A More Encompassing Vision for This Blog and My Writing

Life and writing depend on balance. Hence, this blog is no different.

I want to write about Infinite Blessings. However, there is more to it than just that.

Consequently, the question which recently came to mind is: What do I really want to write?

Several different answers came to mind in response. Hence, I asked myself a follow-up question: How can I encompass everything I want to write in one and is it even possible to include all of it in one theme or category?

Hmm… I thought on this for a while and came up with this:

“A Way of Life: The Faithful Trio of Prayer, Bible, and Thanks (A Spiritual Memoir)”

I am not sure if that exact title will stick. However, I can say this. I will stick with this theme, even if it is reworded, for weeks, maybe months, and maybe even years. So, this is my new blog theme.

If you dig around in this blog, or have read it before, you will know that these three aspects are vital parts to my life and writing. Hence, this theme is no surprise.

There is nothing more important to me than the faithful trio. And, if you are Christian, the same can be and should be said about you.

After all, the Bible tells us how we are to pray, meditate (think on, ponder, contemplate) the Bible, and give thanks 24/7/365. All the time. Morning, noon, and night. Forever and a day. Without stopping. Without ceasing.

Forgive my silliness in the previous paragraph, where I was quite redundant, even redundantly so. However, it was to make a point. I hope I made it. Let me try again just in case.

The Bible tells us to pray, meditate on the Word, and give thanks all the time, even as we do other activities. I want to spend some time trying to figure out how to do the faithful trio. The upcoming blog posts will be the story of my journey trying to do so. So, stay tuned. Tomorrow will be the start of a way of life and living the faithful trio. 

The World Does Not Define Me or My Calendar: A Way of Life

I want to live the best life possible.

I realize the world's definition does not fit my definition of living the best life possible. In fact, through my over four decades of life, there is one certainty I have come to know and try to live by: Whatever the world says is good, run from it, for it will surely lead to a bottomless pit where nothing is good enough and I will always want more. The world says to be happy, it's up to me. Look within, or so they say.

Hah! If left to my own devices, I would be miserable. I error. All the time. I am far from perfect. If I were to depend on me, I would be an abysmal failure. So, no... The world's ways are not and cannot be my ways.

Also, the world says identity is dependent upon certain things... career, children, hobbies, etc. This is how people of the world define themselves.

My first and foremost identity is: Daughter of God. (Daughter of a king. Sister of a Savior.)

Nothing matters more than that. That is who I am.

I am a wife. I write. I am the human of two cats and two turtles. Do any of these define me? No. Not really. I am the child, the daughter of God. This is who I am and is what makes me who I am for eternity. My other earthly identities are just temporary.

So, again, the world does not define me or who I am.

Nor does the world determine or define my calendar.

The world thinks that busyness makes us more important. It even things busyness will make us more satisfied. The seeking of more is the way of the world. Hence, the world says that your calendar needs to be full—and it even needs to have so many events or so many categories in order for us to be satisfied or considered as an asset by people.

The world says our calendars must be full or you are lazy or are lower in their sights.

The world does not define my calendar because it does not consider or value what I find important.

If all I have each day on my calendar was: prayer, Bible, and thanks, I consider myself a massive success. I will have at least planned to live right, according to the Bible, and hopefully I will have actually lived out my calendar as well. These things go against the pleasures of this world.

I realize my day is not mine. It’s God’s. If I plan anything, I plan on ways on how to live the faithful trio of prayer, Bible, and thanks.

This is a way of life… the faithful trio. Not the things of this world. This is how I choose to live. This is how I want to live. I am the daughter of God and my day is his, not mine. I will live the faithful trio 24/7/365. This is a way of life and is the best way to live. I am and will be infinitely blessed because of these things. 

(Photo/Image Credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2009-2016).

A Journaling Retreat: Part 2: An Introduction and Planning

Journaling Retreat

Part 1 of this blog post series can be found here:

http://storykeeper2121.blogspot.com/2012/11/journaling-retreat.html

Every month, I do some type of journaling retreat between 1 and 14 days. Most of the time, I do it at home or at least go hang out somewhere else, like Starbucks or Barnes & Noble. Ideally, though, I would go to Jamestown or Yorktown and sit there and write. 

My latest journaling retreat is today and tomorrow. I, unfortunately, do not have the time to getaway and write, except maybe to Barnes & Noble. However  that's okay. Since I set up my new desk, my office is quite fresh to me and inviting. I actually would really lvoe to do my full retreat here. It's like a christening of the new desk.

NEXT JOURNALING RETREAT: 22-26 JANUARY 2013

This is the next planned journaling retreat I have on my calendar. 

SCHEDULED JOURNALING RETREATS

The other journaling retreats I have planned are:

07 February 2013

19 February

26-29 March

18-19 April

10 May

24-28 June

12 July

1-2 August

23-27 September

14-18 October

21 November

16-20 December

YOUR JOURNALING RETREAT

Even if you cannot take all day each day, would you like to join me in a journaling retreat? If you can give it at least one more hour each day than you do now, that is the start of taking a journaling retreat. Of course, the more time you can give it, the better. 

I apologize for not giving you more warning about this journaling retreat. However, I will still post blog posts as if you can take the time and join me in the retreat.

SCHEDULE THEM

I recommend getting the other journaling retreats on your calendar now so nothing else can get in the way of you taking the retreats in the future. If these dates don't work for you, you can always refer to these blog posts at a time that works better for you. 

NEXT

Stay tuned to this blog and you will get your instructions for what we're doing today for the Journaling Retreat for today and tomorrow.

~ Stacy Duplease

10,000 Year Calendar: A Writing Resource

Here is a very useful writing resource. But, I want to give credit to the original source.

Writing a book set in 1781 is difficult in not knowing the days. The same would be true if I was writing a book in the future. Here is a writing resource, a calendar maker to help you if you want to know the days of a particular year:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/4048882?page=0#comment-5982515

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~ Stacy Duplease

Author of Historical Fiction (of Virginia and the U.S.) & Journalkeeper

of Remembering Your Present, LLC