Meet my writing space.
Our house holds too few square feet for an office. (If it did, the space would be a music room anyway.) I count myself blessed to have a corner to call my own.
We once lost a computer to a virus. The internet can be a distraction to getting serious work done, and my five kids are distraction enough. So the lesser-used laptop has internet access, while my desktop writing computer is clean of it.
The homemade banners (upper left) are "pictures" of God I selected from Old and New Testaments. The art on the right depicts the era when the Lord chose to be visible. (More on that this week.) Stacks of books framing the monitor are oft-used reference materials, plus the to-read (to-watch) books and DVD's up next in the queue. (An overflowing shelf of to-read books is behind the camera.) A mug holds either cold water with lemon, plain hot water, or black coffee (if I'm having a cup of it today).
Dotting the landscape are random kid gifts, family photos, a trash bin (for 86% cacoa Ghirardelli chocolate wrappers), notes with either recent Bible insights or historical details and thoughts for my fiction, strips taped to the monitor with Hebrew alphabet and keyboard shortcuts (I do NOT like ANY mouse), and a dog tag reading "FEAR NOT."
The scattered quotes?
You will keep in perfect peace
The one fixed upon You
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever
For YAH, the LORD,
Is the Rock of Ages.
~ Isaiah 26:3-4
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
~ Psalm 66:16
"March toward the sound of guns."
~ Army mantra, via Russell Holloway
(reminding me that somewhere, a battle waits for support)
"Hope is to be alive in this moment."
~ Maureen Doallas, author and cancer survivor,
(reminding me on bad days that hope is not only for eternity)
"I want to read a book that changes me."
~ Chip MacGregor, Author and Publishing Agent(reminding me to stretch beyond excellence)
For this quote, the photo is sufficient explanation:
Finally, there is this, author unknown:
NO RESERVE ~ NO RETREAT ~ NO REGRETS
It took me a good while to figure out how to live a life of no regrets, because there's so, so much I would do differently if the ctrl+Z key existed on life. What's more, I'm sometimes guilty of retreats and half-hearted effort.
But I trust in God to use my every mistake for good, and every injury to me for blessing. Only by such faith can I allow that last quote to stare me in the face every day with this reminder: give God my all, stay with Him through all, and accept all He allows—with no regrets.
Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
I enjoyed my visit to your space ...
ReplyDeleteme too. you're desk is so well organized! they say those who keep their desk/office in such a well organized manner, lead their personal lives the same way. having said that.... well, i'd never post a photo of my space.
ReplyDeleteI love this peek into your life. My first reaction? I love how you love Him.
ReplyDeleteSusan ~
ReplyDeleteYour every post makes me feel that I've been invited to glimpse your home and your soul. It's always a delight to see you here.
Bud ~
ReplyDeleteThis is the somewhat organized desk. I mostly left it as is, but it did get a little dusting for the photo. But the mail desk in the other room? A life of homeschooling? There's a semblence of organization there somewhere, down deep, but mostly I'm just flying through the days while I hold on by my fingernails. I'll tell the kids you said I look organized and give them a good laugh.
Tana ~
ReplyDeleteYou make me *SMILE* :D
Yeah, I do love Him. It goes to the core. I pray it rubs off on people around me ...
I "LIKE" your writing space. :)
ReplyDeleteDuane ~
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly. What I like best about my writing space is that it is the place where I figure out more of what God is showing me by working it back out in words. There's lots of Him here. : )
Love this peek into your world! He shines through you.
ReplyDeleteSnady ~
ReplyDeleteI'm THRILLED to have you be part of my world! :D He shines through you too, for sure.
I just cannot agree with your perspective of "no regrets". It is regret that sends me to the cross asking God for forgiveness most every day. It is regret that sends me to my friends and family when I have hurt them. Can God use my foolishness and sin and turn it into something good? Of course He can! Would He rather I not sin and cause destruction in the lives of people around me? Again, of course!
ReplyDeleteIf I murdered someone and God turned it into something good, should I then not have regret about it? I don't get this post. No offense, but I feel as if I stepped into the Twilight Zone. Though I accept the forgiveness from my Heavenly Father, I will always live with regret!
