Let’s Make a List!
We can make a list
to help us sort out our thoughts
and view our options
Are you a list maker? If so, I have found something I think you will like!
There is a book called Listography Journal: My Life in Lists.
In this book, you can write out lists that help you keep track of things you want to remember.
Not knowing much about this book, I hopped over to Amazon to check it out and found that there are MANY listography books in which you can make endless lists of all your important things.
You can buy: Spirit Listography: My Inner Self in Lists, Film Listography: Your Life in Movies, My Future Listography: All I Hope to Do in Lists, Listography: One List a Day: A Three-Year Journal, and even Parenthood Listography: My Kids in Lists.
If you love to make lists, you may want to check out these books.
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I was interested in these books because I ran across a list that our grandson, Oliver, made last year.
He called it Ways to be Artistic. His word of the year was Artistic, so he and I brainstormed ways he could embody it!
I thought it was a perfect way to keep his word in front of him so that it wasn’t just a January “wish” and could actually be a practical word to keep him moving forward, in this case, artistically.
We wrote:
Paint like Uncle Joel,
Draw like cousin Charles
Be creative like my mom
Make sculptures
Make paper airplanes
Make music like Uncle Alex, Uncle Joel, and cousin Lucy
Use my imagination
Write like Grandma
Sew like my Great-Grandma
Be a photographer like my mom
Bake like Grandma
Be a woodworker like Grandma’s friend Ben
Be a child
He told me last week that he wants ARTISTIC to be his next word of the year. (He usually likes to change his word every six months or so. I think that’s great!)
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So this got me thinking.
Last January or February, you and I picked a word for this year. (I hope you remember yours.)
With Oliver’s list in mind, we could make a list to help us do or be more of our chosen word!
My word is ATTENTIVE.
Listology: How to be attentive to the parts of life I do not want to miss.
Take time to pray - to set aside time to sit with God to talk with and listen to Him
Journal daily - slowly - to explore what has happened and how I (really) feel about things.
Watch for the moon - be attentive to its phases and its incredible beauty.
Look people in the eyes when they are talking. Really listen to what they are saying.
Slow down when reading/studying scripture. Step into the story. Be attentive to the action and to the intent. What is God saying to me through it?
Pay attention to the people around me. What can I learn?
Watch the sky: Oh, what a variety of beauty is given to us every day!
While outside, listen for the sounds and breathe in deeply the smells of nature.
Listen for and sense the Spirit’s prompting. Is there something God wants me to see or do?
I could go on and on, but I know you get the idea.
Some of your words of the year would work very well into this list-making idea.
What are ways I can show grace in a particular situation?
Whom can I be more welcoming toward?
In what areas do I need to be more resolved?
In what ways do I want to be more bold?
How can I tend to the hearts of the people closest to me?
What kinds of seeds can I creatively plant to grow fruit in my relationships?
In what ways can I narrow my vision so my goals can be accomplished?
What questions do I truly need to be asking?
In what areas of my life do I need to speak up or out?
In what parts of my life does Christ want me to be yoked with him?
What is it that I need/want to do?
What promises of God do I need to cling to in my present situation?
In what areas do I want to feel more secure? In what areas do I feel very secure?
Where/when do I need to be bold and take chances? When have I taken chances in the past?
Oh boy, I have just realized that this blog post has become one BIG set of lists!
We could call it Listography: Our Words Of The Year In Lists
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Do you have time for one more list?
Did you know that in the Bible, King David was a list maker too?
In Psalm 103, he tells his soul not to forget all the benefits of knowing God. He writes:
He forgives all your ins
He heals all your diseases
He redeems your life from the pit
He crowns you with love and compassion
He satisfies your desires with good things.
SO THAT your youth is renewed like the eagles.
I know that we could add endless benefits to this list! We could keep an open, ongoing list of all the ways we have seen the goodness of God and experienced the beauty of knowing him. Would that list ever end?
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So, on days that feel overwhelming or confusing, I encourage us to pull out our journals, hunt down a sheet of paper, or fire up our laptops and start making a list that will help us sort our thoughts. We could title it:
Listography: Things I Can Do To See My Way Through.
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I just went back to Amazon and found that there is a game too! Listography: The Game: May the Best List Win!
I think I need that game. How about you?
Thanks for reading today!
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