searching, or waiting. Posts (once-a-week) and the monthly newsletter arrive directly in your inbox. The newsletter gives you behind-the-scenes information on the blog as well as my books. Oh, and did I mention there’s a giveaway each month? Yep, it’s the place to be and we would love for you to join our little creative community. You can unsubscribe anytime. Simply go to the sidebar and enter your email address. That’s it!
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