Allie Pleiter on One of THOSE Days

I’ve been having a slew of “those days” lately.  Sure, my impending deadline has something to do with it, but less than you might think.  I’m pretty sure God is trying to teach me a little perspective. 

Last year, about this time, we were getting my son through chemotherapy.  My take on what a “problem” was had a completely different skew.  It was poignant--when problems reared their ugly heads before, I have been known to declare, “Calm down, people, lives are not at stake.”  And then, suddenly, lives were at stake and God gifted me with tremendous calm under grueling circumstances.   I vowed, once we got through all that “medical mumbo jumbo” as my son now calls it, that I would never again let the turkeys get me down.

I have not succeeded.

All kinds of stupid details have gotten the better of me lately.  Folks who don’t return phone calls, or don’t hold up their end of the bargain (my pet peeve), files that won’t upload, cell phones that won’t sync, freezers that fail, kids that won’t behave (oh, big surprise there!) have all turned me into a first-class sourpuss.

What’s a girl to do?

First of all, I need to remember God’s sovereignty.  He’s got it covered, down to the last pesky detail.  How many characters have I given this realization?  Too many to count, although it seems to have not yet sunken into my own brain.

Second, I need to be as nice to myself now as I was in the hospital.  Take care of my physical and emotional health.  See friends, grab hugs, take my vitamins, drink water, spend time in prayer.

And finally, I need to pull God’s grace into each and every task, letting him shoulder the burden that’s crushing my good nature.

God gave me that good nature, He delights in it.  He’ll protect it as his precious gift.  So what about you?  Which turkeys are getting you down today, and how close are you holding your Creator’s delight?

Allie Pleiter on Keeping Track

With the release of YUKON WEDDING today, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about treasures.  I’ve been pondering what makes them, why we hide them, what happens when we lose them or when we grab the wrong ones.  There’s a lot to ponder.

Some of the best treasures are tokens, or milestones. Wedding rings, my first valentine from my husband, the signed bat White Sox baseball star AJ Pierzynski gave my son this past summer--objects that call up a host of happy or significant memories.  We are a tactile species; things around us can spur memories when we interact with them.

In my book, Lana has a brooch she wears every day to remind her of the woman she believed she could have been (and still is, somewhere inside).  Her life changes when the brooch is damaged, and it spurs her to take drastic new steps.  I have something close to that:  I have a bracelet--two of them, in fact, that I wear everyday.  Each bead represents something specific and positive in my life.  It is a celebration of sorts--our generation’s version of the charm bracelet.  Pandora and Trollbeads were the first to market these, but there have been many versions in recent years.  I buy a bead to celebrate an achievement or a milestone, and I deliberately never buy them to memorialize sad occasions. It’s like wearing a timeline of optimism around my wrist, my life’s blessings in baubles.

How to you collect your blessings?  Do you mark them at all?  Would you like to?