Going Beyond Pics of my Latest Clever Creation

I don’t know if anyone is even reading this anymore, but I’ve struggled with why I haven’t posted.  Some of it is because there have been some troubles in my life that perhaps I didn’t feel would be edifying to others. 

The silliest perspective I had was, “Gee, what kind of pics do you take to illustrate that you feel totally frozen and have no idea what to do next?”  A big ice cube?  The inside of my freezer, illustrating that for several months I kept buying whole wheat tortillas for no apparent reason?  Cinco de Mayo?  A need to use up cilantro?  An attempt to prove my multicultural perspective? Who knows?  Maybe a picture of a dog, well, dog paddling…not sinking, but not going anywhere, either.  I have no idea.

I’m not as adorable in print as Frugal Girl.  I’m not as spiritual as Debra from As I See It Now.  I definitely cannot change my disposition by increasing my hot chocolate intake like she does.  I would need an IV morphine drip or an aerial spray of Prozac from a crop duster flying over my house for that.   Yeah, that might just work.

I’m not as whimsical as Judy at Anybody Home, but then who is? I don’t take pics as well as Brenda at Cozy Little House. Nobody is as talented as Daisy Cottage Kim and that’s the truth fo’ real fo’ real, as the kids I mentor used to say.  I wish she still wrote that blog, but I think something broke her heart.  Now she takes exquisite pics of sad swans.  I miss her cheerful red mirrors, grandma furniture, and back porch wash day posts.

I’m not cozy with a full pantry like Brenda at Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me.  I can’t abide mixing prints like Kasmira at What I Wore Today.  I’m not willowy like the writer at Not Dead Yet Style.  I am not as cool as Alex at Living the Small Life who can turn leftovers into some truly amazing fare. Should I even bother to continue blogging about anything?

All this finally brought me back to a book, now out of print, by Karen Burton Mains.  The book is a number of essays published as one volume.  I can hear the shouts of glee from all of you now, “Please, we’ve missed Thoreau and Emerson.  Give us MORE ESSAYS!”  

This is the kind of book that it is worth ordering from Amazon used.  It is called, “Karen, Karen…One Woman’s Response to the Whispers of God.”  Karen’s big deal book is “Open Heart, Open Home,” but I think the out of print book is her masterpiece.  I better order one and beat you to the punch because mine is now in three pieces.

Karen loved decorating her home with flea market and vintage finds just as I do.  And one day, as she was seeking out God and doing her housewife thing, she felt Him move in her heart saying, “Karen, do you want the most cleverly eclectic house in the whole church or do you want to know Me?”

And that’s what I’ve been hearing from God lately myself.  He’s not so interested in my latest coffee filter wreath. We are downsizing.  I feel God right straight out telling me that I only need to go to Goodwill to drop stuff off.  My house makes my husband feel comfortable in it and it speaks about who we are to others.  That’s huge.  I’m all for that, but I don’t think that God particularly wants me to try to emulate another blogger, or have pics as lovely as hers, or to try to have the most cleverly eclectic house on Constitution Avenue.  He wants me to know Him.