busy Archives - Moving Peaces

Thursday Three

October 30, 2014October 30, 2014Samantha Gratton

Hey there Thursday. It’s been a week, hasn’t it? The leaves on the trees are really starting to pop around here, which I LOVE but the dark mornings and dark evenings are not my favorite. Let’s look back on the week and all of its lessons, shall we?

1. A weekend away can do a world of good. I know the plan was 31 days of blogging, but over the weekend I was just all out losing steam. It’s been a packed month and none of my guest posts came through for the weekend. I thought about blogging but realized I wasn’t going to provide any depth and it would instead just be me checking off another thing on the long list. I love blogging and writing and all the things, but I’ll be real, I’m ready for this month of blogging to be over so we can go back to our regular scheduled programming.

2. Time with friends is so important. In the busy of life, it’s easy to cut friends out. We all have obligations and can only do so much in a day. But I need keep reminding myself that being over-committed shouldn’t mean that my relationships are what get cut out of my schedule. You need your friends and your friends need you.

3. And then I found five dollars… literally. I am that person who is always picking up pennies and dimes left behind in the street, but this weekend I found a $5 laying around outside in the dark for the second time this year (weird, I know). I think my point is, we don’t always know what we will find in life, it might be a pretty average penny or it might be a not-so-common $5. Either way, we have to keep an eye out and be ready for whatever it may be. How’s that for some Thursday night vague wisdom?

Thursday Three

October 16, 2014October 17, 2014Samantha Gratton

Ready for the shortest and most random Thursday Three of all time? Okay great. Also, that photo has nothing to do with this post as it was from our hike a few weeks ago, so don’t read into it.

1. This week has been busy. I’m ready for life to be a little less busy as I don’t wear that term like a badge of honor. Lots of good types of busy things, but too busy nonetheless. If you feel too busy, let me encourage you to also try to be less busy, not more.

2. Always keep a blanket in your car. I got completely caught in the rain this week so I did the only logical thing, took of my shoes and ran through the puddles before jumping into my car. Having a random blanket to dry off with was a glorious thing.

3. There is so much beauty in this world. I’ve recently had to drive a lot for work and I can’t help but look in awe at the clouds and the trees and the great big patch of sunflowers off the side of the highway.

Thursday Three

September 4, 2014December 9, 2014Samantha Gratton

Oh, hello. It’s Thursday?! This week has gone SO fast! Three-day weekends are the best, but four-day work weeks are rough. Everything gets crammed into less time, and I just can’t quite keep up this week. It doesn’t help that some early mornings have been involved as every night for me is also a late night. When else is a girl to blog? You think these things just happen? Umm, no. But I love doing it, so it’s okay.

1. Our friends opened their coffee shop. (YEAH!!!) Speaking of things that don’t just happen…after months of hard work and planning, some of our good friends opened their very own coffee shop. There was a pre-party over the weekend and then the official first day on Labor Day. We had so much fun seeing all of their effort finally come to fruition and spent much of Monday just hanging out there as several other friends, neighbors and acquaintances trickled in and out to share in the opening day.

Look at that handsome guy. H could be a part-time model. — Look at that handsome guy. Could be a part-time model.

2. Old friends make great company. Over the weekend my friend Emily came for a visit. We’ve known each other since 6th grade softball and were good friends all through high school. She recently moved from Iowa to Georgia, meaning she is now only a few hours away. I loved having her stay with us as there’s something so natural about being with a friend you’ve known for so long. We didn’t really do anything too different from an ordinary Saturday, but it was nice to have another person to laugh with and someone to tell you if your outfit looks good or not. She saved me from buying a couple of doozies at the consignment store this weekend.

3. Too many conflicting thoughts make for a long day. I mentioned it, but the week has been crammed tight. With that comes different thoughts and feelings because with each new minute comes another thought or idea or emotion. A few days this week seemed so long (despite the short week) as there were so many different thoughts packed within them. One minute my life seems to be going in the right direction and the next it seems like I am completely behind on all of my to-dos and lose sight of who I am or what I am capable of. It’s amazing what a comment or success or failure can do to your perspective on something. At church right now we’re focusing on the big rocks vs. small rocks. Priorities vs. everything else. Before the series I thought I had a decent foundation on what was actually important. In the past two weeks alone it has become more clear that I am wearing myself too thin and not always focusing on the right things first. I’m trying to make adjustments, but in this time of scrambling to sort through job things while still wanting to be a great friend, hard worker, loving wife and everything else there is to be it’s hard to narrow it down. I don’t believe in glorifying busy, so I need to figure out a way to be less busy and that’s not easy.

Thursday Three

September 6, 2013July 22, 2014Samantha Gratton

Just three simple truths tonight.

1. Life is busy. It just is sometimes. This week and last week and the week before is that way. Our church is moving this week and life between home and church has way too many parallels right now. Boxes left and right, Ikea furniture on the brain and lots of miscellaneous details. But in the end, it will all somehow come together and is an exciting next step in our lives.

2. Friends are good. We’ve been blessed with some really good friends. Friends who listen and support us, close by and from farther away. A lot of times we have the same stories, struggles and jokes, but they still laugh and listen and care. Thanks, friends. You make an impact and also make the days better.

3. God is in control. About a year and a half ago when we were starting to seriously consider moving and had a few details on the table that we were trying to figure out, we were a total wreck. Neither of us were sleeping well and we were just little stressballs. On a day we knew a few big things were being decided, I put a little post-it up in the bathroom. My pen was weak and I ended up making a mess of it with a marker. It’s not the prettiest looking reminder, but it was nothing but truth. I still have that note and it still applies in our life today. So although there are things I am stressing out about now, I know this to be true.

Whatever happens – it’s good. And from God. He has us taken care of.

Busy-ness

October 10, 2012Samantha Gratton

Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to be busy. Or rather too busy. What causes it? We all have things in our life that need tending to. Bills to pay, dishes to clean, clothes to wash. It’s how it goes. At work you’ll inevitably have a list of things that fall under your responsibilities. Being busy is even good. It motivates us and drives us to do things we might not have considered before. But back to being too busy. Why?

It seems to be praised in our society. Being busy means you must be successful. You must have a lot of things going for you. Okay, but let’s dig deeper. Where does that come from? Why would someone load on a bunch of stuff to the point where all they can do is run around exclaiming that they are too busy? There could definitely be a lot of factors: greed, need, boredom, avoidance, etc. It could even be that someone who has leadership above you is susceptible to these things, passing the busy schedule your way. It’s entirely possible that “your busy” is not even your busy at all. My theory – someone is too important. It could maybe even be called self-importance.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to pack my schedule. It excites me to have people to see and places to go. I think that busy is okay. But I’m starting to think that too busy is not okay. Too busy says “my busy is worth more than your busy”. My this is more important than your that. Meaning, I don’t have time for you because this is more important. And maybe sometimes it is more important, but often, it probably isn’t. I don’t mean to point any fingers because I certainly can fall to into this trap. Watching it though in different aspects of life, I don’t like the message it sends. Instead, I want to be the person that’s approachable. Present. Interested. Eager to help. Available.

If I’m always too busy, I can’t ever be those things. Then what am I really accomplishing?