Tunes Tuesday :: This is the Time

Since I totally completely 100% have this song stuck in my head this morning and still love it even though there is no getting it out, I thought I would share it. Yes, it's Superchick again. :) 


I love the sound of this song, and the harmonies on the chorus, and most of all the point of the song. People, life is waiting. This is the Time, get off your computers and phones, love people, do something you love, appreciate the little things. Don't be afraid to mess up, you fail more when you don't try (and of course that's a lyric from another superchick song ;)).

Superchick - This is the Time  

This is the story of your life
A movie starring you
What's the next scene have for you to do?
Leave the dishes in the sink
Leave your fear there too
Live the story you would write for you

Say Hey! Hey! Wake your heart!
and break break apart, the walls that keep you from being you
And walk, walk towards the light
And don't stop till you live your life
Like someone died for you.

This is the time, to try
Step out, your life is waiting
and as you fall, you'll find that you can fly.

You can find a million words
To build a wall of fear
Safe behind that wall, imprisoned here
Take that someday step today
To who you're meant to be
And turn your dreams to plans so you can breathe

Ask anyone whose time is up
What they'd give for what you got
And how they'd live your life
Live like your life's worth dying for
You just walked out that prison door
and you'll know how to live your life

please please please, remember, today, that someone died for you. live like you know it. we don't get another do-over at this life, today will be gone forever. don't waste it! 

yes, it takes work to live life well - but it is worth it. 

blessings,

emma

Tunes Tuesday :: Born is the King (It's Christmas!!)

I came and sat down to write this post quickly today, then realized it was Tuesday so it fit perfectly for a Tunes Tuesday post ;) 

Lots of Christmas baking and cookie-decorating going on in this house today! :) Have I mentioned before how much I looove the Christmas season???! Lots of Christmas music playing too, and I thought I would share this super fun Christmas song that will likely inspire much dancing, singing (it's praise, y'all!), and help us remember the reason we're celebrating :) (don't be afraid to turn it reeeeaaaal loud ;))

Take the time to enjoy your day - try not to be caught up in all of the to-dos, and miss the point of the season, and the joy it can bring. 

gingerbread house neighbourhood ;)

I promise you that even though these look like lumps of brownness they taste heavenly (double chocolate w/ candycane gooeyness)

Hillsong - Born is the King (It's Christmas) 

also? you should play it again and again until you're almost sick of it.

Born unto us this day a Saviour
Gifted from heaven to a manger
The hope of the world
A light for all mankind
All of the earth rejoice
It's Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

Goodwill to all the earth
And peace divine
All of the earth rejoice
It's Christmas time
It's Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

Praying that today and the rest of the days leading up to Christmas are a time of peace and joy for you and yours - it's a time of celebration!

blessings,

love Emma

31 Days :: {28} :: wrap-up/conclusion

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! This is the final post of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here or the posts all here :)

So I made it. I wrote every day in October {except Sundays}, on the topic of Celebrating Life. And I learned. so. much. 

Please please please go and read the Chapter entitled 'Cold Tangerines' from Shauna Niequist's book Cold Tangerines, you can do that here {scroll down a little bit and it will show up in blue printing}. Because I tried to find a couple of paragraphs from this chapter to highlight and share here but I have to admit that the whole chapter is underlined in my copy. Actually, I highly recommend reading the entire book ;)

I've tried to figure out what exactly I want to accomplish with this official wrap-up conclusion. And it's been hard. 

But I think I finally landed on something. I just want to encourage you {& me}. Encourage you to celebrate. Because it is so worth it. Even when it's hard.

Believe me, I know. When you get to the end of the day and you find yourself all snappy, and achy and tired, it's hard to celebrate. 

When you're bored crazy, it's hard to celebrate. When you're sad, mad, disappointed, hurt, frustrated, it's hard to celebrate.

A lot of times, it's even hard to celebrate when life is going good and it's a great day. 

Ouch. And that's the one I struggle with oh so often. Because I just let myself onto cruise control and it no longer matters if anything is worth celebrating, and nothing in my day has a real point, and I'm just breathing and moving but not really living. 

And so when Shauna write this in her book, it resonates with me. It calls to deep within me and says, celebrate. Make that effort. Because tomorrow will soon be today and when you look back on what will be yesterday, will you wish you had lived more alive?

"I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift, who will use it up and wring it out and drag it around like a favorite sweater." ~Shauna Niequist (Cold Tangerines)

 And it's not about waiting to celebrate the big moments in life. It's not about waiting to become whoever or whatever it is you think you are becoming. It's about celebrating this very life that you have today.

"But this is what I'm finding, in glimpses and flashes: this is it. This is it, in the best possible way. That thing I'm waiting for, that adventure, that movie-score-worthy experience unfolding gracefully. This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidwalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets - this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience.
I believe that this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. This way of living and noticing and building and crafting can crack through the movie sets and soundtracks that keep us waiting for our own life stories to begin, and set us free to observe the lives we have been creating all along without even realizing it.
 
I don't want to wait anymore. I choose to believe that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day. I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we grab on to and extend to one another. That's the drama of life, swirling all around us, and generally I don't even see it, because I'm too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think I am about to become. The big moments are in every hour, every conversation, every meal, every meeting." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

 And so today, I am encouraging you, calling you, appealing to you, pleading with you to please, open your eyes and intentionally look at all the beauty around you to celebrate.

"The world is alive, blinking and clicking, winking at us slyly, inviting us to get up and dance to the music that's been playing since the beginning of time, if you bend all the way down and put your ear to the ground to listen for it." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

Shall we?

complete post list:
{1} :: October Goals and Pre-Intro
{2} :: introduction 
{3} :: beautiful 
{4} :: tangible beauty 
{5} :: today... 
{6} :: Tunes Tuesday :: 10,000 Reasons 
{7} :: we need it 
{8} :: hidden beauty 
{9} :: don't wait
{10} :: sleeping in 
{11} :: laughter 
{12} :: Tunes Tuesday :: Carrie Underwood
{13} :: 31 Days love
{14} :: in which I sort of tell you a story
{15} :: intention 
{16} :: intention, part 2
{17} :: Today...
{18} :: Tunes Tuesday :: Something Beautiful 
{19} :: intention, part 3 
{20} :: the root of celebration
{21} :: believing it 
{22} :: link love 
{23} :: family {beautiful people}
{24} :: Tunes Tuesday 
{25} :: celebrating when it's hard
{26} :: Today... 
{27} :: quotes 

linking up with Elizabeth :) 

31 Days :: {19} :: intention, part 3

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 19 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :) 

Soo.. the story is here, part 1 is here, and part 2 here. I thiiink this will be the last part. ;)

So you may have read the other posts, and been like, Emma, this is cool, but I thought that your series was about celebrating life, not living with intention. Please please explain exactly how this connects. And so that's what I'm hoping to do today. 

We are not, by nature, thankful people. Because of our sin nature, we will not, unintentionally, give thanks, which is, incidentally at the root of celebrating life. {did you catch that? sorry for the run-on sentence.}

We celebrate life as a way to say thank-you for each glorious moment - because even the 'un-glorious' moments, truly are glorious. We celebrate as a way to say thank-you when we live life fully, making the most of this sensational gift of life. 

Here's what Shauna has to say:

"I live according to my faith when I love a meal that has been prepared carefully, when I notice texture and color and taste, when I let the flavor and scent of something fresh from the ground surprise me and bring me back to life. I demonstrate my theology when I dance all night with people I love, because this life is worth the best celebration we can offer up to it. I thank God every time I eat crusty bread and garlicky olives, and when I smell clean laundry and hear that little squeak of fingers on a guitar. For me, what God said when he made the world is a prayer: It is good. This world, it is good. The beauty of a perfect green apple is good. The first steps of a child are good. Watching my grandparents dance in their kitchen is good. It is good. 

I have to remind myself that it is good. I have to create hope in my life, because there's something inside me that has radar for the bad parts of life. I walk into the kitchen and all I can see are crumbs on the counter, and I look in the mirror and don't even see my face, I just see all the potential wrinkles forming. I have a dark, worst-case scenario sensor, and it takes over."

{And here's where it's really hard. Because that thought continues and it's really amazing but I can't put her whole book here {otherwise I would, because I love it so much, and I think everyone should read it!!} so I have to pick somewhere to stop, but please go and read the next couple of paragraphs right here. She has so much beautiful to say about this!} {Or you could read the whole chapter... I think I underlined every word of it in my copy.}}

"When I live purposefully and well, when I dance instead of sitting it out, when I let myself laugh hard, when I wear my favorite shoes on a regular Tuesday, that regular Tuesday is better." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

 

So, in conclusion: to celebrate requires a conscious choice. To make that choice, you need intention. Celebrating is a way to say thank-you to God. He loves it when we celebrate life! 

But how many times do you walk past that clean laundry without noticing the scent? How many times do you eat good food without really tasting it? It takes intention to see all those things. Practice it! :) 

love emma

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {16} :: intention, part 2

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 16 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :) 

On Thursday I told y'all a story. Yesterday, I started talking about one of the things that I've been learning because of it. Today, I'm gonna keep on with that thing - intention.  

 The hardest part that I have found is starting. It takes slowing down and pausing. But if you have been coasting along, through habits, perhaps aimlessly, maybe at a high speed, how do you even remember to slow down and pause? For me, that often means setting alarms just to pause, and give thanks. Or maybe do something special, something like taking the time to play a game, or taking kids to the park, or having a little 1 or 2 song dance party, or anything that means you're not on auto-pilot anymore.

And I hope what you'll find - I know what I've found - is that the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Is it an oxymoron to say that living with intention can be a habit? Because I think, maybe it can. 

One of the benefits of intentional living are things like feeling more satisfied with your life: instead of getting to the end of the day and wondering what you even did and if there was a point, you can know that you took the time to do things on purpose, which means there was a point.

And once again, I'm going to say the same thing... come back on Monday and we're going to continue with intention. Maybe we'll even make a week of it? ;)

So today, do at least one thing with intention?

blessings,
emma  

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {11} :: laughter

 Happy {Canadian} Thanksgiving! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 11 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :)

Last night I stayed up wayy to late watching a funny movie with my parents and brother. This morning I slept in really late, and then didn't do much today. We had a nice turkey dinner though and I went exploring with my sisters.

And it made me think... and remember... I love to laugh... for oh so many reasons, all the time. They say laughter is the best medicine, and I know it's good for you! 

So to celebrate laughter, I have a bunch of quotes for you :)

"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."
~Robert Frost

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.”
~Audrey Hepburn

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” 
~Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)

“Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.”
~L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”
~Mark Twain

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”
~e.e. cummings

so today, celebrate laughter. laugh lots and laugh heartily.

love emma

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)