Mismatched Socks

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.” — Lin Yutang

"I just KNEW that if I got rid of all those spare socks, their mates would come looking for them some day." It didn’t take long for my friends to respond to my Facebook post. Some shared words of encouragement: “Mismatched socks are trendy! J.C. Penney is selling them that way!” Others, empathized and advised: “I never get rid of them for just that reason.” Still another shared insight: “The dryer hides them.” 

I tried the fashion advice in secret, hiding them with boots. Still, I had to try to pair the height and feel of the mismatched socks in order to experience a degree of comfort with my choice. And, of course, there was to be no crying over lost socks, no turning back the clock to the day I made the fateful decision to finally clean off the top of the dryer and drop them into the nearest trash. I just had to let them go. From here on, however, I vow to look more carefully in the dryer as well as in the sleeves and pant legs of the shirts and trousers they tumbled with.

Frankly, I like to have everything where it belongs. I can live with dust, but I hate clutter.

I like to look around and see that everything is ‘just so.’ But, over the course of several small steps and several years, I had to choose to devote my attention to things of greater value. Like real peace in my home. Like completing coursework for my degree. Like presenting a successful lesson in the classroom. Like taking time to go to my grandson’s hockey game, or accompanying my husband on a photo shoot just to spend some time with him, or writing an email to a dear friend. 

Laundry day on an Amish Farm
in Lancaster County, PA

Maybe I'll never be completely content with the demise of the sock mates, but I will be eternally joyful about what I did spend time on. And some day, when I pass that way again, I’m going to stop and ask my Amish friends if they ever lose sock mates, since they have no clothes dryers. 

Meanwhile, I’ll take some time to enjoy looking at their colorful laundry. 

 

2 Corinthians 4:18 
“We don't look for things that can be seen but for things that can't be seen. Things that can be seen are only temporary. But things that can't be seen last forever” God’s Word.

Philippians 4:8 
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” ESV.

Luke 6:31 

“Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them” The Voice.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Therefore encourage one another, and let each one help to strengthen his friend, as in fact you do” Weymouth.

Excerpt from:

While it is Called Today - a 30-day photo devotional for living well 

by Dee Marvin Emeigh

(c) 2014 Dee Marvin Emeigh

all rights reserved

www.livwellseedco.com

Peacefully Productive

I didn’t realize how productive the day was. There were ups: we carted the cartons of Christmas decorations back up to the attic and I spoke to a trusted friend about what I perceive as the calling on my life; receiving a lift from his encouragement to continue with Cafeteria Covenant. (He liked the title and also wrote me an excellent review of well SEASONED for Amazon.) There were also some downs: sending a carefully worded birthday greeting to a widow of a few weeks. There were outs: having an early dinner out before Gary went to work taking college basketball photos and shopping for Superbowl "snacks.” There were old familiar tasks: doing laundry for the zillionth time and revisiting the twenty-year-old lyrics of a song. There were also first time tasks: sending the updated lyrics and a new arrangement to a love song contest, contracting a professional music reviewing service and my first time ever making waffles, for a late night supper when Gary got home.

Yet, in spite of all this activity and a dozen other little things tucked in between, it was a very peaceful day. So peaceful that I sat back from the computer keys after playing some Words With Friends last night and thought, ‘I feel like I didn’t get much done today…’ As I began to accredit the day’s accomplishments, I was amazed.

I like that. I like letting God lead and succeed, I like moving from one task to another in the rest of God. I like being able to give Him praise for being who He is and doing what He promises: to lead, to guide, to work through me in the small and the big things.

I make lists, but usually they end up just being a reference in case I find myself at a standstill with “nothing” to do, or if I really only want to make one trip to the store without forgetting “something.” Mostly, I ask for God to lead, guide and succeed through me. It’s a grand adventure in living, and at the end of the day, the most satisfying way to live. If someone were to question why I didn’t do something, I can unashamedly say, I wasn’t led to. God knows what needs to be done, and if I just follow His lead, it will all get done.

This dichotomy between rest and work is delicate, and yet simple, when we learn to trust that He truly lives in us. It is something we need to work at every day…

⁹There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God ¹⁰because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath rest from His.

¹¹So let us move forward to enter this rest, so that none of us fall into the kind of faithless disobedience that prevented them from entering. ¹²The word of God, you see, is alive and moving; sharper than a double-edged sword; piercing the divide between soul and spirit, joints and marrow; able to judge the thoughts and will of the heart.

(Hebrews 4:9-11 The Voice)