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteAha! All the other comments simply spoke well of my writing space. I can't believe everyone else so easily accepted words about no regrets. How grateful I am to count on your honesty when you disagree.
I loathe thinking of how my sins and failures have hurt others. There's plenty I'd choose to take back if given the chance. There are places I wouldn't go, people I would not allow to touch my life, and with everything in my power I'd do the same for the people I love most. I'd certainly be a different person for it. Perhaps my life and the lives of others would be outwardly better. But can I believe there would be a better final outcome than the one God is working?
If I'd lived differently, I would have never carried the horrible guilt which births not only regret but repentance. If I came to Christ at all, it certainly wouldn't be with the same daily sense of need, and I wouldn't follow Him with the same great passion of one who knows this:
Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me!
and this:
Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee.
You say "It is regret that sends me to the cross asking God for forgiveness most every day. It is regret that sends me to my friends and family when I have hurt them." Is that regret or conviction?
There is a difference between conviction and condemnation. The former is from the Holy Spirit, and moves us to make right our relationship with God and neighbor. The latter is from Hell and crushes us with regrets. Once conviction has completed its work, it must be released or the enemy will use it to destroy our joy in forgiveness with endless regrets.
The Lord Jesus paid a high price to purchase forgiveness. It took me a long, long time for me to give myself the same forgiveness. [See How to Forgive Self.] It took even longer to accept that whatever I would go back and change would also change where God, in His sovereignty and grace, has brought me now. If I'd made different choices, wouldn't I have also prevented the suffering that brings us to the throne with the desperation you and I have?
Can you and I honestly say that we would love the Lord as much if we'd lived lives of better choices?
"Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." (Luke 7:47)
Trust that the Lord isn't finished with us and the people we've affected. And keep praying.
You know I love you with all my heart. Please keep disagreeing with me so we can keep learning from each other. You've taught me more than you'll ever know.
~ Annie
Well I would have to say that it is regret AND conviction that sends me to the cross. And while I can say that I believe I accept God's full forgiveness for my wrongs, I cannot say that the "regret" is gone. Forgiving myself continues to be one of the greatest challenges in my life but I don't feel that my regret makes me feel continually condemned.
ReplyDeleteIt is as if you are saying that if I would accept God's forgiveness completely and in the way that He desires, I would not have any regret...I just don't agree. Thank you Jesus for Your forgiveness, as I truly have peace and joy from it! But there is a difference for me!
Your comments make it a little less "Twilight Zoneish" but I will end in the same way that I ended before, "I will always live with regret!"...not condemnation.
Mary ~
ReplyDelete(There's a saying about men talking to express thoughts, and women talking to formulate thoughts ...)
You've helped me see that what I'm trying to say here, and probably didn't manage to say at all, is that while I confess to regret regularly shadowing me, I have learned how critical it is for me to say, "Regrets – NO! I will not give you ear. I will not open the door and entertain you. Even if you won't go away, you can't come in."
If I look back, it must be to give testimony to God's power and goodness. When memories haunt, I must remind myself of what has been taken in plunder to enable who I am now, in the present. The only way to move with enough freedom to dance into every new day is to throw off the weight of regret, and push it back when it threatens to press in.
I need "NO REGRETS" continually in my face, or I'm inclined to forget.
Mary ~
ReplyDeleteI loved our long talk yesterday, and our mutual understanding of "no regret." I thought you'd appreciate something I found this morning, that I don't recall catching before now:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV)
You encourage me more than you'll ever know. : )
That was so good. Thanks for pointing me to it. I missed it the first time, but boy, did I need it the second time. I'm often wracked with guilts and memories...and it is just so unhealthy..
ReplyDeleteDavid, I'm not sure if you'd think this silly, but I recently had a thought: what if there's one room in Heaven where we get to live our life on Earth over again, without any sin touching us? I'm thinking that's impossible, since many babies are born from sinful relationships. But what if?
DeleteAnd then, what if there's this little room from Heaven that's within us right now, where we are able to trust in God so fully that we live a life fully free of regret? NOT impossible. Remember that, and be blessed.