I have come to the conclusion that rearranging furniture is probably a metaphor for life. We have played musical furniture so many times over the past year and are probably not done yet. I’m starting to realize that shifting furniture around and making the pieces fit can teach us much about life. We have to look at our available resources and determine how they can work together to create the space that we need in order to be at our most productive. This is true of living life to our fullest potential as well as having a home with well-balanced furniture and accessories. Sometimes we have to accept that it might be time for something to go in order to make room.
This has been a year of accepting that God sometimes rearranges our plans. My husband has been without an official, includes benefits, job for a while now. Doors have been slamming all over the place. I finally changed the way I was praying. I started asking God to send my husband the work he had for him to do rather than asking God to send him the job we thought he needed. I also asked God to give us enough. It’s not the way we thought we’d be living at this point in our lives, but our needs are being met in the space we’ve been given. God is faithful and he does answer prayer.
I have been looking hard at what I’m supposed to be writing. For a long time I resisted writing about my mom’s Alzheimer’s and how it was rearranging all our lives. I didn’t want that to be my story. But, it is part of my story and it shapes my voice. To leave it out would not be authentic, so I’ve been rearranging and making space to explore the journey in my writing.
One of the highlights of this past year was when I went to a Writers Barn event and soaked in what Emily Freeman and Christa Wells had to say about our writing voice. Emily said, “Learn to respect the story that’s within you”. She’s right. Going forward, that is a lesson I will continue to embrace.
A year is made up of many moments that define our living. If we can look at those moments and see how the story was written, then we can take the truth from those moments and let them shape the story that is to come.
Rearranging in grace,
Teresa
What lessons have you learned this year? To read what others have been learning hop on over to Chatting at the Sky.
Teresa L Hardymon 
I love this post and the conversations we had around/about it. At the risk of appearing incredibly unoriginal and lazy, I have decided to write a post today with a similar strain. I will link yours in my post. I guess at the very least, I must say that your writing has inspired me to explore dusty corners and accept necessary rearrangement myself. Perhaps your style is more shifting shades more than anything else.
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Shifting Shades….I like that 🙂 rearranging is usually a good thing – it helps perspective.
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My “inner voice” has been unleashed this year…beginning with the write31day challenge – and continued with almost 100 posts done in 2014 (well, in “EVER”!)…I have slowed down for the holidays but will be returning with several links that I’ll be following – some with word prompts, others with general prompts – but I will continue! My last post was Dec. 30th – “Remembering You”, which is a remembering of my mother on what would have been her 84th birthday; she has been gone 2 1/2 years…
I love the quote from Emily Freeman – and also your analogy of rearranging furniture and accepting that God rearranges our plans – ALL THE TIME, since we are usually so far ahead of wanting to make our own plans!
Glad to see your newest post; I am still following!!! Have an awesome New Year’s Eve and New Year…
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Thanks for reading Barbara! I think rearranging furniture as well as other things will teach me a lot if I let it! So glad you have found your writing voice. I”m impressed that you have already written so many posts! Will continue to stop by and catch up with you.
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