My Morning Time

While I think there's too much emphasis on self-care these days, and if we did all the self-care recommended, we'd find it impossible to do anything else including caring for anyone else, I do think it's important to have quiet time in the morning.

Lately, I've been making myself pumpkin spice coffee. (Starbucks Holiday blend + sugar-free caramel syrup + two drops of pumpkin pie extract+ frothed oat milk+ a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice on top = sugar and dairy free, but still delicious!)

My church has a weekly Bible study for women, and that ministry is starting up again for the fall. I'm taking a study on the Names of God by Melissa Spoelstra, so that will be part of my Bible reading/ devotional time for the next several weeks. 

I'm also reading through Lumen, published by Goldberry books, and doing a picture study at least one a week. 

Note: Some homeschool moms might find it interesting that I am not reading this book with my kids as part of our homeschool day. I decided that I am not adding this to what they are already doing, because they are already maxed out. At some point, homeschool moms come to realize there are just too many good things to choose from, and one has to settle on a finite number of good things that will fit into a reasonable homeschool day and therewith be content. So Lumen is just for me, formally. But the book and the prints stay out on the coffee table. The girls are free to pick them up and enjoy them informally. The book and prints definitely add to the beauty and richness available in our home. 

Some mornings, I also take the time (per doctor's orders) to be out in the morning sunshine. I think the doctor's intent was to help balance my hormones and improve my energy and sleep cycle. So I make a second cup of coffee and take a (very slow) walk around our property, a big loop down the hill towards the forest and back up the hill to the house. That walk will be impossible once the snow comes and freezes. The hill is far too steep. But until then, I am enjoying the extended time for quiet this walk provides me. 

In general, I am more and more convinced that none of us moderns experiences enough quiet. There are far too many invasive distractions from tech, even for those of us who do try very deliberately to limit our tech, tech still invades and distracts from the quiet we still need. I get constant texts from women at church, because I am helping with ministry. I get constant texts from friends, because I love them and we are connecting. I get constant texts from homeschool mom friends, because we are running co-op together. So I am not complaining- just recognizing that tech is changing the way we live in this world even though the world isn't changing. Our bodies and spirits don't get upgraded as technology advances. Our bodies and spirits are still human, organic, spiritual. Even as some people seem to be attempting to become machines and/ or live totally virtual lives, I'm certainly not. I will attempt to honor the nature and creatureliness God gave me, so I know I need morning time to be quiet, to think, pray, plan, let God speak, and just be.