Kaleidoscope:
Combined from three Greek words:
kalos (καλός), meaning “beautiful,”
eidos (εἶδος), meaning “shape,”
and skopos (σκοπός), meaning either “watcher” or “thing looked at.”
Kaleidoscope: beautiful shapes to look at,
observer of beautiful forms.
Kaleidoscope: constantly changing pattern,
medley, mixture.

One full month of 2023 has ticked away.
I love this idea of living as an observer of beauty. Paying attention to details. Noticing shapes and nuances. Giving gratitude for aesthetics and texture.
Our lives are stories.
Our stories are a constantly changing pattern made up of a mixture of excitement and pain, new and old, adjustments and routines.
A medley of music and beauty and creativity and inspiration runs along as the soundtrack.

Join me in Kaleidoscope living in 2023!

An Ode For 2023

Feasting and friendship and favorites too,
Giving and living and making things new,
Delighting and sighing and dreams coming true
Grieving and wonder and plans all askew.

Relationship joy and relationship stress,
Actions that wounded, words meant to bless,
Comfort and cheer, the mundane, so much mess,
Drowsy and drear, obstacles that perplex.

Crocus and tulips and daffodils too,
A greening on earth, life cycle anew,
Warmth creeping in and fresh morning dew,
Sky beaming azure, deep brilliant blue.

Starshine and moonshine, sunset and sunrise,
Landscapes before us, a feast for the eyes,
Fresh milk, sugar cookies, bread set to rise,
Crisp curtains at windows with tassels for ties.

Clouds scatter horizon, the big puffy kind,
Watermelon drips, seeds spill from the rind,
Red ripe tomatoes burst on the vine,
Hollyhocks grow in a sentinel line.

Fire on the hearth and a chill in the air,
Chili and cornbread, pumpkins and pears,
Bright blaze of colors and sweaters to wear,
Boots and hot chocolate, scarves worn with flair.

Blankets to cuddle and puppies to pat,
A flashy red cardinal, an orange-striped cat,
A cozy new flannel, a bright Nordic hat,
The cheerful word WELCOME by the door on the mat.

Pines out the window all coated in snow,
Children in mittens all bundled to go,
Build their own Frosty, pack snowballs to throw,
Toboggan the hill ’til they can’t feel their toes!

Life comes in seasons and circles around,
Till the end of a week, of a month, a year found.
Each one filled with sights, with scents and with sounds,
A grateful array of His goodness abounds.

Our calendars tell us the end of this year,
In our marking of time is drawing quite near.
Each day we lived in it, the moments held dear,
Passed on behind us, in our past they appear.

Oh, time is elusive, it slips from our grasp,
Regrets and great moments, they linger, they lapse
We celebrate galas, complete tiny tasks,
Reach for the sparkly and happiness clasp.

An old year behind us, a new year before!
One in which nothing has happened before.
Take hope in it with us and grace all the more,
We refresh, we reset, we rejoice, we restore.

This human experience brings sorrow and joy
Embodied we dwell in flesh spirit and soul,
Held in our days, our dreams, in each year,
By Jesus Messiah Great Lover of All.

{affliate links in this post}

A Look Back

2022 squished into 9 squares

Mother, Renae, and I browse old photos and a genealogy compiled by a dear friend.
I look at a photo of my grandmother.
Young. Hardly twenty. Lovely.
A life long before me.

A young woman with hopes and dreams, hardships and decisions, happiness and discouragement.

A young woman, life ahead.
One who didn’t yet know she’d become mama to two sons and four daughters,
mama-in-law to two young women and four young men,
grandmother to 25 grandkids in a wide range of ages, grandmother to two babies gathered home to Jesus in infancy, grandma-great to 70+, grandma-great to two more babies gathered home to Jesus in infancy, a vast number of guys and gals married to her grandkids.

No idea she’d piece and stitch quilts for every grandchild.

Fix countless bowls of tapioca pudding, gallons of party mix, creamed lima beans, butterscotch pie, and stir up another batch of homemade ice cream.

Did her dreams find her married to a potato farmer, throwing dirt clods, grading potatoes? Then heading to the house to rustle up supper for hungry farmhands?

Youngest of her family.
She experienced the death of all her siblings until she alone remained.

I trace her features with my fingers.

We capture images. Snap photos. Gather pixelated memories.
They’re only a glimpse. A tiny, tiny one.
Even the people we know best, we can’t fully know.

