I love wandering through my garden, meandering, taking in the colors, the scents, the wonders of nature. As I gather and savor and take in, my imagination is stirred. My mind is refreshed and renewed with expanding ideas, and I reenter the house with new energy to tackle even the simplest of chores with a kind heart and appreciation of life.
Sometimes I wander through my books this same way. I scan my bookshelf for one of my treasures of wisdom and chose a chapter, finding a page or two where I highlighted words that struck my heart long ago. Perhaps those sentences still ring true today – maybe they sing a familiar tune. Often they teach an entirely new lesson.
Let’s pause midyear. We ARE halfway through 2025 already, a wonderful midpoint to catch our breath, to wait for our soul to skip and play awhile in the garden and savor the season. To take time to listen to our inner voice and seek what may be missing or hungering to be heard. Here are some recent gatherings, savorings, and midyear wisdoms that have been feeding my soul as I scoured my bookshelf and listened deeply.
“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next 500 years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralized the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple first things, people and companies routinely try to do just that. But when we try to do it all and have it all, we find ourselves making trade-offs at the margins that we would never take on as our intentional strategy, when we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people, our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families will choose for us. And before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important. We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives well.”
Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
I needed to reread this midyear as I have way too many priorities.
I love podcasts and one of best is Hidden Brain. One of the latest episodes is titled What is your life for? And it explores the meaning of life.
The first half of the episode tells the fascinating and tragic story of the researcher, followed by some statistics, then ending with some applications. Basically, with the wisdom of know your values and live your life following what you value.
This podcast compelled me to take out my Rule of Life (check out my book about writing a rule of life if you don’t have a rule of life) and some work I did a few years ago discovering and clarifying my essential values. Am I living each day aligned as I want to, as God calls me to? In July this is my reflection and prayer… Maybe it is time for you too to check in with your values too.
I revisited my journal too. I noticed many, many questions. The one I answered the most was what I was most grateful for so I am glad I am recording so many wonderful daily ordinary blessings that would slip through the cracks of moments if I didn’t capture them on those pages. More prayers this season too. Prayers for friends and family going through difficult times. These pieces of paper possess people’s pain. I also see how I am discerning with God through foggy decision making and making paths through unknown territory ahead of me. All this reminds me of the importance and value of journaling to my spirit and for my journey.
See the significance of paying attention to where we are occasionally? Of zooming out and looking around and resting? Midyear break is the perfect time for that deep breath and deep listening. July invites me to revisit priorities, values, questions, prayers and discernments.
How about you? What is your invitation midyear?
A wise practice indeed, to scour the bookshelves, revisiting those books that hold wisdom, and refresh our minds and spirits within their pages. Just recently I pulled Denise J. Hughes book, Deeper Waters, off the shelf and noticed I never took her up on the invitation to write Psalm 119 across the lined pages at the back of the book. (Denise points out that writing the Word helps internalize scripture. As we write God’s truth on paper, He writes His truth on our hearts (p. 87). I just copied Psalm 119:81-88 this morning. The practice is drawing out prayers of my own as I copy the psalmist’s. And I’m asking questions that never occurred to me before. For example, a simile appears in verse 83: “I am like a wineskin in the smoke.” What does that mean?! A bit of research turned up how dry and shriveled up a wineskin would become if hung in smoke. In other words, worthless. This is how the psalmist was feeling as he wrote this section. / I’m with you, Jean. It’s a good thing to revisit now and then our gathered treasures of wisdom!