I have moved this blog to my new web-site (still in progress). I hope you will move with me.
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Patty Nick Nack
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Giving Up Worry for Lent
This first appeared in Jackson Citizen Patriot on Friday, March 26. Still relevant, still worrying!
We are now in the season of Lent, a time for giving up certain vices, making sacrifices and striving to do good. This year, I decided to try something different for Lent: giving up worry.
Worry is hereditary, they say--you get it from your children.
Actually, there have been studies that indicate there is a genetic link to worry. Worriers have children who worry. It is connected to a certain part of the brain. I don't know about genetics, but I do know I learned to worry at the feet of a master, my mother.
Jesus tells us not to worry. But then, he wasn't a parent. He also died at 33, so he never had to worry about retirement or any of the problems associated with aging which confront our society. And just look where not worrying got him.
All of my life I've heard Jesus' admonition to not worry. I've struggled to let go of my worries and chided myself for my lack of faith.
The events I worry about rarely happen, whereas events it never occurred to me to worry about do happen. Therefore, I reason, If I had known to worry about the latter events, then I could have prevented them. However, there have been times when events I've worried about did happen--so much for that theory. But at least, after having worried sufficiently, I was prepared for the worst. So worry does have some benefits.
I engage in anticipatory worry, meaning I worry about future events so much ahead of time that by the time the event arrives, I'm relatively calm. If I have already faced the worst possible scenario in my mind, then I'm ready for anything.
I've been preparing for my children's graduations since the day of their birth. By the time the actual day arrives, it should be a cakewalk. Whenever my children have gone away for any length of time, I use this technique. In February, my daughter spent two weeks in Mali, Africa, helping to build a school. After imagining all the worst possible situations, from headhunters to hijackings, months before she left, those two weeks were relatively peaceful.
I worry months in advance in order to be calm when it happens, as opposed to those less skilled worriers who wait until the day is upon them and panic. That's why I need to have lots of time to prepare mentally for any big event in my own life and my loved ones' lives.
If I don't have adequate time, I worry that I've forgotten something or just haven't prepared myself sufficiently. It's quite an elaborate system that I've constructed.
Of course, I recognize all of this is craziness, but that doesn't make it any easier to stop this process. It's like an addiction. If I'm not worried it doesn't feel normal--it feels crazy. So this Lent I decided to admit my powerlessness over worry in my life, turn it over to a higher power and go on with more important aspects of life.
So far this Lent, I have been sorely tested by numerous invitation to worry and have failed miserably. however, our God is a God of forgiveness and second chances. There's always tomorrow to begin again. In the meantime, I'm counting the days until Lent is over!
We are now in the season of Lent, a time for giving up certain vices, making sacrifices and striving to do good. This year, I decided to try something different for Lent: giving up worry.
Worry is hereditary, they say--you get it from your children.
Actually, there have been studies that indicate there is a genetic link to worry. Worriers have children who worry. It is connected to a certain part of the brain. I don't know about genetics, but I do know I learned to worry at the feet of a master, my mother.
Jesus tells us not to worry. But then, he wasn't a parent. He also died at 33, so he never had to worry about retirement or any of the problems associated with aging which confront our society. And just look where not worrying got him.
All of my life I've heard Jesus' admonition to not worry. I've struggled to let go of my worries and chided myself for my lack of faith.
The events I worry about rarely happen, whereas events it never occurred to me to worry about do happen. Therefore, I reason, If I had known to worry about the latter events, then I could have prevented them. However, there have been times when events I've worried about did happen--so much for that theory. But at least, after having worried sufficiently, I was prepared for the worst. So worry does have some benefits.
I engage in anticipatory worry, meaning I worry about future events so much ahead of time that by the time the event arrives, I'm relatively calm. If I have already faced the worst possible scenario in my mind, then I'm ready for anything.
I've been preparing for my children's graduations since the day of their birth. By the time the actual day arrives, it should be a cakewalk. Whenever my children have gone away for any length of time, I use this technique. In February, my daughter spent two weeks in Mali, Africa, helping to build a school. After imagining all the worst possible situations, from headhunters to hijackings, months before she left, those two weeks were relatively peaceful.
I worry months in advance in order to be calm when it happens, as opposed to those less skilled worriers who wait until the day is upon them and panic. That's why I need to have lots of time to prepare mentally for any big event in my own life and my loved ones' lives.
If I don't have adequate time, I worry that I've forgotten something or just haven't prepared myself sufficiently. It's quite an elaborate system that I've constructed.
Of course, I recognize all of this is craziness, but that doesn't make it any easier to stop this process. It's like an addiction. If I'm not worried it doesn't feel normal--it feels crazy. So this Lent I decided to admit my powerlessness over worry in my life, turn it over to a higher power and go on with more important aspects of life.
So far this Lent, I have been sorely tested by numerous invitation to worry and have failed miserably. however, our God is a God of forgiveness and second chances. There's always tomorrow to begin again. In the meantime, I'm counting the days until Lent is over!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Soft Launch for Buying Time, Beating Swords into Plowshares
Buying Time
Beating Swords into Plowshares
So . . . if any of you would be inclined to purchase my ebook and submit a review, it would be greatly appreciated. I might even be enticed to bake you my mom's famous cowboy cookies. Just click on the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ISFB59Y
P.S. The charming young man in the picture is my son Dan. The picture was drawn by my daughter, Miriam, from a photo she had taken. Keeping it all in the family!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Do You Speak Geek? Learninge the Language of Technology
Throughout high school and college I studied
languages. I studied French all eight years, plus several years of Russian in
college, a semester of Mandarin Chinese, an independent study of ancient Greek,
and some Spanish and Latin. With each new language, a new world and new way of
thinking opened up before me. I loved this. I could have easily continued
taking language classes had I not needed to graduate before my scholarship ran
out. That was over thirty years ago.
As I’ve tried to learn more about computers and
technology, I have felt frustrated and overwhelmed.
“I hate this stuff,” I would complain as I sat at
the computer pulling out my hair lest I give into the temptation to throw my
computer at the wall. Friday, February 21, 2014
Our Inefficient God
Efficiency is over-rated. Efficiency experts tell us how to get organized, to only touch each piece of paper once, to multi-task and hence make the most of our time. However even the experts are realizing that effectiveness is more important than efficiency. You can be very efficient at doing the wrong thing, thereby being ineffective. Better to be effective than efficient.
Our God, though, is little concerned with
efficiency or effectiveness. Just look at the human body and our need to refuel
three times a day and to sleep every night. An efficient God would have
designed a body that could go non-stop on only a few hours of sleep and would
only have to eat once a week or even once a month. Just think of all the hours
saved not sleeping and not preparing and eating meals.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Marriage After Fifty
Marriage
on the downhill side of fifty is different from marriage in my twenties. Back
then, death, illness, cancer, retirement, were all far off phenomena, not on my
radar screen. Life was long and we had years ahead of us before we would have
to deal with such things, or so I thought. Even lack of employment was no
concern. We were young and healthy and had many earning years ahead of us to
amass a small fortune and retire—not that that had been on our minds either. We
were confident in God’s providential care for us.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Praying Through the White-Out Conditions in our Lives
The following is from a column I had published in the
Jackson Citizen Patriot on Feb. 23, 2007. In light of the bitter cold and
blowing snow we have been experiencing this year, it seemed appropriate to post
it again with small modifications. Stay safe!
These white-out conditions can appear suddenly as they did that day. One minute you are cruising along, then you are blinded by snow and forced to hit the brakes.
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