We can’t experience their perception of life.
The reality of each of our individual human experiences.

We are complex creations molded by a creative Father.

My grandma never squished a year in 9 photos.
My life holds multitudes of photos in comparison.
The connecting golden thread from you to me to her is this: our photos only glimpse the surface.
One simple facet of the lives we live, the people we are.

It’s only when we’re gathered home to Jesus that we will be fully known as we are known.

In the meantime, friends, keep snapping photos. Continue to gather today.

“We see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror. Then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely just as God now knows me completely.” 1 Cor 3:12

Kaleidoscope of Incidentals

My 2023 calendar from Gracelaced delights me.
If you’re looking for something thoughtful and beautiful for your Lent season, Gracelaced has a new release ~ Look to Jesus Lent Set.

I love this emotions wheel sticker.
So much bookish and writerly goodness in this Etsy shop. I love this candle set.

This Breville panini press has caught my eye.

As an Amazon Vine reviewer, I was able to try this rainshower showerhead. It’s fantastic! Super easy installation! The color is fun. And I adore standing under the warm, soaking rainfall effect.

Uno Wild. Hilarious, fast-paced fun! We want to try mixing this deck with Uno Dare. We’re planning a pajama party for our nieces and nephews. We have one little guy who loves Uno Flip, so I dare say it will be one of the activities. 🙂

Two very good and thought-provoking IG posts from Edie Wadsworth here and here. I love her contemplations about not complaining. I continue to mull it over.

Read this poem ~ When I Should Be Doing Homework

BOOKLIST

The Things God Made by Andy McGuire
Your Brave Song by Ann Voskamp
Oliver’s Battle by Barbara Seregi
Through Rosalie Colored Glasses: A Children’s Chapter Book About Kindness, Friendship and Bravery by Carrie J
Wherever You Are by Glenys Nellist
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber
All My Knotted Up Life by Beth Moore
The Invitation by Eugene Peterson

Focus Words 2023

It began unofficially in 2015, continued in 2016, became “official” in 2017.

A practice of landing on a word or pair of words and choosing them as my Focus Word for the year.

A few years I pressed into this focus. In other years, I held the words more loosely.
A few years I wrote out Bible verses containing my word or revolving around the theme of the focus word.
It’s become a spiritual practice for me.
Whether I spend a lot of time and intention or sit with my word only occasionally, each one plays a part in my formation.

Here’s where I’ve landed for 2023.

Greek words.

elpis+phronesis = hope+insight

Elpis: expectation, trust, confidence.
From the root elpo, which means to anticipate, {with pleasure} to welcome.

Tikvah is the Hebrew word for hope. It means expectation:
a cord or rope derived from a root word meaning to wait for or upon.

Phronesis: understanding leading to right action, practical wisdom, prudence, a Christ-enlightened perspective containing the insight to make intelligent life-applications in the will of God.
Sekel {Hebrew}: prudence, good sense, insight, understanding, discretion, knowledge
Insight: seeing inward. The capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.

I love how this captures our need for insight into ourselves. If we have a desire for formation to occur, for transformation to take place it begins with looking inward & seeing.
An expectation to grow in understanding.

A practice to grow in the confidence of practical wisdom.

A deeper perspective that impacts our understanding and actions.

To trust Jesus enough to wait on Him.

Insightful Hope:
choosing to do the hard and painful work of self-reflection knowing He who has promised is faithful.

He who is trustworthy will shape us in intuitive understanding.
Seeking His righteousness and clinging to it without wavering.

FOR!

Hebrews 6:18b-20
“We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus running on ahead of us, has taken up His permanent post as High Priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.”

If you have a word for 2023, share with us?!

GRATITUDE LIST

fires that crackle
notes in the mail
friends who like cookies
puppies with adorable eyes
a new phone
favorite old pajama pants
creative ideas that scare me a bit
decluttering
snow on pine branches
taco soup with sour cream
packages on the porch
my parents
the still small voice in the story of Elijah
modern meds + vaccinations
Werther’s hard caramel candy
coffee + cream
these socks
sparkly nail polish + a pedicure in the winter

“I thought, He must forebear to reveal His power and glory by presenting Himself as Himself, and must be present only in the ordinary miracle of the existence of His creatures. Those who wish to see Him must see Him in the poor, the hungry, the hurt, the wordless creatures, the groaning and travailing beautiful world.”
~ Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow