Don't Lose Your Taste for Authenticity (for Kathy and Leann)

 

Don't Lose Your Taste for Authenticity

(A blog post for Kathy and Leann - because they know what I'm talking about)

I made plain, old fashioned muffins recently.  I used to make these muffins years and years ago.  They are a plain muffin with a scoop of jam placed in the middle and then baked.  There is nothing overly sweet about them.  They are not beautiful looking and they are not fancy by any stretch.  Somehow, however, they are perfect on this day.  They taste authentic.  

What does authentic taste like to me today?  Well, it tastes of raising children in the back woods of Vermont on less money than anyone could ever imagine.  It tastes of using my resources because that is all I had.  It tastes of climbing hills to apple trees to render what we could so we could put up free applesauce for winter babies' mouths.  This muffin represents a woman who made the family bread weekly and created home-made decorations out of construction paper when birthdays arose.  Authenticity is reusing and repurposing anything and everything so that something new could be made.  It is styling second-hand clothes in such a way that everyone thinks you're a fashion model.  It is daring and pure and necessary and wonderful.  

This simple muffin is my life.  One that I would not change any aspect of because I am in need of all it has brought and taught me.  I would not be my authentic self if I did not cry when spoken to harshly.  I would not be my true self if I did not attempt to twirl on any given surface when I am happy.  I couldn't be me without my childhood trauma, my red headed children, my dearest two friends that have held me up so many days, my husband who is my breath and even this silly dog who pants beside me as I type.  I am true authenticity even if it means I own false eye lashes and fake tanner.  I am the authentic Jane who can't see this writing through the tears, who celebrates little things like worms and throws Christmas Bingo parties for 2 during the holidays for a less than thrilled husband.

Where does your authenticity lie?  I would love to know!  

Take Good Care today.  Stay Close to God.  

A Chance to Breathe

A Chance to Breathe

We live in a world where we don't take the chance often enough to just breathe.  Even our vacations are filled with craziness! If you're like me, it takes a few days, anyway, to get into the flow of what it is like to relax.  Our bodies are not familiar with relaxation and letting go of structure and the constant need to be filled with something in front of our eyes and ears.  

I've often written of my perfect day.  Yes, it is a day free of obligations and errands.  It has writing and reading and running in it.  A fresh shower with some rosy smelling soap, a little sit in the sunshine...some baking (and nibbling).  It would include quiet and green, lush, leaves from trees.  As I list my favorite things, I realize these feed me.  They cause me to have a chance to breathe.  I breathe in restful calmness.  I breathe in restoration.  I experience a replenishing of soul-deep connection to who I am and always was- but lost in the world's chaos. 

We all need this.  Men and women alike.  Sometimes we go and go and never stop.  When I was raising my children, we had one pj day a week if we possibly could.  It was something we loved.  We climbed onto the bed and watched movies, read books, and played board games.  We made snacks and cuddled.  I can't have that back, but I can learn to adjust and do these things for and by myself.  They are the essence of life.  

Without the moments that fill our souls, we become shells of who we could and should be.  We become a shadow self-the black and white version of who we were meant to be, what we work so hard for and thus, what we have left for the world is shallow and weak.  You cannot stop this from always happening.  Some of the time - we get there because it's required of us to go fast.  Often, though, we have room to exercise restraint on what we allow the world to steal from us.  This, we must do, friend.  We must protect our hearts from the invasion of 'it' all.  

Stay close to God.

Take good care today.