Top Ten Tuesday: Words I Wish I Wrote…or Spoke…

A few months ago, I came across a book of mine from high school. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was actually my Dad’s book, but he assured me on his last visit that even if it was his, he was okay with me still having it. Anyways, the book is called Words I Wish I Wrote by Robert Fulghum, and according to Fulghum, it is “a collection of writing that inspired my ideas”.

I like that. Identifying and celebrating what inspires you. I usually keep mine scribbled on post-it notes or written on the top of my white board calendar…not terribly permanent locations.

So, in the spirit of OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday, here are a few things that I wish I wrote…or spoke…that have been inspiring me lately. And yes, I realize that it is NOT Tuesday…

1. “Rock what you got.” (Superchick) I wrote a post about this song last year, and it continues to inspire me. There are so many times where I feel flabby and self-conscious, and I have to tell myself that no matter what…I need to be okay with who and what I am and just “rock it”! A friend of mine tells me on occasion when she has “claimed” this quote too…even got her through a trip to Victoria’s Secret. (She’s braver than I am…)
2. “If you are going to write, you want it to matter.” (Shauna Niequist) Earlier this year, I went to hear Shauna speak about her most recent book, Bittersweet, at our church and I was so inspired about her thoughts about loss, change, and writing. I typed this quote into my iPhone as something that resonated with me then…and now. I want whatever I do…to matter, to make a difference in the lives around me. Even as my career has morphed into something unrecognizable, it has been my constant…I always want to be in a place where I can impact people’s lives. I suppose that is the case for most people, so it isn’t anything unique, but it is something I think about often.
3. “In the going, the Spirit comes.” (Jeff Manion) One of the many things I love about our church (Ada Bible Church), is how our pastor uses the Word to challenge us to take action in our spiritual lives. I wrote a post about this quote from a sermon just about a year ago, and it was something that I clung to during a pretty rough time. Taking that first step. Moving forward. Trusting in God. Clinging to hope.
4. “Get home on time, or you are gator bait.” (Ben) Okay, so this is maybe less inspiring and more amusing, but the other day, Ben and I were talking about how he will be “gator bait” if he didn’t get home in time for me to head out for the evening.  Any gator hunters or Swamp People watchers will know what I’m talking about…and it made me simultaneously grimace and chuckle to think about the rancid, rotten meat that they use to catch the gators. It seems oddly appropriate, and I just might use that phrase in the future…
5. “Redefined by Motherhood” (Unknown) Okay, I’m not sure if I heard this phrase somewhere or if it just popped into my head, but it has been slowly twirling around up there for the last six months or so. I just keep hearing story after story of women who were profoundly changed by motherhood (aren’t we all), and we have started to collect those stories over at MCG. We become educators, advocates, savers, coaches, comforters…all things inspired by our individual journeys into motherhood.
6. “Real courage is risking something you have to keep on living with, real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one’s cliches.” (Tom Robbins) This was a quote from Fulghum’s book, and I like the audacity of it. I’m wimpy…tentative…comfortable…and this quote challenges me to look beyond what I consider change to something more. What paradigm am I willing to change, what comfort zone am I willing to leave…good, but hard things to think about.
7. Ephesians 3: 15 – 21: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (NIV) This year, I studied Ephesians and James with a group of women from my church, and this passage was one that stood out to me. I want my prayers to sound like Paul’s prayer, going beyond the everyday blessings and praying that the people I love are strengthened by the Spirit, captured by Christ’s love, and rooted in God’s fullness.
8. “No!” (Not me) I do say “No” on occasion when I am asked to do, help, bring, but I find myself jamming my life too full…too often. I have such respect for the people in my life that are able to keep themselves so centered…so balanced. Just the other day, I was lamenting all the things that I needed to get done around the house, and Ben looked at me and said, “Well, do you have to do all those things?” I stammered…”Well, of course!”…but when I started thinking about it, there were plenty of things that I should never have started if I didn’t have the capacity to finish.
9. (and 10.) Okay…so I left the last two for others to join in…what is a quote that inspires you?